vonic
(VERIFIED) Pinnacle of Life 100% (IMMORTAL DEMON by skzyl, seb, & more)
updated
After all this time I have FINALLY done it. A solo list demon under my name. Wow. Actually unreal especially considering all the countless failed attempts over the past 4 years or whatever.
Funny to also say a month and a half ago this level didn't even exist. That was until I was invited to participate in Twister’s #DemonTime event, where many people come together to make a solo demon of any difficulty by a certain due date. Very simple rules with nothing too crazy attached to it, but I thought it’d be funny to make a really hard level for it so I got to work on the layout immediately. I also actually didn’t initially plan making this as hard as it is right now, but after some friends pointed out it being potentially list worthy I decided to full send it all the way.
Once the layout was done, I immediately got started on the deco. It only took exactly 25 days from start to finish, but the grind was honestly really difficult at times, especially near the end. Having to keep up with this level alongside school, work, other responsibilities and also having to keep time for verifying the level was not an easy task at all, and sometimes I honestly thought I was setting myself up for failure. Not fully sure what kept me going, but I definitely didn't stop no matter what.
That being said, the deco process was for the most part actually fairly enjoyable!! I played around with lots of color combos here and there, and it was really cool seeing how well some of them worked out. It was also very satisfying having ideas in my head that worked out perfectly, such as the bouncing ground spikes in the 30% ball and the moving lines in the gray robot blocks. Although not all of them turned out this way, I’m very proud of the ones that did. I also personally like the effects I implemented from 58% to 79%, and that section of the level is probably my favorite all things considered.
After the decoration was done, it was time to verify it. I had a ton (and I mean, a TON) of prepractice coming straight out of building the level, so I honestly already knew it wouldn't be that huge of a struggle. It only took 3 days of grinding, and on my second day I already had 94%. THAT BEING SAID… I still had really limited time to verify this due to college visits, and if I didn't verify it on the night I did there's a pretty good chance I’d have missed the deadline so yeah it was a pain in the ass a tiny bit. The last day of playing this level was insane. I went from 4 to 14 ending deaths, including 3 deaths to the final big wave. I did get a little upset with this mindblock (even almost dying there again by a pixel on the verification attempt) but it’s ok I pulled through and that's what matters. I definitely would've had a lot more fun if I didn't have a deadline pushed on me, but I still think the base gp is really good. Speaking of which…
My idea for the balancing was to make the first 40% decently hard, 40-58% a little break part that's still chokeable and builds up nerves, 58-79% really hard, and then 79-100% very chokeable despite the noticeable drop in difficulty. I think I matched these goals well, but this is only my own opinion at the end of the day and opinions definitely may vary when more people try it out. I also purposefully left in a few minor chokepoints throughout to keep the player in check, but nothing overly unfair.
As for difficulty, the only range I can say with remotely any amount of confidence is between LIMBO (#51) and arcturus (#74). I don't know how it compares with completions in between, and I definitely don't know if people will even agree with this, but I am interested in seeing how opinions will turn out. This level primarily tests the player on high CPS, timings, and wave skillsets, so if these sound like something you like, go give it a shot… no pun intended.
Anyways, moving onto credits and closing thoughts:
@TwisterDude161: organizing the #DemonTime event as this wouldn't be a thing without him at all
@MayoYoma @exerity: playtesters that reported countless inconsistencies, suggestions, etc. and saved a lot of stress on making this as playable as possible.
@skzyl, demonlist team + everyone else in demontime: being very supportive of this project from start to finish, especially with the added challenge of not sharing anything about it publicly at all
Making and verifying a solo list demon is one thing, but (basically) in private and having only a month and a half to do so really made it quite the struggle. I’m definitely not gonna do anything like this again for a very long while, but I could not be happier with the final result and I certainly learnt a lot about many things from this experience.
It’s so nice to finally have a level that represents me both as a creator and as a player; I personally hope this can get an Epic rating, but we'll see. Attached below is the ID, thank you all so much :)
136135870
Raw footage: youtu.be/mhVu4tbe6y0?si=nmoKlk-6p_znKdmV
Anyways this is honestly a pretty weird video to upload due to various reasons but it's nice to show something for this level again, especially given the last progress video being 4 months ago. Since then I have been playing it once in a while while very busy with other things pretty much, doing random runs like 24-67, sub 20 practice runs, etc. However, during one of these sessions one night I guess I thought it was a great idea to get a new best from 0 out of absolutely nowhere??? Still no clue how that happened, I also did 35-85 like 20 minutes prior.
That run happened on February 16th, but I didn't want to upload just that for progress so I decided to also aim for two runs simultaneously (16-61+, 24-73+), and whichever came first would be the one paired with 50%. I don't even need to write anything here and you can very clearly tell how that went.
Despite getting ridiculously lucky with both of these runs though, I think I'm definitely notably better at the game now than where I last left off, and I have been getting more and more consistent with the gameplay in general (even some of the major chokepoints that I used to genuinely feel incapable of improving upon). The completion is obviously not happening anytime soon, but I think with this newfound skillboost I can certainly push my progress even further; this definitely won't be the last you see of it.
Attempts so far: 53925
Objects: ~13k
Sorry for the recent inactivity by the way, next upload may or may not be extremely big though.
I did try to go for this as a hardest when it first released and managed to get the entire level down but stopped playing it for whatever reason, however from what I remember I had a pretty fun time messing around with it. Coming back to it now was also really enjoyable, but this level definitely has a couple flaws to it. The first drop part (31-58%) is insanely satisfying to play through when you're consistent, but relearning it (especially in 2.2) was honestly just annoying as hell because for whatever reason, orb priority in 2.2 works differently than in 2.1, making a very good handful of clicks more unfair than they should be. The ending (78-100%) in general is also really inconsistent (ESPECIALLY the 81% ball oh my god) in runs, but from 0 it wasn't too bad and I only died to it twice.
Despite these complaints though this level is still good all around, and everything else not mentioned is some of the most fun gameplay I've played in a good while (with a couple exceptions like the click pattern in 18-19% being fairly awkward). Everything in general (including that drop cube) also did become very very consistent by the end though. If you're looking to improve at high CPS gameplay, this is most certainly a level worth trying out.
Attempts: ~10000 (including old)
Enjoyment: 8.5/10 (Level rating: 9.5/10)
Worst fails: 85, 84, 75, 72, 69, 65, 64x3
Song: Robotic Nightmares by dj-Nate
Level ID: 91180835
Game version: 2.207 120fps, with CBF
Completion date: 2/21/26
Extreme Demon #297
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: 146 on the list (Disconnected Descent | ATOMIC CANNON Mk II | Axiom Asterism)
Difficulty opinion: NLW Inexorable/Excruciating tier (Harder than The Rupture, easier than RUST)
My hardest completions:
1. Silentlocked
2. Apocalyptic Trilogy
3. Edge of Destiny
4. LIMBO
5. Cimmerian Shade
After 26k attempts, over 30 hours of playtime, and straining my hand way too many times, I present to you my new greatest achievement to date, both mentally and physically.
I have formed way too many thoughts about this level over the past 2.5 months I have been playing it. Some are positive, some are very negative, others are indifferent.
Conceptually, this level is fantastic. It takes such an iconic old impossible level and whips it up into something playable while also adding some very unique twists to it. Nearly every part looks great, and even after how much I constantly had to replay this level over and over again the decoration never felt dull to look at. The bossfight at 60% however is especially amazing, and it's also great to see a boss in a list demon again (even if the part itself is short and fairly easy). Ecli's ship at 74% is a beautiful watch every time as well.
Gameplay wise however... my god I really wish I could've appreciated it more, but with how the experience panned out sometimes it was seriously unbearable. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's bad but it could've been in a much more enjoyable and well made state. Some of these chokepoints are seriously impossible to stay consistent with, so much to the point where other extremely notorious chokepoints (e.g. Hard Machine 19%, Tartarus 31%, etc.) didn't feel close to as bad as the ones in this level.
Yeah, you sure as hell read that line right. This level has more inconsistent chokepoints than goddamn TARTARUS. The triple clicks in the first wave? Forged from hell. Although they did slowly improve, I'd still find myself getting stuck at them even on the session I beat it. That first wave took over 30 minutes to do one time and there was even a point in this experience when getting to 16% from 0 was harder than doing 16-50%... lol. It may not be that bad playing directly from it, but from 0 it is genuinely just made so much harder. The predrop isn't long and has basically no hard clicks, but it is so unbelievably spammy and your hand gets tired out very fast, making that wave even harder on top of inevitable mindblocks you will experience just from the slightest slip-ups.
Anyways, after that the level does take a chill pill for a good bit, although 19% and 21% are very much dieable. Besides that, enjoy the drop in difficulty while it lasts because then you get to WHATEVER ON DAMN EARTH 27-40% IS. Most of the gameplay in this section is actually good, but it's brought down SO hard by the impressive fact of containing 3 of the most annoying clicks ever within 6 seconds, with the clicks in question being the 28% sawblade jump, the 32% robot jump, and the 34% sawblade gap. All of these were just so inconsistent most of the time, and dying to the gameplay outside of these clicks was more painful than it should've been. I actually don't know how I kept my sanity throughout this whole area.
