Menace

“

quote

~ originator

Menace is a 2.2 solo Extreme Demon level created and published by MannyHeffley and verified by Whizkid05. The level, which includes an original song by MannyHeffley, explores the concept of abandoning morality and its consequences. It includes original writings by the creator interwoven throughout. Its development began in early 2024, with the full layout debuting on the creator's channel on April 5, 2024 and the final decorated version following on April 30. Whizkid05 verified the level on July 14 after 45,000 attempts and over a month of work. The level received praise for its technical effort and being one of the first top Demons to feature 2.2 elements prominently. Its difficulty consists of unconventional timings, gimmicks, and quick dual segments, frequently featuring icons on the same gravity.

Gameplay

The level begins with a difficult robot section featuring jumps off spike edges and precise orb timing. It then accelerates into a ball segment, presenting similar timing challenges. Following this, there is a mini-cube with three spider orb timings, then an automatic transition to a robot section at 10%, where the player needs to cling to floating blue pads to remain airborne. The level decelerates into another mini-cube segment with complex block shapes and challenging orb timings, similar to Black Blizzard. Finally, the following UFO section includes difficult timings and tight spaces before tension builds for the drop.

After the level's title is displayed, the drop begins, with the first half consisting of a fast-paced sequence with frequent game mode changes. It features difficult asymmetrical duals and unique mechanics, such as a same-gravity swing dual at 29%. A notable segment at 34% focuses solely on robot gameplay. The second half of the drop begins with a dual-ship transition in which the two ships appear to be approaching each other. It then accelerates to quadruple speed, displaying robot and spider timings. A cube with the same blue pad gimmick as the 10% robot section follows. The level then quickly switches between game modes, each containing 1-2 clicks, before moving on to a swing section, three repeated cube timings, a longer cube section and additional robot timings. Then, there is a wave segment with a gravity-flipping dash orb leading to a short cube section that completes the drop.

After the drop ends lies a long cube section completely slowed by a timewarp trigger, with a size switch halfway through and unusual timings such as jumping off sides of block towers and spike edges. It concludes with three orb timings, the third launching the player into a difficult swing section that tests endurance and swing control. There are a few fake paths, such as routes inside gears. Towards the end of the section, it builds tension by accelerating to double speed before the second drop.

When the second drop starts, the level introduces a dual-cube gimmick in which both cubes must repeatedly hit a dash orb to navigate through a moving, invisible spike gap, repeated four times. The gimmick is then repeated four more times in a straight-fly ship section. Then comes a complex asymmetrical dual-cube part with size changes and invisible collision blocks, followed by a difficult same-gravity dual-ship segment. The level then presents a brief symmetrical cube dual, an asymmetrical wave, and an asymmetrical swing segment. The finale alternates between game modes: a timing-heavy robot part, two difficult wave clicks, a ship segment testing vertical control, and a final robot segment with six dash orb timings and four spider orb timings.

The end screen displays an eyeball artwork with the title, creator, playtesters, font and verifier.

Transcript

According to Manny Heffley, his writings attempt to answer the question: 'Should I let go of morality, and if I do, what will I become?' The text is interwoven throughout the level.

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Trivia

• The level is free to copy.
• The level contains 77,620 objects.
• The level is 3m 9s in duration.
• The level was rated on July 15, 2024, one day after verification.
• The level was initially placed at #11 on the Demonlist on August 15, 2024, above Firework (#12) and below KOCMOC (#10).
  • This addition pushed shimmer into the Extended List and Plasma Pulse Finale into the Legacy List, ending its nearly seven-year reign on the list.
• It is currently the third hardest Epic-rated level in the game, only surpassed by KOCMOC and Spectre.
• It is currently the hardest level verified in completely vanilla Geometry Dash, as Mega Hack and Geode were not yet available in Update 2.206 by the time Whizkid05 started verifying.
  • He also used exclusively Practice Mode throughout the verification process, due to the Startpos trigger causing camera bugs and de-sync issues.

Videos

VerificationShowcase

File:(Verified!) Menace 100%!

The verification of Menace. Credits to Whizkid05.

File:Menace Showcase (Solo Top 20) ~ By MannyHeffley

The full detail showcase of Menace. Credits to Manny Heffley.