Hej hej! After 4 months, I have finally conquered the most daunting part of my quest to play and rate every KS level.
703 697 levels later, here are my personal letter grade reviews for levels submitted by authors N-S, corresponding to pages 18-25 on knyttlevels.com.
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What each grade corresponds to: OUTDATED Obsolete versions of levels (see newer version for review)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
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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/1BZHKZnLvsjdrpTRF7z6tdhQaN8bL2FRoP96rAa7nMhU/edit?usp=sharingIf 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/Vkyxc1FSorted by grade (Imgur): https://imgur.com/a/ZuhXcyPSorted by author (Imgur): https://imgur.com/a/NocG0ko-----