The level does thankfully chill out again once you reach 40% though, and while there are still some dumb clicks like the 43% blue orb "buffer," the 45% robot jump, and 50% triple spike, none of them compare to the atrocities the prior chokepoints have to offer.
You're then at the 53% ship which is actually kinda huge (assuming you don't choke it immediately which I thought was an excellent idea like 9 times or so). Nah but seriously if you make it here and manage your attempt well, you have a REALLY good chance at the 67% dual wave since everything here is just not that hard.
And of course it only makes sense a break as long as that is immediately followed by 67-73% going full swing at you and kicking your ass so unbelievably hard! This part is strangely fun and actually really satisfying but SO hard, especially 70-71% (double click + semi blind transition) which I struggled with a ton. Learning it does unfortunately suck though :(
Anyways, once at the 74% ship you have passed a HUGE chunk of the difficulty but still have a bit left, and also everything is made even harder with nerves. I only died here twice which isn't too crazy but it sure as hell could've been way more, and I'm SO glad to not die to the very last click. Watch out for the 82% blue orb spam here, though.
That's about all I have to say. It really does mean a lot to get this over with though, and I'm so grateful I can move onto other big projects. Thank you all for the support as always :)
Dedicated to @tfibblol
Attempts: 26378 (Playtime: 32h 7m 32s)
Enjoyment: 4/10 (Level rating: 6/10)
Worst fails: 83, 77, 72x2, 71x3, 70x2, 68x2
Song: Deadlocked x Despacito by F-777 & @juderb
Level ID: 113959291
Game version: 2.207 120fps, with CBF
Completion date: 1/31/26
Extreme Demon #294
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: 31 on the list (Firework | Silentlocked | poocubed)
My hardest completions:
1. Silentlocked
2. Apocalyptic Trilogy
3. Edge of Destiny
4. LIMBO
5. Cimmerian Shade
Interesting level that placed very recently, it caught my eye when scrolling through the list so I decided to give it a shot. Initially, I was left completely dumbfounded by the nature of the level; learning this felt like a near impossible task (let alone doing entire parts and stringing them together). However, there's something about this level that just… makes it work? I really don't understand how this level does it. The difference between my consistency starting out and my final sessions with this level really was to a degree unlike any other level I’ve ever played it’s truly ridiculous. You can even hear me talking about my 2nd 83% death during the completion LOL. It’s like as if every single click in this level was mechanically engineered to be impossible at first but eventually become extremely consistent, but I’m all for it because this was some of the most fun I’ve ever had playing a main list in YEARS.
Sadly, that did not apply to my entire time with this level. Despite my ratings for this one being pretty high, there were still some glaring issues that were pretty rough to put up with. There is a shader for the entire predrop that makes the hitboxes misaligned by a bit, and it made some spots in the spider VERY annoying to get down. 46-47% is also a pretty big chokepoint, especially the click into the ship which took way longer than expected to get the hang of. At 52%, when the spider crosses under the ball there's a click where you can survive as the spider but still have the ball die if you click late enough, and it happened to me FIVE TIMES from 0. The 76% wave is such a wild chokepoint, especially the 2 mini wave clicks at the end of it. The ending (82-100%) in general also just feels really random, especially the 82% wave, 87% MINI WAVE, 91% dual wave, and 94% spider clicks. Not even doing 33-100x5 was enough to stop me from having trouble doing it by itself… but I somehow managed to fluke almost all of it which was very nice.
Visually, the predrop does look really nice but my main gripe is how over the top the flashiness gets near the end. I understand there are many others that don't share this same stance, but for me it just made it a lot harder to track my icon in various places, ESPECIALLY with nerves. The biggest offender of this might be the 91% dual wave, which killed so many of my runs at first.
Despite my complaints though, this level is still really good overall and I’d highly recommend giving it a go if you’re interested! Just watch out for how hard it is though because my oh MY this level is misplaced as hell right now.
Attempts: 12295 (Playtime: 14h 28m 44s)
Enjoyment: 8/10 (Level rating: 9/10)
Worst fails: 83x2, 82, 80x3, 77x3, 76, 70, 69, 68x5, 67, 66x2 (54 total attempts to 51%)
Song: .wavterminal by tangermusic
Level ID: 128093374
Game version: 2.2 120fps, with CBF
Completion date: 1/18/26
Extreme Demon #294
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: 68 on the list (Tartarus | Wavterminal | Waterfall)
Difficulty opinion: ~50-55 on the list, top 60 MINIMUM this level is underrated af
My hardest completions:
1. Apocalyptic Trilogy
2. Edge of Destiny
3. LIMBO
4. Cimmerian Shade
5. Wavterminal
0:12 - @Sc0tcht4pe
0:27 - @rosedash
0:37 - @skzyl
0:52 - @Dementeddd
1:07 - @s3batr0nic
1:22 - @Lobster6
1:29 - vonic
Very excited to finally announce that this project is starting to come together! I actually started making the layout for this over a year ago but wasn't very happy with most of it so I decided to scrap almost everything (only my first part stayed). Around a month ago I then decided to make the layout a megacollab and get help from some good friends to finish it up.
There is still plenty that needs to be changed obviously, but I'd say I'm very happy with the state the base gameplay is in right now. Additional playtesting will be done and then I will start decorating this as my big project of 2026, hopefully getting it out sometime within the year. And speaking of playtesting...
I do definitely need help for that. Please DM me on discord (@vonical6) if you're interested in helping out. There are no strict requirements, but having at least some experience with main lists is very much appreciated.
With all that being said, happy holidays, enjoy the showcase and hopefully the full level in 2026! :D
Recorded by skzyl
Song: Terminal Break by Acid-Notation
Been very slow with completions ever since SWI 3+ months ago due to being very busy with various things but here's a cool level to show for right before the year wraps up. This is for a "Secret Santa" group project hosted by Jessicah and Lia where each person involved receives a level to beat by a secret person who isn't revealed until the event has concluded. Special thanks to (???) for making me play this level because I've actually been meaning to get around to it for quite a while now.
I should probably start right off the bat that this level is absolutely fantastic visually. I really cannot come up with a single critique about how this level looks if I tried. The cycling through various horror-esque themes (while still not making any part look out of place) to go a step further and stand out from other Halloween releases is done insanely well; my personal favorite bits are the Slenderman sighting near the very beginning, the clown jumpscare at 57% and the entire underwater section from 63-76%. As if that's not enough, each part just looks really good in general. Iris's junkyard part from 38-50% is probably one of the best parts in any level ever. It truly looks stunning and the mountain is such a cool highlight of it.
Additionally, I would also like to praise the gameplay for being incredibly unique, tying with the decoration very well alongside sacrificing minimal playability. Using Iris as an example again, that part is also great at pulling that off. The slopey structuring really does make you feel like you're exploring a junkyard, navigating through heaps of trash; despite this structuring choice being incredibly uncommon for a list demon (and extreme demons in general), it got extremely consistent and near the end of my experience it could not have played any smoother. I also feel this same way with the rest of the level... well, most of it.
These are all small things, but if I said the gameplay was also perfect, that would sadly be a lie. The blue part near the beginning has a couple weird transitions that you can somewhat easily die to. The second pink orb at around 19% is quite a bit too difficult. The 35% ship was a little annoying to get down at first because of how limited your vision is. The 62% pink orb NEVER gives you a consistent setup from the big slope jump right before and as a result is a click you have to sightread on the spot every time you get there. 63-76% (despite being perfect visually) feels somewhat carried by being awkward to play in general, which as a result creates spots that are very easy to mindblock. 98% is basically completely blind and kills a good handful of runs to 100, alongside the looming possibility of dying to it from 0. Once again however, these are all minor things that don't take away from the overall level quality too much.
I really wanted to have fun with this as much as I think this level is great, but at one point I went from initially finding this level incredibly easy to pretty much dying all over, and before I realized what type of level this actually was I was genuinely getting really frustrated for a bit.
See, simply put the thing here is that this level's balancing is not far off/nearly identical to that of Zodiac. Each part is extremely easy for its list placement by itself (hell, some are literally auto/holds) but piecing it all together is just so hard. There's so much more opportunities for error than you think, and from 0 more of the difficulty is found in the second half than the first half. Realizing this is extremely important because if you don't it can pretty much break your experience, and once I did I started actually having fun again.
Speaking of Zodiac... WOW this level being below it is straight up criminal. I am pretty confident in this level being underrated and harder than my next 3 completions above it, and considering the similar gameplay balancing between this and Zodiac I fail to see a universe where Zodiac is harder, unless it's an opposite one of course.
Overall, this level is phenomenal and I'd recommend it to pretty much anyone, but I'd also truly recommend it to those that want a good first list demon to beat. I think this level is a lot more fun as a hardest due to the base gameplay not being very hard compared to other levels around it, making it much more approachable than you'd think while still providing a nice challenge.
