Thanks for the recommendations, everyone!

Please tell me why "The World" by Toudou got a C+? Have you seen DonDoli's playthrough? He is suffering.

I just played that a few days ago. There were multiple points that had me questioning "Was this an intentional choice or not great level design?" which is unfortunately common with these really old levels. Multiple near perfect jumps over deadly cactii near the beginning, a vase that teleports you to a void screen, fake ground that drops you into a spike pit, random unclimbable walls over water, etc.

I'm assuming that it was going for a IWBTG vibe and maybe I'm a masochist? I normally enjoy the extra challenge but I think I was out-trolled by the end. Will need to revisit when I'm in a zen state (or learn to understand French).

 The majority of these were filled out over the years but I don't see myself making it to the end of the alphabet (sorry ZAPAZOIDS!).

23 months and 2800+ levels later, the above statement is no longer true.

If playing every level on knyttlevels.com is a marathon, I am currently about 10 steps away from the finish line. My legs feel like jelly, I've had a rock in my left shoe for the last 12km, but there's a smile on my face. About 60 levels have been released after their respective posts, so those ratings will come in the final wrap-up post when I can officially say that I've played every level on knyttlevels.com. Until then...

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The usual disclaimer: I don't consider myself an authority on what makes a "good" level. It's a lot easier for me to fill in a single letter on a spreadsheet than spend hours making these levels so if a particular grade seems unfair I am more than happy to give more in-depth thoughts on any particular level.

As always, these ratings aren't meant to discourage anyone or be harsh. Making a level always beats not making a level.


What each grade corresponds to:   

OUTDATED   Obsolete versions of levels (see newer version for review)     
N/A  Tileset showcases, demos, etc. that can't be judged for gameplay     
---   ---     
F   Broken / flawed to the point of unplayable     
D   Severe issues (see criteria below) that makes completing the level unenjoyable / will not replay     
C   Average levels / no strong feelings one way or the other / good aspects counteracted by flaws     
B   Great levels that are replayable, or great level concepts       
A   Must-play levels     


Things that may negatively impact grade (-):               
Broken levels           
Random tile or enemy spam           
Excessive "hallway screens" that pad-out level with no challenge or noteworthy visuals           
Unnessesarily long walking period before recieving run powerup (unrelated to challenge)           
Arbitrary hidden spikes / invisible death tiles           
Wall clipping on screen transitions / void pits           
Poor distinction between foreground / background tiles           
Poor save point placement (e.g. save point > multple hallway screens > challenge)           
Surprise death by environment/enemy immediately on screen transition           


While playing each level, I've considered its gameplay (challenge, platforming, puzzle) , art (quality of assets/tileset), worldbuilding (unique lore, worlds that feel "alive"), atmosphere (mood), music, and storytelling. My ratings are gameplay-forward, meaning, for example, that a "fun to play" level with average graphics typically will be rated higher than a tedious level with great graphics.


I'm biased in favor of (+):
difficulty:   hard / very hard
genre:   puzzles
art style:   simple and stylized (e.g. Hostile Landscape) can score just as well as 'realistic / heavily detailed' art
mechanic:   use of minimap
   
I'm biased against (-):
genre: mazes   
genre: massive exploration levels   


Without further to do...

SPREADSHEET:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1v-uHb33VGBn20NcF-JZE0YhRgCWnN_aptWlVVhLk9Aw/edit?usp=sharing


If you are unable to sort/edit due to the permission settings, feel free to make a copy of the sheet.

Stats (Imgur): https://imgur.com/a/f7Q62KA

Sorted by grade (Imgur): https://imgur.com/a/flxfke1

Sorted by author (Imgur): https://imgur.com/a/ECfbBHs

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Imagine my surprise when the 'queen of dialogue' creates a level with minimal text that completely transcends the original. Absolutely love the atmosphere overall. The environment has a dream-like quality (wow that purple) and the music really ties it together (my personal favorite is the heavy synth song that plays in the floating cloud area, very bladerunner-esque).

The challenge was at a good level IMO. There were some a few trickier parts (like hopping over the baby spike ball inside the castle) which gave a feeling that this place is more dangerous than the first adventure, to good effect.

