commatose by rply
XXXXXL levels are all the new craze these days! But seriously, this level was really fantastic so I wanted to beat it. I won't say I'm a die-hard top 5 best levels ever fan like others are but this is definitely one of the best I've seen from this update so far, which actually does say something since quality levels have been pumped out at a crazy rate with the NCS gauntlet deadline coming up.
Anyway, as usual, this level took me quite a while, not as long as Hypnotic Travel, but then again, I'm not sure if this level is harder than Hypnotic Travel, certainly the gameplay styles are quite different. Most of this level is quite easy of course, but there are a few very difficult sections scattered about, many of which I'd say are bordering if not into hard demon territory. Hypnotic Travel never had anything that I'd call hard demon (or even medium for the most part), but it did have much more consistent difficulty and it was also a lot more awkward and less consistent which made playing from 0 harder. Anyway, this was an alright experience, had some stupid deaths but I managed to fluke from 42, which was nice but not unexpected since that's really the last chokepoint for me in the level outside the mountain section, which I'll talk about later. Some sections are quite learny but the gameplay, for the most part, is very lenient timings-wise so once you get consistent, it's pretty easy to not mess up despite the gameplay difficulty technically being medium-hard demon. I will say though that there are definitely some sections that could be a bit more readable, and on top of that, some of the gameplay is honestly a bit awkward as well. But I'll just do a rough breakdown:
Beginning (0-19): Kind of alternates between cube and ship sections. I'd say this is probably one of the more awkward sections of the level to play, some of the cube timings don't make much sense (you can see I very nearly die at 2:01, no idea how I pulled that timing off), and some of the ship gameplay actually requires a bit of memory on where you need to go. Otherwise, though, this section is really easy, there's not much to say.
Drop? idk (19-38): The first robot is honestly pretty irritating because it's really hard to see the platforms sometimes. I think it also gets a lot worse in the orange/cyan section near the end, but that bit is pretty short so I just tried to memorize what to do on clicks I failed at most. The UFO after is really chill, I love the sync and the deco here, and the wave after it is fine as well, although dash orbs in wave are always a bit quirky which can throw me off occasionally. The spider at 37 is insanely easy but I managed to die here once LOL.
Insane part (38-56): Probably the hardest section of the level to learn. This section was mostly consistent and honestly quite fun to play, but I really hate the ball at 42, I can't see what's going on there and there are actually a few timings to worry about. I was actually consistent at it in practice after getting a click pattern down but I managed to die here twice from 0 anyway, just unlucky I guess. Everything else is learny and can take a while to get down, but again, the gameplay is super lenient so once you know what to do, it's not too hard.
Break (56-68): I LOVE this part of the level just from an artistic perspective. This is also my favorite part of the song, and just the visuals that match it are phenomenal, and ultimately, this is what first caught my eye watching this level. From a gameplay perspective, this section is pretty much free, you really just need to keep your swingcopter within two miles of the line and you'll be fine.
Mountain (68-76): The part going up is the hardest part of the level. The slope gameplay can be really finicky and there are actually a lot of timings you have to be aware of. It's also really hard to tell where on the slopes you're supposed to and not supposed to jump sometimes, and a lot of times its important when you jump too to remain aligned with the gameplay. Definitely not easy, but still doesn't exceed easy hard demon gameplay. The robot part going down is very easy, some parts are a bit quick coming up but once you know what to do everything is basically a buffer.
Final Stretch (76-88): Not hard, the first section up to 81 is really just hitting every orb and making sure you don't time them really badly, again, very lenient, but I wouldn't be shocked to choke here given just how many you need to click in succession. Past 81 is auto.
Finale (88-100): Not even 2*. I love this part though.
So overall, though the gameplay isn't perfect, it does feel pretty well playtested and I definitely didn't hate this, which is solid for such a long level. The deco is obviously why I played this, its amazing, so if you don't play from 0, I highly recommend at least giving this a practice run!
Gameplay: 5.6/7
Deco: 2.9/3
Total: 8.6/10
Personal Difficulty: Easy insane demon (4B)