Attempts: 4187 (Playtime: 8h 26m 15s)
Enjoyment: 7/10 (Level rating: 9.5/10)
Worst fails: 78%, 1-98%
Song: Pain Engine (2021 Vast Album Remaster) by Waterflame
Level ID: 96035641
Game version: 2.2 120fps, with CBF
Completion date: 12/18/25
Extreme Demon #291
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: 111 on the list (Crackhead Circles | Scream Machine | Keres)
Difficulty opinion: 93-101 on the list (Above Zodiac, below Fragile)
My hardest completions:
1. Apocalyptic Trilogy
2. Edge of Destiny
3. LIMBO
4. Tartarus
5. Cimmerian Shade
I'm so grateful I managed to finally get this done. On the surface, this may seem like a small step-up in comparison to my last progress upload, only getting a new best run to 100 by an additional 7% and not achieving anything new from 0. HOWEVER, this run was genuinely extremely hard to get and I literally already had 47-100, 49-100, and 51-100. The mindblocks I dealt with in the slow section right before the 2nd drop (67-69) and 73-86 were generationally terrible, and I'm so glad I was able to overcome this major mindblock that stuck with me like hell for weeks on end. I died to the 66% blue orb onwards 114 TIMES. While this will certainly not be the last mindblock I experience with this level, this is definitely one of the largest mindblocks I've ever experienced with anything thus far, if not the largest honestly.
I feel way more confident to grind from 0 now. Next progress video will likely be when I first reach Cersia (60-65%) as a new best.
I'm not gonna try to get my hopes up too high or anything, but especially after getting past a huge low I just know it's only uphill from here 😎 No more dropping this level anymore, WE ARE BACK in full swing until the very end.
Attempts so far: 49341
Ok but seriously this is actually a pretty good level, really had a lot of fun with this one. That being said, I will admit this initially didn't start off very fun. Everything felt incredibly weird to play through and I could pull off hardly anything. However, treating this as a "break level" instead of something to focus all my attention on really made things begin to connect with one another. Even when I didn't touch this for several sessions, taking time in between somehow allowed the muscle memory to develop by itself fairly quickly. Just getting on for no more than 30-40 minutes or so was enough to let everything go so smoothly, combined with trusting the process during time away from the level.
Not to mention, one you have it down the waves are just so damn fun to play through, ESPECIALLY the 42% mini wave which is my favorite part in tbe entire level. They always make you feel like you're a god at the game, going through such precise sections with such strong confidence.
However, this level is certainly not for everyone. There are very mixed opinions throughout the hundreds of victors and counting, and I can see why. The gameplay outside of the waves, although possible to get good at, is very awkward to play (especially the UFO). As a result, losing far attempts to such questionable structuring can build up frustration quickly. Additionally, despite my praise for the wave gameplay in this level from earlier, mindblocking even the most trivial of gaps is not out of the question. There was a moment when I got mindblocked with the beginning of the third wave and had to get myself to stop playing for a little while in order to clear my head.
Decoration wise, I am also a big fan of it. All the designs look very clean, and I especially like the color usage throughout. While not the most unique, it gets the job done very well. However, the true highlight of this level is the claustrophobic nature it just so manages to pull of SO well, ESPECIALLY the moments in the waves when the level pulses red to highlight extremely tight gaps. Whenever watching a video of this level I think these short moments add onto the intimidation so well.
Overall, this level is really good for what it is and I'm glad I managed to beat it as quick as I did. Really glad the skillboost from Acheron is kicking in as hard as it is :)
Attempts: 2872 (Playtime: ~2h 20m)
Enjoyment: 8.5/10
Worst fails: 72, 71
Song: Mayhem by Teminite & Whales
Level ID: 95675702
Game version: 2.2 240fps, with CBF
Completion date: 10/31/25
Extreme Demon #289
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: 148 on the list (Shardscapes | Amalgam | Tenkai)
Difficulty opinion: NLW Catastrophic tier (Harder than Sigma, easier than Arctic Lights)
Completing this level in 2 runs is undoubtedly harder than ANYTHING else I’ve ever beaten. Apocalyptic Trilogy? Not even comparable. Edge of Destiny? Absolute joke. LIMBO? Don’t even get me started. It also seems I managed to get a really big skillboost from grinding the life out of it; I already beat another list demon an hour after getting that 49% run that will be uploaded very soon :)
With that being said, I unfortunately also have to say that I will now be taking a pause from this level for an indefinite period of time. Near the end of finally getting this in connected runs, I was admittedly getting extremely frustrated with not just me playing this level, but playing the game in general. I got VERY unlucky trying to get this far with sooo many opportunities for 2 runs just thrown out the window. As a result, it’s made me question several things, such as if I’m truly ready to jump to this level right now or not. At best, I will probably take a break for no shorter than several weeks and beat some other list levels for fun in the meantime. No promises though.
Either way, whatever happens, I just hope uploading this is enough proof that I can make a dent into top levels if I really tried. I absolutely want to beat this one day and I have zero intentions not to do so, but it will definitely take a good while to get there.
I’m sorry for those who were excited to see the completion happen, I really tried my best but now is just not the moment. I hope I can make up for it with some other big projects coming up soon. Take care ♡
Attempts so far: 44435
That being said, I did like this level to an extent. The wave at the start actually got surprisingly consistent, and even with the 15 second long cutscene playing from 0 was never boring. HOWEVER, 41-47% is the biggest pain in the ass ever and genuinely felt harder than the wave at times. The UFO is extremely awkward, the wave gaps casually thrown in the mix is absolutely ridiculous, and the final ball clicks before the drop are seriously no help.
Thankfully once you pass 51-52% the level loses like all of its difficulty except for 3 things (65%, 84%, 95-97%). I only died past 52% 3 times and I don’t even feel like I got ridiculously lucky at all. 65 is a somewhat difficult gap dependent on how you hit a previous blue orb timing. 84 isn’t very hard by itself, but it’s primarily very difficult in the sense of trying to develop a click pattern for it that works consistently, and I only actually figured it out even after I died to it from 0. The last ship (combined with the robot timing right before) is very chokeable and although I’m surprised I didn’t die to it from 0, I am very thankful for not doing so.
Visually this level is pretty cool, I originally didn’t like it when I first saw it but over time it grew on me. I especially like FunnyGame’s part the most, although I had to enable solid red wave trail because without it I had a lot more trouble seeing my wave (first hacked completion…)
All things considered, this level was a decent experience but it’s absolutely not for everyone. For the difficulty range it’s in, it is very inaccessible so unless you are very experienced with extreme grinding and/or list grinding I strongly suggest not going for this level, even if drop-100 feels very fun initially.
One more thing, before I wrap this description up I just want to briefly give an update on Acheron and say that my mood with playing this game has admittedly been getting increasingly sour lately (which somewhat explains me mentioning this level being really stressful to beat). I’ve been very unlucky trying to get it in 2 runs and have been having a really hard time trying to keep my head up for it, and some of that frustration managed to seep into playing the game in general :( it’s been very hard but I’ll get it done soon if that even happens I guess… but anyways.
VICTOR LIST
1. nico27
2. Geiser
3. DimanDash
4. DJ1482
5. gecko
6. Heco
7. Daniel TMOG
8. vonic
Attempts: 2227
Enjoyment: 6/10
Worst fails: 84, 65, 55
Song: Dance of the Violins by F-777
Level ID: 91595507
Game version: 2.2 240fps, with CBF
Completion date: 10/29/25
Extreme Demon #288
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: NLW Terrifying tier
Difficulty opinion: NLW Relentless tier (Harder than Shmarley Ville, easier than Stereo Extremeness)
My hardest completions:
1. Apocalyptic Trilogy
2. Edge of Destiny
3. LIMBO
4. Tartarus
5. Cimmerian Shade
Anyways, I wanted the next video to be 2 runs but I also REALLY wanted to upload at least something before I leave for a few days on Wednesday so I thought the best I could do for now is show off this run. I have also gotten 35% from 0 and a variety of other runs including 17-48 (I need to play from here more...), 40-96, and even 47-100. I also have done 56-100 three more times now, bringing me up to 56-100x4.
Once again I mainly uploaded this to talk about some of my plans with this level, alongside proof that I haven't dropped it already. The next upload will definitely be 2 runs which I'm not far away from so do keep a lookout for that!
Attempts so far: 33805
Before I tear down into everything this level has to offer I'd like to quickly appreciate the predrop for being the only part that was actually bearable the entire time and not having anything stupid attached to it (except for maybe the cube portal transition + 3 blue orbs at the end but they are negligible compared to what the level does after that point).
31-36 can be annoying sometimes but it's not too bad, although the black fade does suck a little. On the other hand. the wave at 37 right afterwards has some really annoying ground spikes on top that stick out for no reason, alongside those blocks that move upwards (spoiler alert: NONE of the waves in this level get fully consistent!). You then have another wave right after that which has a pretty stupid transition into it, also this wave is just stupidly hard. There are then 2 UFO clicks which you can sometimes mess up for no reason and then the absolute worst wave double click at 49 ever made right afterwards. You can't even see what the hell your icon is doing I'd genuinely have similar luck just closing my eyes at that point. That has to be the worst possible place to put another black fade like come on man. There is then yet another wave at 52 with a very awkward click pattern that I never fully got down. This wave is extremely inconsistent and held me back so much, I actually was just losing my mind over it. The moving objects and random ground spikes are no help at all either. After this you SHOULD be able to get to the next wave at 66 without much issue... that is if you don't die to the several terrible transitions in between these parts, especially the 63 blue orb into the ship which just makes no damn sense. That being said, the 66 wave was honestly not the worst (maybe because the click pattern actually made sense for once). Wish I could say the same for the 74 wave though, but sadly I can't because there is YET ANOTHER black fade that makes it painful to get good at. The 82 wave also has... you guessed it, another black fade that makes it completely blind and unfair to go through.