Looking forward to another playthrough of this!


^{P.S. THANK YOU for incorporating the minimap.}

It looks like you skipped the original Azure Serenity from 2014. Did you deem it redundant in light of the ongoing remake?

The reviews only cover levels on knyttlevels.com so far - non-archive reviews will come later.

I'm planning on asking Shreeps when the time comes if they consider the original a "previous version" of Tranquil Dreams, or if it should be reviewed as a separate level. Speaking of Tranquil Dreams, WIP levels are typically rated as N/A, so I will either just rate Salty Seas, or rate TD for what it is so far with SS being included in that.

There were a whopping 19(!) levels rated 'A', which is more than parts I-III combined. Check them out!

My favorite levels of part IV: LPChip Hooray Fun Time - Nifforum and Dark Sea 2v1.1 - SecretGlitch

Rating Nifflas' levels were tough. Some parts seemed cliché now, but that's only because his levels were so influential. I factored in that all of the tilesets used in the levels were completely custom. Surprisingly, the only level that I didn't love when revisiting was 'The Machine' but I'm looking forward to playing Nifforum's take on the level!

Looking ahead:

Part V [Authors T-Z] will be smooth sailing with "only" 450 levels.

Part VI will be for all the levels that aren't on the archive. I'll be checking egomassive's, mitorun's, across the juniverse, under the umbrella, as well as the Nifforum. Thank you to everyone who gave suggestions in the last thread. Feel free to DM me levels or point me in the right direction!

Finally, Part VII will wrap things up with a spreadsheet of all (likely) 3000+ levels, a stat pack, in-depth reviews of my favorite levels, and more. I'll also go back and review all the levels that had been released after I made each part*.

*(For authors N-S, this includes "The Machine reversed - Nifflas", "Gustav's Abstraction - Polana", and "The Machine - Nifforum" at the time of writing this)

So great!

I came into it blind and was not expecting so many unique slices of life. I've never been but it feels like you captured the atmosphere of each (do they really have camels??). My favorite screens were the campground with the turbines, the crystal lady's house, the motel with the skater girl, and the golfcourse. (really smooth animations)

The dialogue is perfect. "Mornin' Junebug! Get along lil doggie!"

The Gate of the Five Zero Coin was a funny cameo, but they found a way to take my money in the end. (At least the burgers were free)

Those cutaways were a really nice touch (the hacking mechanic, drug trip, girl's fish story). Gives me inspiration for a future level....

p.s. I thought the reward for finding all of the artifacts was definitely worth it

Awesome work!!

Was your first playthrough before Shreeps updated the level at the end of last year?

I don't remember ever leaving the hub and losing all of my powerups (i.e. starting a new chapter) back then so you're probably right.

Kilicool64 inspired me to (re)play this level in another thread so here's my thoughts:

I selected the option to start at the newest content (i.e. the apocalypse guild / pirate themed hub) so my review only pertains to that.

There's many aspects of this level that reappear in Gustav's Retribution and it's cool to see the similarities!

I'll always proclaim my love for levels that use the KS+ minimap, so thank you for including that. Likewise, the sub-level maps that can be found were very helpful, though finding and remembering the screens with the maps was occasionally a struggle. Two big roadblocks for me were 1) finding a coin for the wizard's spell and 2) finding the 6th(?) map, both leading to a LOT of back tracking.  (The hub info center in GR was a big improvement on this).

I'd rate the boss fights at a very-hard/lunatic-at-times level. With the sheer amount of random projectile enemies, it often felt very luck dependent. The levels themselves were engaging and I didn't feel like they were padded out just to increase the size.

I wasn't as big of a fan of the keys (mostly having to remember which subworld I saw the key doors in for future use). I ended up stopping after getting the red key. I never did figure out what those scrolls were (that say "you don't have the required rank") but these might not yet be implemented?

Ditto what Kilicool64 said about some screens being impossible to mark. Seeing those unmarked screens in edges of the minimap made it tough to know if I truly completed the areas. 

Overall I really enjoyed this, and like I said, Gustav's Retribution took many of these ideas and made them better.