#I don't mean to spam the ultrakill spoilers tag I just want to tag spoilers and I have so many thoughts lmao so don't mind me

[inverse-problem]

alright layer 7 first day impressions! (played each layer twice more or less so not first impressions but still I just need to get my thoughts out. do not expect anything good, I'm just stream-of-consciousness rambling.) major detailed spoilers under the cut!

7-1: oooh love the blood painting with violence aesthetic, it turned out so well. mannequins are really fun! bit confusing to navigate but I think that was sort of the point, given the layer name. loved the lore in the book

and then the minotaur. (nice house of leaves reference!) took me a while because I was out of practice and I fell off the platforms a lot but ough great lore, there. love that we got more details about minos, as tragic as it was. and the phase 2 at the end of the level genuinely startled me! anyway whoa, really strong start to a layer

7-2: cool to start with the gutterman right off the bat; finally, I am forced to learn to switch fists. really liked the gutterman design and lore, and the guttertanks were a nice surprise, also. the timing whiplash things were a bit tricky, because I suck at platforming, but I got the hang of them faster than I expected. I died a lot in the room with the stalker. the whole war aesthetic with the warheads and the sort of industrial aesthetic was really good, and I thought the bomb was a great addition. also seeing the earthmovers in the distance and bullets flying across the sky, very intense aesthetic, very fitting. also, cool level design, I the part where walls fall down in front of you! very cool! just got a bit confused about navigation in some places but it was intuitive enough, and easier to find my way around than 7-1

7-3: holy shit the beginning made me really emotional. the trees were so poignant, and they look beautiful also. interesting way to do a key hunt sort of thing, too. the little gates were a nice aesthetic touch, also. seeing the demons and the war machines fight was really interesting (and also made the fights easier when I was starting to get physically tired, haha). great use of the dual wield powerup also. fantastic ambiance overall, very evocative. the tree imagery and accompanying music is stuck in my mind

7-4: I love it when a boss is also the level! good shit! the platforming here was fun for me, which is cool, because I'm not always big on it. really solid industrial aesthetic throughout the level. loved all the greebling and the signs and stuff; curious to know what the japanese text on the signs translates to. was a bit unsure where to aim during the security system fight, but thankfully marksman revolver helped me figure it out. the rising deadly liquid freaked me out at first because I hate timing challenges, but thankfully that didn't end up being an issue at all. loved the level layout overall, really got the impression I was clambering into a giant war machine, which was a blast. the heart boss itself was so-so for me because I'm not a big fan of spinny arena-spanning things like that, but the healing opportunities with the idols were nice, and parrying the projectiles really helped me a lot! the timer at the end was also a bit nerve-wracking but gave me ample time, and it was extremely worth it to jump out of a giant exploding war engine. felt really badass. and the lore implications are fascinating, I need to think a bunch because whoa. the fact that humanity just lived on those for a while is very interesting

overall thoughts: bit of a difficulty jump, but once I got used to things again, the difficulty was at a good level, to me. and these levels were really fun and interesting! I need to actually find the secrets and secret encounter etc (only found one by accident so far in 7-1), but I'll leave that for later. holy shit, I'm so happy, though, what a great new set of levels!