I can definitely go more in depth about some smaller things (like how awkward 84-100 is) but for the sake of my own time I'm just gonna leave it there. Overall this level has passable base gameplay that actually could've made this level decent at worst but is completely ruined by an absurd amount of poor level design choices that make the player's experience very unfavorable to go through. I would not recommend this at all, that is unless you somehow find enjoyment in rolling a dice until you magically complete this level.
Very underrated in difficulty too btw, definitely harder than RUST and SAND SAILOR.
Attempts: 7869 (Playtime: A little under 6h most likely)
Enjoyment: 0.5/10
Worst fails: 91, 89, 85, 84, 83x2, 82x4, 80, 79, 75x4, 74x4, 73x2, 70x2
Song: Cerebral Cobweb by Fleetwire
Level ID: 82172844
Game version: 2.2 240fps, with CBF
Completion date: 10/10/25
Extreme Demon #287
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: 149 on the list (Horros | Cobwebs | Omega Interface)
Difficulty opinion: 130-133 on the list (Above RUST, below SARY NEVER CLEAR)
My hardest completions:
1. Apocalyptic Trilogy
2. Edge of Destiny
3. LIMBO
4. Tartarus
5. Cimmerian Shade
Attempts so far: 18440
Extremely fun level, one of the most smooth experiences I've ever had with a main list. Almost all the wave gameplay is extremely satisfying to pull off, and every day the level just got more and more consistent (although the predrop can be a little boring at times). There are some hitbox issues in the 2nd wave, but otherwise this level is surprisingly well made for being a superbuffed version of the original. I also think it overall looks pretty good as well, never really got the hate for the visuals either. This only took 6 days to complete, and to top it all off I fluked the hell out of it, not dying to the 63% wave spam, 65% mini wave, or the first several clicks of the last wave at all, all of which are extremely hard.
I'm not too sure about doing it as a hardest, but if you already have significant experience with a few levels above this I'd highly recommend it for sure.
Attempts: ~7800 (Playtime: 8h 35m 30s)
Enjoyment: 9.5/10
Worst fails: 62x2, 61, 60x2, 58, 55
Song: Sonic Blaster by F-777 (HJfod Remix)
Menu loop: youtube.com/watch?v=_mcrV7gT-bI
Game version: 2.2 240fps, with CBF
Completion date: 9/10/25
Extreme Demon #286
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: 53 on the list (Climax | Sonic Wave Infinity | Damascus)
Difficulty opinion: 64 on the list (Cimmerian Shade | Sonic Wave Infinity | Oblivion)
(This is more than likely an issue with Tartarus and Cimmerian Shade placements however)
My hardest completions:
1. Apocalyptic Trilogy
2. Edge of Destiny
3. LIMBO
4. Tartarus
5. Cimmerian Shade
To say that I am ecstatic about finally being able to say this would be a major understatement; this is undoubtedly my proudest achievement in this game, and it still doesn’t feel real that I actually managed to climb this high. Although this may not be my hardest demon and far from the most attempts/playtime I’ve spent on something, this was one of the most stressful experiences I’ve ever had for sure.
From when I first tried out the ending a month and a half ago, this level was at least in the back of my head nearly every single day up until when I beat it. I’d like to keep a majority of the details of my experience private from this description, but I’ll just say that there were an unbelievable amount of factors both related and unrelated to the game that got in my way and made this more of a hassle than it should’ve been. I literally had to beat side projects like SAND SAILOR and shimmer just to gain the extra point boosts to ensure that this would line up with getting me in the top 100 (I also got 62% on another extended list that I had to stop playing because that level was getting annoying).
Learning the entire level was an incredibly daunting yet enjoyable experience. Once I got everything down, everything started going really smoothly…well, almost everything. Jeyzor’s ship is actually one of my least favorite parts I’ve ever played in any level ever. The fixed hitboxes make it an absolute nightmare to get stuck on from 0, and not even on my final sessions did it get consistent. Weo’s orb maze with the really jank ball dual at the end was also hell to put up with. Not even an incredibly sophisticated understanding of the game’s physics is enough to get fully consistent at it, some of the clicks like the green orbs at the bottom genuinely felt RNG, even with the best methods in mind. Some other annoying things include 48% and 72%, both made worse with fixed hitboxes (where have I seen this before) and 74% which is just fundamentally really hard. The 63% wave wasn’t that bad somehow, I only died to it once from 0. Don't get me wrong it's still very difficult, but unlike the other chokepoints it did feel possible to improve at.
Take out everything mentioned above and this level is a near perfect 10/10. I really think most of the level is genuinely so good with so many creative gimmicks (first wave, KrmaL, KWMS, last key maze, etc.) so it is kinda a shame the chokepoints bring it down that much.
I don’t even think the level is as low as my enjoyment rating (I’d legit rate it like a 7.5-8/10) but again my experience was VERY stressful trying to keep everything from falling apart with this one. I got 79% as my 2nd attempt past 28% an entire month ago, which wasn’t too bad and honestly pretty funny considering how hard of a fluke it was, but 82% 2 weeks ago really frustrated me given how the transition out of the dual ball into the blue pad spam can be pretty dumb. I’m just glad to not die past that at all, given I almost lost the key from the start as you can see from me briefly heavily breathing (I also lost the key from 23 one time and died at 97 so yeah it is MUCH harder with nerves than you think it is).
With all that being said, I’m so glad this is finally done. Thank you all once again for everything, it really does mean a lot :)
Attempts: 13224 (Playtime: 18h 35m 34s)
Enjoyment: 3/10
Worst fails: 82, 80, 79x2
Song: Isolation by NightHawk22
Menu loop: youtube.com/watch?v=_mcrV7gT-bI&pp=0gcJCR0AztywvtLA
Game version: 2.2 240fps, with CBF
Completion date: 9/3/25
Extreme Demon #285
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: 35 on the list (Apocalyptic Trilogy | LIMBO | Gaggatrondra)
Difficulty opinion: ~37 on the list (A little easier than Edge of Destiny)
(Edit 11/20/25: I have been asked by many people what copy I beat the level on, so here is the ID to mine that fixes everything: 124177584. It's unlisted, but anyone should be able to view it. I also have 129210138 uploaded which is an ULDM version. That being said, if there are any additional questions do not hesitate to ask!)
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Starting off with the harder level, shimmer by amplitron was a really fun and consistent level that also didn't take too long to get good at. Everything just flowed super well and it's clear lots of effort was put into making the gameplay good. That being said, some of the chokepoints can be quite nasty. The 18% blue orb with the gameplay right afterwards honestly felt RNG because the slopes just never push you to a consistent position, so you gotta either adapt inhumanly fast or just pray you make it through. The 30 triple click is also annoying to an extent because of the portals inside it that make it feel kinda awkward. Should've been like the 41 triple click where it's just 3 straight clicks with the big wave and a very consistent transition in and out of it. The last wave does not need an introduction. I'm glad I didn't die to it because for some reason I kept throwing all my ending attempts to random spots and it did get a little frustrating. Regardless, this level is still very good and I highly recommend it. I also think it's pretty deep into the legacy list and I don't understand how this is above Crimson Planet in the slightest but oh well.
Attempts: 3946 (~1k old) (Playtime: 3h 57m 24s)
Enjoyment: 8.5/10
Worst fails: 88, 87, 84, 83, 81x2, 80, 79
Song: Glimmer (feat vmrrrobotic) by turquoisedeath
Menu loop: youtu.be/_mcrV7gT-bI?si=gYA4stfVwpiCT3Sp
Game version: 2.2 240fps, with CBF
Completion date: 9/1/25
Extreme Demon #283
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: 115 on the list (Trotil | shimmer | Crimson Planet)
Difficulty opinion: NLW Catastrophic tier (Harder than Sigma, easier than Arctic Lights)
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1:25
Mercury6779's shimmer didn't take long at all to knock out, but I found it a little less fun than the other level. A lot of the gameplay is pretty awkward, and too much of the difficulty is concentrated in the parts right before the drop, namely the mini cube timings. I also wasn't a fan of how overly flashy it was, I wanted to do it on full detail but the UFO at 65% is genuinely just way too much, even for the intensity of the song. I did still have fun because it went by fast, but do watch out for the gameplay because it can get weird sometimes.
Attempts: 345 (Playtime: 36m 33s)
Enjoyment: 8/10
Worst fail: 86%
Song: Mescalink by Bossfight
Game version: 2.2 240fps, with CBF
Completion date: 9/1/25
Extreme Demon #284
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: NLW Easy tier
Difficulty opinion: NLW Medium tier (Harder than Lotus, easier than GANGIMARI)
I'd honestly recommend this level, it starts of pretty annoying when building consistency but my last session with the level went super well, even with the chokepoints nearly everything flowed nicely. It is definitely very intimidating for what it is I'll give it that, but honestly it made playing this level feel a lot more worth it and satisfying to pull off.
