Altered Ascent

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~ originator

Altered Ascent is a 2.1 Extreme Demon mega-collaboration hosted and published by Prism and originally verified by npesta on April 4, 2020, along with a balance update verified by Doggie on July 19, 2021. As its name suggests, it is a buffed and redesigned remake of the popular 2.0 level Artificial Ascent.

Gameplay

The gameplay is the same as Artificial Ascent in most parts, except for notable buffs.

• 0-4% (Genericqueso): The level starts with a half-speed cube section. This part is commonly seen as the easiest, featuring some easy-timed jumps and some orbs to hit. This part contains grey primarily, yellow and blue decorations in the form of small orbs floating in the sky. The end of the part shows Codex's name, only to be switched with the word 'Queso', which is short for Genericqueso.
• 5-13% (Angryboy): Occurring at the drop part is a very tight mini-wave segment, which becomes a wave (triple-speed) and then a mini-ship sequence with a few green orbs and portals. There is a short mini-cube block maze with Angryboy's name appearing. Then, a ship sequence with a few gravity portals and a dual-mini-ball. Next is another ship sequence comprised of narrow spaces and a mini-cube section with blue orbs to end his part.
• 13-18% (Prism): Prism's part starts with a double-speed ship sequence with a couple of gravity portals in a one-block flying space. It then changes into a mini-ball with some spamming and a red orb which requires precise timing as there is a spike in front of it. The mini-ball transitions into a dual-cube section with a single jump, and the bottom cube turns into a normal-sized ship which requires precise timing to jump for the cube while still maintaining a straight-fly. It turns back into a single mini-UFO with tricky timings. Then, the level transitions into a robot with difficult green and blue orb timings. Finally, it changes into a wave segment with tight spaces enclosed with spikes and then a mini-wave, which also has very tight spaces, and then it turns back into a mini-cube.
• 19-25% (Shocksidian): This part starts with a single-speed mini-cube section and then a wave segment which transitions into a triple-speed mini-wave with tight spaces. It turns into a mini-ball with a small timing on a pink orb and some spamming on blue orbs. The player turns into a mini-cube and must hit a blue orb. Then, they become an upside-down mini-ship and must straight-fly through a gravity portal. They must hit a green orb and become a mini-cube with a block maze.
• 25-28% (Juhou + Ryder): Claimed to be the hardest part (while still being the shortest), this part starts with an asymmetrical dual-ship sequence with a yellow orb that one of the ships has to hit while maintaining a straight-fly on the other ship, making timing more difficult for the player. Both ships hit the surface, and the player splits apart by hitting a yellow orb, making them go through the portal. After that, there is a straight-fly section where both ships must hit two yellow orbs. Next is a cube segment, where they launch into the air and must hit a black orb to reach the next part.
• 28-32% (GS Craig): This part is noticeably decorated with blue and orange, making it stand out more than all the other parts. It starts with a large block jump where the player must land on an invisible platform on top of a spike, then a high jump leading into a spam-based mini-wave segment. Then are two yellow orbs and a triple-spike jump.
• 32-36% (Drakaglin): This part contains a background pulsing in various colours and some very detailed block design. The gameplay of this part is entirely played as a ship with some moderately tricky flying with orbs to hit and gravity portals to go through. The very end of this part is two straight-fly segments, unlike an auto part like in Artificial Ascent.
• 36-40% (Eclipsed): Unlike the previous part, this one only uses one type of colour: blue in many shades. Eclipsed's part begins with a short block maze and a ship sequence requiring some timing to hit a yellow and green orb consecutively. Then comes another little longer block maze containing more orbs than the first one, and to end the part, a short mini-UFO spam segment.
• 40-44% (Nico99): This part starts off with a ball segment. Here, the player must traverse numerous platforms and a green orb which requires timing to allow them to go through a small tunnel. The player changes into a mini-ball with a yellow pad shooting them up and switching gravity, where they transition into a mini-wave with some tight spaces. The player then switches into a cube with a jump and a pink orb which requires precise timing due to a half spike underneath it. The player then hits a single-speed portal, and a full triple-spike jump is needed to pass the obstacle. It continues with a simple green orb timing and ends with a moderately tight ship section.
• 44-48% (Pennutoh): Starting with an insane straight-fly segment, a triple-speed ship sequence begins that features numerous gravity portals with very tight spaces to fly through and a yellow orb leading into a cube with a single jump rapidly entering a wave portal. This wave is very tight and goes well with the song's melody, which can guide the player. Using a similar cube transition like the one before, the player must now perform a short UFO spam and then do a quick, hard straight-fly segment.
