RUST

Template:Infobox Level RUST is a 2.1 solo Extreme Demon level created and published by neigefeu and verified by Keir on 28 July 2021. It is a highly atmospheric and technology-themed level, featuring smoggy effects and extremely tight timing gameplay, which was inspired by Black Blizzard and Sunset Sandstorm.

The level has been praised for having great music sync and original, high-quality decoration. It has also gained vast popularity among skilled players, having achieved over 600 victors. The level was playtested by 30 people.

History

2020

The first mention of the level dates back to 3 November, when neigefeu published a showcase of its layout on his YouTube channel. neigefeu explained that he wanted RUST to place within the Top 50 of the Demonlist, however, some estimates said that it might have the difficulty of a Top 10-20 Demon. On 10 December, he made a 20 second preview of a part of the level's completed decoration.

2021

On 4 January, the second preview of RUST's decoration was uploaded on his channel. neigefeu shared that the playtesters of the level agreed on its difficulty, saying it can place within the Top 20 of the Demonlist. On 12 February, he uploaded the last and final preview. On 26 July, he showcased the entire level. neigefeu said he was originally going to verify the level, as he wanted RUST to be the hardest fully-solo Extreme Demon. However, after spending 88,300 attempts on the verification, he gave up playing it. Instead of canceling the level, he passed the verification to Keir.

Verification

Keir verified RUST on 28 July 2021 after 10,671 attempts. He also fluked it from 59%. Keir added that the level's difficulty might comfortably place in the Top 10 of the Demonlist.

The level was uploaded to the servers on 28 July, and on 31 July, it received an Epic rating.

Gameplay

• 0-18%: RUST begins with a yellow pad that launches the player's cube into a yellow orb that must be hit. Next is a blue orb followed by a yellow orb that must be hit very late to avoid crashing on a block. Two simple green orb timings are next, followed by a black orb before a tight green orb timing. After going through a blue gravity portal, the player must perform a double-input to hit both the blue and yellow orbs quickly. After avoiding the next blue orb in the platform, the blue orb after that must be hit late. The player must then jump and hit a green orb that appears to be a yellow orb at first. Next is some tight cube jumps (including one jump through what looks like an obstacle) before another double-input, this time being a green and red orb. After one more jump, a blue orb must be hit before immediately performing another double-input with a blue and red orb. The player must then jump and hit a green orb before hitting a blue orb. Another double-input follows with a blue and green orb before a black orb. Next, the player must hit a pink dash orb very late and hold it down for a short time, hitting a blue orb directly after releasing it. A green dash orb is next which the player must quickly hold and release, before jumping over a singular spike. The player then falls onto a flat platform and must jump over a gear object and hit one last blue orb quickly after hitting a blue pad. The title screen of RUST appears before the level's drop begins.
• 19-30%: The drop begins with a triple-speed transition and a yellow pad. The player must then hit three orbs before going into an extremely tight ship part where they must maneuver around spike pillars and hit green orbs. Then, the player becomes a cube again and must hit a blue orb quickly followed by a black orb, green orb, and pink dash orb. Green, black, blue, and yellow orbs must be hit next, in that order. Four black orbs in gravity portals must then be hit precisely to avoid crashing into spike pillars. More orb timings follow before the player becomes a ball.
• 31-38%: The ball starts with a green orb, which you activate after you switch gravity from a platform beneath the portal, this pushes the ball upwards. Next, you hit a blue orb late, which hits a blue pad, and hit a yellow orb early. After that, you hit a black orb which goes to a yellow gravity portal with a green orb inside it. After hitting the green orb, you switch gravity on a platform and do not hit the blue orb yet. after hitting the platform, you then hit the blue orb. this causes you to go to the platform below you quickly and avoid dying. Next, you switch gravity and tap a yellow orb perfectly to avoid dying to two spikes and hitting a blue orb. Next, you have to tap very quickly and change gravity to be reverted to normal gravity by a blue pad. this continues twice and the last one you end by hitting a yellow orb. This pushes you up and you can tap a green orb and turn into an upside-down wave.
• 38-44%: Next is an upside-down wave part where the player must carefully fly between a couple of spikes and tight spaces. Next, you must hit a yellow orb immediately after entering a cube portal while still in anti-gravity. Then you become a normal gravity mini-wave and must navigate between some more tight spaces, then encounter two cube portals, one of which contains a green orb inside of it. [How does that even work?] Next is yet another wave part with even more tight spaces, then a cube part in which you must jump at the edge of the platform you land on. Hit a blue orb late to fall into two blue gravity portals, land on a pink jump pad, and clear this area.
• 44-57%: The player once again becomes a ship and has to fly through narrow spikes, with the black orbs and gravity portals making this section more difficult. After this, the player turns into a cube and navigates through a sequence of orb clicking, sometimes double-clicking on blue and red spheres. After a few more clicks, and the player flies to the next section on two pink orbs.
• 57-70%: The player becomes a UFO and makes precise clicks in tight spaces using multiple blue and dash orbs. Afterward, as a cube again, the plaer makes several clicks on black orbs located in pillar-like structures, interacting with pink pads to bounce off the structure and reach the next one. Then, a short transition from the portal happens, with the player reaching a section with cluttered with orbs, then has to make a few clicks that lead into the next section.
• 70-84%: The music fades, and the speed slows down. Whlist controlling the cube, the player makes precise clicks, jumps over spikes, and interacts with numerous orbs in narrow corridors, holding the dash orbs. After a short break, the player clicks a green orb and holds pink dash orb, reaching the two moving dash orbs and holding the dash orbs again. If released at the right time, the player will reach the orbs that he then clicks and enters into the next section.
• 84-100%: The player shrinks and once again faces very narrow spaces between structures filled with various orbs. After holding the dash orb, he has to click the incoming orbs a couple of times, entering a gravity portal. A short break begins, where the player must jump up and down the structure's 'steps' a few times. After jumping over the spikes, the player is thrown up by a jump pad, and he finds himself in a section filled with orbs. The player increases in size, double-clicking the blue orb, then jumps to the black orbs, makes a precise click on it to bounce off the edge of the structure, and flies over the final obstacle (a spike), landing on the level's art.