Attempts: 4385 (Playtime: 6h 9m 31s)
Enjoyment: 7.5/10
Worst fails: 84, 83, 77x2, 74
Song: Ahead Of The Curve by Creo
Menu loop: youtube.com/watch?v=nqF3zctHjs0
Game version: 2.2 240fps, with CBF
Completion date: 8/11/25
Extreme Demon #281
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: 128 on the list (CORRODERE | SAND SAILOR | Lucid Nightmares)
Difficulty opinion: NLW Inexorable tier (Harder than no jokes, easier than The Rupture)
4 months of on and off making for this one, I was originally very stuck and didn't have much ideas at all but by the end everything kinda just fell in place and I had a lot more fun, making the last part in only 2 days. Heavily inspired from world 5 of New Super Mario Bros U and many other similar games I played growing up. Maybe I'll do another world in the future I'm quite happy with the final result. I'm also especially proud of the optimization, only taking up 16k objects.
Attempts: ~4.5k (Playtime: idk like 4h 30m)
Enjoyment: 8/10
Worst fail: 62
Song: Outlaw by Creo
Menu loop: youtube.com/watch?v=nqF3zctHjs0
Game version: 2.2 240fps, with CBF
Completion date: 7/20/25
Extreme Demon #280
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: 122 on the list (Akashic Records | RUST | CORRODERE)
Difficulty opinion: 127-136 on the list (Above Omega Interface, below Neon Skyline)
The gameplay is also fun although not perfect, it's quite unbalanced and I pretty much constantly died to the end of Macabre, Hinds, Angryboy, and some other random clicks here and there. I was also admittedly annoyed trying to initially learn the level because of how awkward a handful of parts played, but it didn't take too long to reach a point where I could get to the 50s every other attempt and have fun so I suppose that makes up for it. I'd still recommend this level regardless and I hope this gets rated fairly soon :)
3426 attempts, 7.5/10 enjoyment, worst fails 92, 90, 84x2. Somewhere around ATOMIC CANNON/untitled unmastered on the Legacy List (#177-182)
I wholeheartedly believe this is one of the most deceiving levels on the list and in the entire game. Progress initially goes by unreasonably quick, almost too good to be true, then when you least expect it you get stuck all of a sudden and you have to immediately adapt to such ridiculous mindblocks. In 4 days, I had the level in 2 runs. In 1 week, I had 76%. It took a total of almost 3 weeks to complete this level. A quick guide if you will on what to look out for:
9% - Very weird movement where you have to hit the slope at a specific position to get a good setup for the following gap right after which is also awkward in itself
15-17% - Two terribly placed saws followed with some very strange gaps, although everything here didn't really become an issue in the end
20-22% - Absolutely obnoxious straight flies with ground spikes that move as the player goes through the gaps, essentially resulting in deaths not far off from getting killed by thin air. The upside down ship gap right after is also annoying because sometimes you just get the wrong height for no reason
32% - This dual wave was actually mostly fine but this specific release where you have to go in between the saw and spikes is ridiculously hard
39% - One of the worst clicks I’ve ever seen in any level ever. Extremely bad late timing that carries the hell out of this cube part
42% - Also really bad but not to the extent of 39%. Just two more really stupid blue orbs
After you pass these clicks the level does drop in difficulty a lot until the ending. It essentially becomes a test of playing through extremely chokeable gameplay under pressure. However, that’s not to say everything in this section is innocent because…
62% - The first 2 clicks in this UFO are incredibly annoying and easy to get stuck on due to the transition not fading out soon enough. This part in general has some really weird setups you need to get used to, but none of them were as dumb as this one
72% - Even though I didn't die here from 0 once, the upside down ship having super fixed hitboxes on the bottom structure is incredibly stupid
74-78% - Not that bad to play but undoubtedly one of the hardest parts in the entire level for sure
84% - I’m hating for fun on this one but I learnt this completely wrong and only realized that when I died to it from 0 for the 2nd time and wanted to die
89-92% - VERY HARD SHIP I’m surprised I fluked it honestly. The 89 yellow orb is so absurd, the 90 gap has fixed hitboxes, and 91-92 are very easy to mess up on
Overall I don't wanna say to avoid this one but I also wouldn't really recommend either, I suppose if you at least know what you’re getting into this level is worth a shot. It’s incredibly chokepoint heavy and progress is not linear in the slightest, but getting really far was also such a cool feeling I wouldn't mind reliving through this entire experience all over again.
Attempts: 14625 (Playtime: 22h 44m 54s)
Enjoyment: 4.5/10
Worst fails: 84x2, 82, 76, 75x2, 74x2, 71, 65, 64, 63x2, 62x4
Song: Betrayal of Fear by Goukisan
Menu loop: youtu.be/nqF3zctHjs0?si=BVeMbNYZNGf0a71r
Game version: 2.2 240fps, with CBF
Completion date: 7/15/25
Extreme Demon #279
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: 35 on the list (Gaggatrondra | Edge of Destiny | Codependence)
Difficulty opinion: Easier than Apocalyptic Trilogy
i also started playing a new hardest with 42% and 36-100 on edge of destiny, big things are happening
This completion is also quite fitting as well because this may as well be my best performance yet. I didn't take more than 15k attempts and 10 hours of playtime, and considering how grindy this level was I'm quite proud of it.
I didn't have any plans to do this anytime soon, but I got bored one day so I decided to just play through the ending. I ended up finding it very fun, so I went ahead to learn the rest of the level. The mini wave especially was a huge challenge, taking probably close to 3k attempts just to do one time, but near the end I found it to be one of the more consistent parts of the level. It's still the hardest part by a decent margin, but I didn't think it was THAT bad. The 56% ship (especially 61-62) isn't far off if anything.
On the contrary, the decoration is somewhat presentable but also really not great. It uses a lot of tropes popular at the time of creation I personally really dislike (particle spam, T3 black foreground objects, etc), clearly showing its age.
Regardless, for a top 50 this level is still incredibly fun and probably the best experience I've ever had with one. I also got very lucky, fluking 62-90 and still being my only death past that.
Attempts: 14120
Enjoyment: 9/10
Worst fails: 90, 62x2, 61, 51, 47, 45x4, 44x2
Song: Yair Albeg Wein & Or Kribos - Mephisto’s Lullaby
Menu loop: youtube.com/watch?v=ZfZ45V8EwyM
Game version: 2.2 240fps, with CBF
Completion date: 6/25/25
Extreme Demon #275
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: 48 on the list (Sinister Silence | arcturus | BEELINE)
Difficulty opinion: 61 on the list (Right above Oblivion and below Cimmerian Shade)
On the other hand, decoration wise I don't think this could be any better. It's the perfect amalgamation of design styles from the 2.1 era (especially the mid/later parts of it) and I really appreciate how varied the full levels is. I especially like how Silver, neoraptor, and Kiba look.
I'm not sure whether to recommend this or not since it is certainly not for everyone, but if you REALLY want to do it then be my guest. Again, this isn't a bad level by any means but with how it's balanced in it's current state it is nowhere near it's full potential at all.
Attempts: 5524 (Playtime: 6h 42m 30s)
Enjoyment: 6/10
Worst fails: 92, 91, 90, 88, 85x2, 84, 78x4, 72, 71, 63x2, 62x3, 61x2, 57, 54, 53x2, 52, 50x13
Song: Corrosion by NightHawk22
Menu loop: youtu.be/ZfZ45V8EwyM?si=ejniCq5SkcQwnuca
Game version: 2.2 240fps, with CBF
Completion date: 6/21/25
Extreme Demon #274
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List Placement: 120 on the list (RUST | CORRODERE | Lucid Nightmares)
Difficulty opinion: 111-112 on the list (Above Cognition, below Crimson Planet? Little bit unsure but definitely easier than SNC)
Took about exactly 2 months to make this one although I wasn't consistently building due to stuff like finals and other responsibilities/things that took up my time.
This is made for Infra's creator contest where the only main requirement is to use an EnV song. The last time I used a song by them was almost 3 years ago in a random speedbuild of mine so I decided to use the opportunity to flesh out a much more developed level with their music.
I'd say I'm much more proud of this than Arcade Fun because I didn't try to rush it out this time. I actually finished this on the 4th but spent the last few days going back to every part and improving them with effects and stuff.
The only thing I'm not really proud of is optimization; for some reason, area triggers make the game lag a lot more than they should. That being said, I'll try to find a solution soon while also being more careful in future projects.
I suppose that's it for this one. Definitely don't have the time or motivation to build as much as I did years ago but I am definitely going to keep consistently working on stuff to some degree because it's fun :)
Solo list demon next?
That being said, I had an incredibly bad mindset entering this level causing me to have a terrible experience from start to finish, nothing more to say really.
Attempts: 20964
Enjoyment: 0/10
Worst fails: 92, 91, 76, 75x2, 72, 70, 67x2, 63, 62, 61x2, 60, 59, 56, 55x3, 54, 53, 52x3, 51
Song: Infiltration by ParagonX9
Menu loop: youtube.com/watch?v=u9ZlTdVep7Y&pp=0gcJCR0AztywvtLA
Game version: 2.2 240fps, with CBF
Completion date: 6/6/25
Extreme Demon #271
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List Placement: 67 on the list (Verdant Landscape | ATOMIC CANNON Mk III | NETWORK)
Difficulty opinion: 62 on the list (Right above Oblivion and below Cimmerian Shade)
Attempts: 6797 (~4000 from 2-3 years ago, 2797 from now)
Enjoyment: 8.5/10
Worst fails: 92, 91, 89x2, 88, 84, 83, 76x2
Song: Bushido Blade by zirconmusic
Menu loop: youtube.com/watch?v=u9ZlTdVep7Y
Game version: 2.2 240fps, with CBF
Completion date: 5/28/25
Extreme Demon #270
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: 139 on the list (Pandemonium | The Art of the Blade | FARBIDI THEORY)
Difficulty opinion: NLW Terrifying/Catastrophic tier (Harder than Shutdown, easier than Frozen Cave)
As you all know 2 top 1s apparently got verified yesterday so I turned off CBF just to do a practice run of Thinking Space II. I then went to play this for like 20 minutes and beat it completely out of nowhere forgetting to turn it back on. Now the reason I say this was out of nowhere is because trying to beat this earlier that day I got so damn unlucky with 94, 87, 84x2, 74x2, and 38-100. I then kinda just went from 0 with no major runs and pulled that out as my first TMN pass which explains the reaction, also this level is just insanely nerveracking.