• 49-53% (Failure444): This part starts with two spike jumps with some timing required. After this, the player changes into a mini-cube with two jumps needed to proceed into the next segment. The player transitions into a mini-ball part requiring extreme timing to get through the spikes, similar to the last ball in Necropolis. Lastly, it changes into a mini-robot part with two jumps with minor timings, and lastly, the player enters a half-speed ship sequence.
• 53-58% (Th04): The song slows down as the player enters into Th04's part. This part begins with a half-speed ship sequence with high manoeuvrability required as it also switches to double-speed for a moment. Then, a quick double-speed cube jump follows. Then, it goes into a half-speed wave segment with similar gameplay to the ship sequence but designed for the wave. Throughout the part, all decorations change colours in the corresponding order: blue-green-yellow-red.
• 58-64% (Straw): Much like Eclipsed's part, this part utilises only different shades of blue as its colour. The part begins with a mini-cube with some difficult timings involved while jumping and hitting orbs. An equally tricky ball comes next with many orbs of different types to tap. Coming up is a mini-UFO with precise timings and changing size at some points. In the end, a straight-flying section contains size and gravity portals throughout the song's beat.
• 64-70% (Sminx): This part starts as a long, tight ship sequence with the player having to manoeuvre through tons of spikes on the way and moving rainbow obstacles possessing a significant threat. It then progresses to UFO and quickly transforms into a tight wave segment and a ball with transparent gameplay in the second half of his part. The part is primarily black and white and features many moving objects with numerous rainbow decorations.
• 70-77% (Lieb): With the song gaining some of the 'upbeatness' again, this part is timing-based primarily and features many orbs to hit, pink being the primary colour choice. It begins with a double-speed portal leading into more orbs to hit, along with a short straight-fly sequence with gravity portals throughout before returning to the cube again. Then the player will find a cluster of orbs where it is required to remember which ones to hit. A short UFO segment follows with some gravity portals and then another cube segment where crucial timing is essential. The final moments play as a narrow wave segment and a mini-cube section with a few jumps and some yellow/blue orbs before ending.
• 77-83% (Bianox): This part frequently alternates between cube and robot, comprising of suspended platforms with a bunch of spikes and gears to avoid through the whole part. Timing is essential here as all different types of orbs scatter to mess the player up as hard as possible. The blocks here have stripe decorations going through them, along with a rainbow-moving background with similar platform motifs. Two final jumps end his part and lead the robot into the second to last part of the level.
• 83-90% (Sminx + Voltex): This part starts with a relatively tricky mini-ship straight-fly sequence with numerous yellow orbs to avoid mid-flight along with four green orbs to hit in succession right before transitioning into a wave with some moderate difficulty to it, and after that, a relatively easy mini-UFO segment (compared to the rest of the level) with some timing to it. Following this is a small cube maze with a single green orb to hit, guiding the player into another ship sequence similar to the first one. This part also features constellations flying past the screen, both foreground and background, giving it a spacious feeling.
• 91-100% (Logic): The last part of the level, Logic's part features a very active background flashing in different shades of blue and pink throughout the part. It begins with a cube dual, rapidly becoming a mixed dual, switching between all kinds of game modes, one after another. There is a mini-straight-fly in the middle of the part before quickly returning to the intense mixed dual. It continues until a final solo cube appears with two-timing free orb jumps.

Trivia

• The level cannot be copied. However, it was previously free to copy.
• The level contains 176,722 objects.
• The level is 2m 25s in length.
• The level was rated on April 8, 2020.
• The level was initially placed at #45 on the Demonlist on April 22, 2020, above Dolos (#46) and below Factory Realm X (#44).
  • This addition to the Demonlist knocked SINGULARITY into the Extended List and Unearthed into the Legacy List.
    • Coincidentally, Unearthed is another one of npesta's verifications.
• This level was originally set to be verified by Combined, the original verifier of Artificial Ascent, but after a 96% fail, it passed to npesta.
• There is a running joke surrounding the person GS Craig popularized with this level. The joke is that no one knows who Prism and himself are, and the host also does not tell anyone about this person.
• The placement of Ourwa on May 7, 2023, knocked Altered Ascent into the Legacy List of the Demonlist.

Video

File:Altered Ascent VERIFIED (Extreme Demon) by Prism and More - Geometry Dash

The verification of Altered Ascent. The completion is at 7:30. Credits to npesta.