First 10 victors

Victor #	Player	Date Completed	Total Attempts	Furthest Fail	Video
Verifier	Keir	28 July 2021	10,671	59%	YouTube
1	Kelvin	31 July 2021	10,226	89%	YouTube
2	Crisis	7 August 2021	15,054	95%	YouTube
3	Paliermu	30 August 2021	~30,000	96%	YouTube
4	Wolvez	30 August 2021	3,999	?	YouTube
5	Crimsonking22	31 August 2021	~40,225	96%	YouTube
6	Bradenbowl	1 September 2021	35,743	96%	YouTube
7	RG	5 October 2021	~7,500	?	YouTube
8	skzyl	8 October 2021	22,449	95%	YouTube
9	Cymmas	19 October 2021	7,996	96%	YouTube
10	ShadowGao	27 October 2021	33,010	84%	YouTube

Trivia

• The level is free to copy.
• The level contains 39,062 objects.
• The level is 1m 24s in length.
• The level was rated on 31 July 2021.
• The level was initially placed at #17 on the Demonlist on 25 August 2021, above The Rupture and below Cognition.
  • This addition pushed Stalemate Redux into the Extended List and RASH into the Legacy List.
• The level was ranked #76 in GDToday's 100 Greatest Levels of All Time list.
• The level was nominated for Best Extreme Demon in the Geometry Dash 2021 Awards.
• At some points during the level's creation, it received some hate from the community for its decoration and gameplay. neigefeu has since responded in a Pastebin.
  • He also wrote that he themed the level around "broken, decaying technology" to distance it from Sunset Sandstorm, which has similar gameplay and the song as RUST.
• RUST was in EricVanWilderman's 12 Demons of Christmas 2022 Community series as Demon #4.
• The placement of Terminal Rampancy on 11 June 2023 pushed RUST out of the Top 50 of the Demonlist.
  • The placement of Jigsaw on 5 January 2024 pushed RUST into the Extended List of the Demonlist.
    • The placement of Waterfall on 19 November 2024 pushed RUST out of the Top 100 of the Demonlist.

Video

• Credits to Keir.
  Credits to Keir.