Even with my luck being worse than usual I still don't find this to be that hard, if anything it just made me more confident in this being overrated. Kenos still took more days and I had a lot better luck with that which makes it funny to me how Zodiac was above after all these years.
As for the level it's kinda good but I had a lot of really dumb far deaths which made me quite frustrated. Although the unpolished nature of the gameplay basically makes this unavoidable, some moments actually just made me so mad including but not limited to dying to a buffer click at 74% twice within 15 minutes because I clicked right before the blue pad which cancelled out my input. Also the balancing just sucks a lot with 38-61% being the hardest section by far so every attempt is just 1 minute and 20 seconds of waiting for the level to really start.
Thumbnail by @metalbray9975
Attempts: 5904
Enjoyment: 4/10
Worst fails: 94, 90, 87, 84x2, 75, 74x2, 72, 65, 62x3
Song: Sphere by Creo
Menu loop: youtube.com/watch?v=u9ZlTdVep7Y
Game version: 2.2 240fps, no CBF
Completion date: 5/25/25
Extreme Demon #269
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: 77 on the list (Kenos | Zodiac | Esfera)
Difficulty opinion: 88-93 on the list (Above Promethean, below Crackhead Circles)
Before I get into my experience I just want to say this is probably the best level in the entire game conceptually. Every aspect of this level combines to intimidate the absolute hell out of you; the gloomy yet intense nature of the level really just establishes that the level shows no mercy. For example, it deceives you into thinking you get a break at 50% just to catch you off guard with a blind 6 spike jump (made even harder with saws slathered on top of it…). I’m so happy this finally got rated I love this level to bits.
HOWEVER, my experience sadly did not hold up to the same standard. You already know when this was unrated the difficulty was projected to be around Firework/Saul Goodman, but when it got rated that projection turned out to be very overrated (i.e. Laniakea beating the level in under 24 hours and calling it not main list, but I am getting a little off topic.) My point is that I expected it to be around the 50-60s range, and while my final difficulty opinion does line up with that I really was not able to steamroll through it like everyone else.
Learning was already grindy as hell enough, especially that damn dual wave. I was originally playing this from 0 on 2.1 (due to some annoying 2.2 things like the slopes in the dual wave staircase and last cube), but one night with a best of 74% I got bored and decided to play on 2.2 for a bit and my best there literally shot up from 10 to 96 in not even an hour; I almost fluked the level. I thought it would be easier there so I kept going. I then got 98 which initially didn't really hurt at first, but the more I thought about it the more mad I got that 2.2 absolutely ruined that hold click, so I switched back to 2.1 and beat it the next time I got to the last cube.
Mindblocks especially made this experience very daunting and demotivating at times. Sometimes I literally would be unable to pull off the dual wave. There was a moment where I got to the swingcopter 10 times and only 1 attempt made it past 63%. On the day I beat it, I kept messing up the cube right after for no reason. You might as well make mindblocks a part of this level’s skillset cause oh my god it actually gets beyond ridiculous sometimes.
I know that so far I made my experience sound like I didn't enjoy it, but especially in runs this level was really good. Even if I wasn’t the most consistent, literally all the gameplay is so satisfying to play. There were some moments where I even got past the dual wave multiple times in minutes. I would recommend this for sure to anyone looking for a level like no other, because this level is just that. It truly establishes it’s own unconventional identity while also not completely sacrificing playability. Not worth doing on 2.2 though…
Lastly, exactly 4 years ago today I beat Acu as my first extreme. It’s honestly wild how far I’ve come being a top 150 player and having over 250 extremes completed. Here’s to more!
Attempts: 21172
Enjoyment: 7/10 (10/10 level rating)
Worst fails: 98, 96x2
Song: Bitch Punch by dj-Nate
Menu loop: youtube.com/watch?v=u9ZlTdVep7Y
Game version: 2.1 321fps
Completion date: 5/18/25
Extreme Demon #268
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: N/A (pending)
Difficulty opinion: 55-58 on the list (Above Oblivion, below Tartarus)
Ignoring that though this level is literally amazing like it gets so consistent and I don't understand how some parts like SmitN were made it's actually gorgeous. I would recommend this for sure but shakes make this a step up in difficulty so if you decide to take on the extra challenge you have been warned. For reference I think this is easy tier without shakes but definitely medium tier with them (which is what I beat the level with for the video).
Also a little update on my plans for anyone curious: apparently Cimmerian Shade got rated out of the blue I guess so yeah expect that in a few weeks after finals are finished, after that I'll finally return to the original plan of beating Zodiac and finishing off Mk III for good. Surely no more delays hopefully...
Attempts: 7733 (Playtime: 5h 25m 26s coming back to it)
Enjoyment: 2/10
Worst fails: 80x2, 77
Song: At the Speed of Light by Dimrain47
Menu loop: youtube.com/watch?v=u9ZlTdVep7Y
Game version: 2.2 240fps, with CBF
Completion date: 4/10/24
Extreme Demon #264
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: 147 on the list (Nabil Let Go | Bloodlust | Asterios)
Difficulty opinion: 107-108 on the list (Above Cognition, below Crimson Planet)
Not even sure where to begin with this. I was originally supposed to beat Zodiac next after Kenos but around the very end of February I got peer pressured by some friends to race this level. At the time, we somehow thought this level would be barely top 50 (around Oblivion difficulty) so those were my expectations. However, I was not ready for what this level had in store for me.
This was such a mental challenge. First of all, this level is almost entirely against my skillset. It’s 4 minutes long and has a lot of hard ball timings, the two things I struggle with most in this game. To top it all off, the ONE skillset i had to my advantage (ship) almost every part of that is really poorly made (more on this later). Also, this was the LONGEST I’ve taken on something from start to finish with no long breaks (the longest being going out of town for 5 days during spring break). Sure, stuff like Tartarus took way longer, but I wasn't even playing that for well over 90% of the time from beginning to end.
Also adding on, this level is just…not very good. It’s 3 ancient extremes superbuffed and glued together with many bad hitboxes; I’m not sure what you expected. However, my main issues with this level lie at the balancing. Although they got the difficulty distribution of each section right (Cata easiest, Bloodbath hardest, aftermath roughly in the middle of both), the balancing in each of the levels themselves SUCK. It’s all chokepoints that are almost never satisfying to do.
In Cataclysm, you basically only die to the first wave and 6% ship gap. The 9% ball timing is also self explanatory and I don't even need to explain why. I also died at the 11% upside down straight fly and 13% half blind blue orb more than usual for no reason. But outside of all this the Cata section is surprisingly consistent and very playable, definitely the best of the 3 no competition. The break ship afterwards sucks so much though.
The start of Bloodbath thankfully picks up the quality a bit (although I had to play on a copy because the vermillion ship is very unoptimized) but the last 2 clicks of the mirrored ball are very annoying and too hard for no reason, and then there’s the Michigun UFO which is just lol. Evasium is pretty good and Crack is fine but I had the absolute worst mindblock on it ever man. I’m pretty sure I died to it 7-8 times in a row at one point. The level is then basically fine until Giron’s ship but I seriously do not understand how you can gloss over the Asonicmen UFO having hitboxes that stick outside of the sawblades. Anyways, Giron’s ship was really hard for some reason and I died to it 4 times. There's also that dual which I’m still unsure how to 100% do consistently. Finally, Gboy is really hard and chokeable; I died at 69% 4 times.
Now onto aftermath which is pretty much in the middle quality wise, it’s fine I guess. I don't really have much to say, the wave hitboxes are terrible (you had 7 years to fix this), the Vultra ship is such a difficulty spike and the 83 blue orb sucks but the rest of this section is decently fun. I really like the gameplay after the 89% wave gap; it really is such a cool and nerveracking ending from 0 even if it is a drop in difficulty.
I also have a lot of thoughts about my experience but I don't want to write much. Simply put, I got 2 runs in exactly a week of playing, making me believe it wouldn't take much longer at all (I was wrong). This really just got harder the more and more I played it. There were many moments where I felt hopeless and wanted to give up, where I seriously thought I would never complete this level. I even felt this way when my bests were in the 70s, it’s so easy for this level to get to your head. However, when I got 87%, everything finally changed. That was the first time I got to aftermath more than once in a day (I got there FOUR times) and I actually knew it was a matter of “when” now. After pushing through another session with 2 more really bad deaths at 82% and 75%, I’m finally done with this level.
I’m so happy I did this when I could. I have final exams coming up next month now so except for finishing off Bloodlust for obvious reasons I’m done with this game until then, but I hope I can beat more and more harder levels this year, especially ones above Tartarus and maybe even this.
Thanks to Conical, scotchtape, Demented, lobster, rose, ViperVenom, seb, skzyl, Zoink, Aberrent, Dijon, DJ1482 and MatsuoIsHere.
See you on the next one :D
Attempts: 16521 (Playtime: 43h 36m 35s)
Enjoyment: 2/10
Worst fails: 87, 82, 79x2, 78x3, 77, 75, 74, 69x4, 68, 67, 66x3, 64, 62, 60
Song: At the Speed of Light by Dimrain47
Menu loop: youtu.be/u9ZlTdVep7Y?si=Wu6nU1WeEEshLAFj
Game version: 2.2 240fps, with CBF
Completion date: 4/1/25
Extreme Demon #262
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List Placement: 41 on the list (Collapse | Apocalyptic Trilogy | The Plunge)
Difficulty opinion: Harder than Bloodbath
Really fun level as expected from Renn but it's not perfect. The first wave and 59% dual especially were major chokepoints, and I also found myself sometimes randomly choking everywhere but it does get super consistent and is very accessible for its difficulty.
I have 78% on Apocalyptic Trilogy now and finished this off as a little side project cause I also wanted the legacy record for it. Hopefully I can also get APT done fairly soon.
Don't ask how I fluked this.
Attempts: 7102 (idk how many old)
Enjoyment: 8.5/10
Worst fails: 72, 64, 62, 61x2
Song: Lets Stomp! by F-777
Menu loop: youtube.com/watch?v=u9ZlTdVep7Y
Game version: 2.2 240fps, with CBF
Completion date: 3/26/25
Extreme Demon #261
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: 149 on the list (PROTON LAUNCHER | Jesse Pinkman | Terminux)
Difficulty opinion: Probably well placed but I have no idea
2818 attempts (many are obviously very old), Extreme Demon #259.
However, despite its massive influence both inside and outside the community it's pretty widely agreed upon that this level is just the pinnacle of bad level design. Fixed hitboxes in every corner imaginable, completely changing the speed of wave parts after they were made, structures moving as the player is passing them, and even straight up forgetting to assign groups completely altering the base gameplay... this level has everything you can think of then pulls even more out of its ass it's actually unbelievable.
Besides that though the level was just... not that bad to play? It definitely wasn't particularly fun but I was just more tolerant of the level in general, and it did (mostly) end up getting kind of consistent it just took such a long time. It really isn't the worst but it can also be a drag to play from 0 because the first 20% is just easy boring gameplay that sometimes randomly kills you. The first two drop waves are then the hardest parts of the level easily, but I really liked the gameplay of the first one for some reason. The second one I definitely am not a fan of, the decision to make it 4x speed with a slow portal at the end to fix the sync makes it feel extremely awkward and luck based. Past that the rest of the level is easier but still very chokeable, the main chokepoints to look out for are: 30% UFO click, 35% ship being very awkward initially, 49% wave, 54% UFO (where the sawblades stand still for absolutely no reason), 64% wave, 73% wave, 81% ship (which the transition into has the dumbest fix ever for), 86% wave.
Overall this level was just a really mid experience made even more uninteresting with the first 20%, but it does have its fun moments and once again I am incredibly happy to finally be a victor of it after all these years.
Attempts: 10717
Enjoyment: 5/10
Worst fails: 78x2, 72, 68, 60, 54, 52, 51x2, 50
Song: Iron God: Sakupen Hell Yes RMX by mr-jazzman
Menu loop: youtube.com/watch?v=u9ZlTdVep7Y&t=0s
Game version: 2.2 240fps, with CBF
Completion date: 2/25/25
Extreme Demon #258
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: 70 on the list (Zodiac | Kenos | Hard Machine)
Difficulty opinion: 58-65 on the list (Above Trueffet, below ATOMIC CANNON Mk III)
Anyways, onto the level it was a really fun and smooth experience overall. The postdrop gameplay felt very awkward at first but got really consistent later on, I also only died to it once from 0. Learning the rest of the level wasn't too rough although there are certainly some insanely hard chokepoints like the 49% wave and the end of the predrop also being pretty awkward. Going from 0 was tricky at first but everything just clicked in so hard after a bit and my best literally went from 58 to 100 in 5 minutes. I also think it looks really good and I love the "neon city" theme (especially the last robot) but it doesn't really resemble the prequel Knights of Thunder much at all; definitely feels more like its own thing. But overall, once again this level is still great and definitely worth playing.
Lastly, for the update I don't think it's that overrated. Hardest to easiest, I would rank it Aerial Gleam, Trueffet, this level, and then Fragile. List% should be the same too but it will be converted to 2.2 percentages once it gets moved.
Attempts: 6550
Enjoyment: 9/10
Worst fails: 76, 58, 57, 50, 49x4
Song: eternal by korewakosu
Menu loop: youtube.com/watch?v=u9ZlTdVep7Y&t=0s
Game version: 2.2 240fps, with CBF
Extreme Demon #257
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: 62 on the list (Terminal Rampancy | Judgement Knights | Critical Heat) (pre-update)
Difficulty opinion: 65-77 on the list (Above Fragile, below Aerial Gleam/Trueffet)
I have way too many things I want to write right now but I'm just gonna say thanks to literally anyone that helped with feedback on this level, it really does feel great to finally be out of my slump.
First 2.2 level, first solo demon in 2.5 years.
Thanks to Sylvale and Galaxxyss for doing some last minute playtesting and finding like 97 million different ways to skip the level (thanks spider pads).
I did leave in some small skips for fun though... I mean the level literally has "Fun" in the name, why wouldn't I? See how many you can find, there are also probably some ones I didn't even know existed in the first place :)
More stuff coming soon for sure.
Attempts: 4320 (exactly 700 new)
Enjoyment: 10/10 (0.5/10 getting 69% summer of 2023)
Worst fails: 76, 69, 62
Extreme Demon #256
Attempts: 4095
Enjoyment: 7/10
Worst fails: 72, 71, 57, 56x2, 53
Song: Nirvana by Madeon
Menu loop: youtube.com/watch?v=pb-ZgQL05RA&t=0s
Game version: 2.2 240fps, with CBF
Extreme Demon #255
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: 149 on the list (Deimos | Sazerix | Congregation)
Difficulty opinion: 133-139 on the list (Above Terminux, below no jokes)
Most of the level is fun but some spots really do just bring it down like 40% and 69% being completely blind and relying on muscle memory/audio cues. There's also many waves being big chokepoints like 45%, 49%, and 75%. There's also the predrop being insanely annoying when going from 0 initially but it does get a lot better.
I'm surprised I beat this as quick as I did; I got VERY lucky only dying 6 times to the second half and fluking from 75% which really shocked me because I was not good at the ending in runs. This does make me a lot more confident for levels in this difficulty range though and I'm happy I gave this a try now. If you can put up with a couple dumb clicks this level is certainly worth playing.
Attempts: 8089
Enjoyment: 8.5/10
Worst fails: 75, 69, 66, 60, 49x2
Song: Sonorous by Derpcat
Menu loop: youtube.com/watch?v=u9ZlTdVep7Y&t=0s
Game version: 2.2 240fps, with CBF
Completion date: 1/18/25
Extreme Demon #254
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: 63 on the list (Critical Heat | Trueffet | Aerial Gleam)
Difficulty opinion: 64-76 on the list (Above Fragile, below Aerial Gleam)
Attempts: 4042 (~1.2k from very old practice runs)
Enjoyment: 6/10
Worst fails: 88, 81x2, 74, 72, 70, 69x3, 55, 54x3, 49x2, 47, 46x7
Song: Nostalgia by onumi
Menu loop: youtube.com/watch?v=u9ZlTdVep7Y&t=0s
Game version: 2.2 240fps, with CBF
Completion date: 1/14/25
Extreme Demon #253
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: 123 on the list (SAND SAILOR | Omega Interface | Coral Cave)
Difficulty opinion: 127-130 on the list (Above no jokes, below The Rupture)
This level is absolutely incredible and one of the best creations of all time. I've always loved the claustrophobic nature of the gameplay combined with the song and very desaturated decoration that make for a "1940s" type of aesthetic. It's great for a first list demon, although has some minor chokepoints like the 48% green orb being more difficult in 2.2 (orb layering) and 72-100 being overall very awkward at first. But regardless, everything does certainly does get very consistent with time!
Easier than SNC and very very close to Renevant and Calculator Core in difficulty.
I am now above nSwish on the stats viewer which is kind of surreal to me, also ironic how it was with one of their own verifications.
Attempts: 12491 (~10k old)
Enjoyment: 9.5/10
Worst fails: 93, 71, 63, 58, 57, 53
Song: Violence... by ChristianMossuto
Menu loop: youtube.com/watch?v=u9ZlTdVep7Y&t=0s
Game version: 2.2 240fps, with CBF
Completion date: 1/11/25
Extreme Demon #252
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: 99 on the list (DIRECTIONS | Cognition | ATOMIC CANNON Mk II)
Difficulty opinion: 103-117 on the list (Above Ragnarok, below SARY NEVER CLEAR)
Anyways so yeah this is what I've been up to the past month or so... kind of. After beating Tartarus, I would begin to learn this level and progress very quickly but my motivation for the game would just not be high for the next few weeks so most of my time was spent on other things. After coming back from a short vacation 4 days ago though, I decided to grind this level with a more open mindset and managed to finally beat it after years of wanting to.
This level is I guess good but pretty annoying at times, especially when going from 0. The predrop is so mindnumbingly boring at first and takes forever to get consistent at (except the 28% ship which was always abysmal, very awkward click pattern) and the start of the drop is no better either, especially the 38% green orb and 42% straight fly which both pissed me off to no end. The rest of the gameplay is really really fun though, although it does certainly have some chokepoints like the 51% late orb timings, basically every click in the 54-58% being very easy to mindblock, and the 84% dual that killed what could have been a fluke from 63%. I then proceeded to mindblock the 70s for literally no reason but after finding a VERY helpful method for practicing this level (forcing 54-100 every time I died to it from 0) I was able to focus better and beat the level like 3 2nd half attempts later; when I passed the dual I genuinely felt invincible and I would kill for that feeling again. I highly recommend doing this if you are going for this level right now/have plans to do so in the future.
The decoration in this is solid but absolutely not a Cognition sequel I don't even know why it is officially labeled as that when it resembles Carcano infinitely times more (creo + glow) like be for real man.
For difficulty, this is genuinely so much easier than Tartarus it's actually incomparable. The gameplay here gets a LOT more consistent, even a lot of the chokepoints, something that never happened in Tartarus. Also like... 16k vs 37k is an absolute joke LOL (even only accounting for new attempts on Tartarus, this still took less). This is also easier than Verdant Landscape for me but it is VERY close; I thought both were basically the exact same difficulty for most of my time with this, but as I got more and more consistent I started to find it easier. VL is more painful from 0 anyways.
Overall, this level isn't the best but still very good for it's difficulty, and I'd even say I got better at timings just from this experience alone. It combines muscle memory and extremely late timings in a really satisfying way despite its issues, and I see why it has as many victors as it does right now.
Attempts: 16564
Enjoyment: 7.5/10
Worst fails: 86, 79, 75x2, 73x2, 72, 71, 65x3, 63, 62x2, 60x4, 58x4, 57x2, 56x7, 55x5, 54, 53x10, 52x4, 51x13
Song: Idolize by Creo
Menu loop: youtu.be/u9ZlTdVep7Y?si=_i_BeAEN9BTySXCp
Game version: 2.2 240fps, with CBF
Completion date: 1/9/25
Extreme Demon #251
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: 48 on the list (Jigsaw | Oblivion | Viprin UFO)
Difficulty opinion: ~53 on the list (barely easier than Verdant Landscape)
I know I said Tartarus would be the last thing I beat this year, but after a couple of my friends had the idea to race this level, I decided to join in too because why not.
I had already basically learnt this level from the thousands of attempts messing around in practice over the years, so progress was already off to a fast start. Within only a few hours, I already got runs such as 60% and 16-71%, which was quite motivating even though this is extremely second half heavy. It also felt very easy too, and when I got 82% I didn't think it would be any harder than Plasma Pulse Finale, but over the next couple sessions Enlex would begin to be a major roadblock.
Although EXTREMELY consistent and probably the most consistent extreme I’ve ever beaten (even more than multiple insane demons), like I said there is also the tradeoff that this is also one of the most backloaded levels I’ve ever beaten, primarily due to the existence of Enlex’s part at 73%. This part is the only reason this is even REMOTELY close to list worthy because it can break at least a million different ways. The waves honestly weren’t a big issue for me, it was just this part having a mind of its own and deciding whether it wants to actually work or not. It may not seem the worst playing from it in practice, but just imagine having to do that over two minutes into the level.
Regardless, the rest of the level is really good. Again, it’s super consistent and I wouldn't even get nervous at the 70s on my final attempts from 0. I also always thought the decoration was phenomenal, and I still do today. It’s obviously far from perfect, but the atmosphere it creates with the song is absolutely stunning and more than enough to make up for its imperfections. 82-100% might be the coolest set of parts in any level ever, and being there from 0 really is a feeling like no other. Although unfortunate I had a horrible choke missing the very easy yellow orb at 91% that I never died to before, I beat it 10 minutes later so it’s not too bad I suppose, once again comes to show how truly consistent this level gets because I also got 77% within that timeframe.
Overall, despite not being the most fun, there is no doubt in my mind this is one of the best megacollabs ever created and I’m so happy I finally got around to doing it now as I looked up to this level so much when I was a lot younger.
Attempts: 6011 (1728 of those being new)
Enjoyment: 8/10
Worst fails: 91, 82x2, 81, 80x3, 79x2, 78, 77, 76x4, 75, 73
Song: Infertehno 2 by SOcollab
Menu loop: youtube.com/watch?v=pb-ZgQL05RA&t=0s
Game version: 2.2 240fps, with CBF
Completion date: 12/28/24
Extreme Demon #250
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: 116 on the list (Escape Room | Ragnarok | TORN)
Difficulty opinion: 129-135 on the list (Above Terminux, below no jokes)
Despite being quite frustrating and stressful at times, I actually think this level is very good. All of the gameplay is extremely satisfying to play through, and it wasn't as inconsistent as I thought it’d be. That being said, there are a handful of chokepoints that are just beyond absurd, and having a mindblock on this level is an incredibly painful feeling.
Predrop (0-23%): Started off annoying, but I eventually got more comfortable with it over time. It is unfortunate that the first jump and 3% blue orb got made harder by 2.2 as I never got fully consistent with it, but at least it’s at the very beginning of the level. 13-23% is basically medium demon difficulty and the only time I died in this area was when I just completely zoned out.
First drop (23-48%): By FAR the hardest part of the level just because of the existence of the 31% and 45% straight flies, made even harder with fixed hitboxes and very weird transitions into them. It’s also just very easy to mindblock stuff like the 28% gap, 38% release, and the 43% yellow orb. The 32% wave was no better either, I only actually got good at it the day before I beat it. I still actually like this part but my god is it impossible.
Slow part (46-64%): IMO the best part of the level. Both of these parts look absolutely fantastic, the gameplay has no major chokepoints, AND I had no major mindblocks with it (the best part!!!!!). I did get hard stuck at the start of the swingcopter for a bit, though that’s really it.
Second drop (64-82%): First off, I just want to say 64-100% being the easiest third of the level is a very large misconception. It may be the easiest by pure difficulty, but from 0 it’s just so chokeable it’s actually ridiculous like for god’s sake I died FIVE TIMES to the ball and wave at 67%. Anyways onto the part, it’s probably the worst one overall but it’s still decent at least. It is extremely chokepoint carried by the 72% jump and the 75% ball timings, and it’s also just so easy to mess up the 77% straight fly, 78% orb timings, 80% straight fly, and 81% cube timing which I somehow didn't mess up from 0. Not only is the timing itself very hard, you can supposedly still survive but jump too late to where you get a bad alignment for the next few buffer clicks and die at 82%, which I’m not 100% sure is 2.2 exclusive… but I’m just glad to not die there.
Ending (82-100%): Probably some of the most nerves I’ve ever felt in a while. 82-90% isn’t that bad (albeit very chokeable) (88% ☹️) but 90-100% oh my god my face was genuinely burning red. You need to get past two absurdly difficult waves and a very stressful last timing that looms over your head the full experience. You can see from my reaction just how shocked I was to fluke 97 and 98.
Now for my experience… man oh man what a ride this was. I started actually playing this for fun over a year ago when my hardest was nowhere near this level. I put in about 9k attempts then but my best runs were only 41-75, 52-98 and 59-100 and I wasn't so sure if I was ready to get ready for a long time investment, so I just left it on the side.
The second time I came back to this was earlier this year in February/March, I ended up getting 45% and 35-100, which did boost confidence because that was connecting runs but then I got demotivated again.
The third and final time I grinded this level was almost 3 weeks ago, and this is where stuff finally gets done. As each new day passed, I would get more and more consistent with the level (one Endlevel attempt per session turned into multiple, and then the swingcopter, the UFO, the second drop, and so on) and have a much easier time pulling off runs such as 35-100. In fact, I returned to this because I thought it would’ve been really cool to finally finish this off before my birthday on the 31st, which really just made the completion all the more satisfying after failing with Calculator Core last year.
This will be my final list demon of this year and I could not have ended it off any better. It really feels like a huge weight has finally been lifted off my shoulders. Thank you so much to everyone that supported me through my time playing this level, whether it was starting out over a year ago or just yesterday. It really does mean a lot and I wouldn't trade it for anything else in the world.
❤️
Attempts: 37312
Enjoyment: 8/10
Worst fails: 91, 88, 80, 77, 75x6
Song: Clubstep by DJ-Nate
Menu loop: youtube.com/watch?v=pb-ZgQL05RA&t=0s
Game version: 2.2 240fps, with CBF
Completion date: 12/12/24
Extreme Demon #242
NLW Spreadsheet tier/List placement: 44 on the list (BPATA MPAKA | Tartarus | Jigsaw)
Difficulty opinion: Absolutely way harder than Verdant Landscape and at least twice as hard as Aerial Gleam and Fragile, if only I had something above to compare it with lol…
Attempts: 412
Enjoyment: 10/10
Worst fail: 31%


