Acu
Acu
ID
61079355
Creator(s)
Created
Last updated
Acu (ah-kyoo) is a 2.1 Extreme Demon level by neigefeu, published on 22 April 2020. It is considered one of the first modern-style Extreme Demon levels ever to be released. A vast majority of players consider this to be a low-end Extreme Demon and a good entry-level Extreme Demon due to how accessible it is. The community often considers Acu to be fun and consistent, but some disagree.
Description
- 0-13%: Acu begins with a long normal-speed mini cube section featuring difficult timings. The player must jump between spikes and time orb inputs to pass this section. Between the mini-cube sections is a small ball-and-mini-wave segment with specific timings and tight gaps. There is also a small cube maze in this section; however, it requires minimal memory. During this cube maze, the player must time their jumps to avoid spikes and land on platforms.
- 13-27%: After a series of orbs, the player gets launched into the air, where they must time their inputs to the music. A blue orb starts following the player on both the x and y-axis, so whenever they make an input, they hit the blue orb and change gravity. The player then enters a maze full of spikes on both platforms, as well as some gravity changes in the middle. The blue orb helps the player navigate this maze. A double-speed cube section follows, where the player must hold to avoid the fake orbs. There is a small section with synced timings before the cube slows to half speed, and the player must perform a few simple timings.
- 27-45%: Then, the drop starts. The player accelerates to triple speed and enters a wave section. First, the player must press a blue orb located between two structures to change their gravity, allowing them to hit a green orb and a yellow orb as a cube at 28%. After that, the player must hit a trigger orb to go into a mini wave part with tighter timings. Next, the player becomes a spider and must perform two simple timings. Following this, the player turns back into a cube and must hit a yellow orb and a green orb, with a fake black orb in the middle that must be avoided. Next is a single UFO timing, followed by two other orbs after the player becomes a cube again. Then, the level slightly slows down to double speed, and the player must hit three green orbs and two black orbs. The third green orb will cause the player to transform into a quadruple-speed robot, requiring them to time their inputs to the beat of the song. At the end of this robot segment, the player must hit a green, a black, and a blue orb, which are not synced with the music. Following this is a short cube section where the player must carefully hit a few green orbs, as the timings are quite tight. After this, the player becomes a ship, and they must fly upwards to avoid hitting spikes. The entire section concludes with two yellow orb inputs as a cube.
- 45-63%: The level proceeds to slow back down to triple-speed as the player goes into a dual. First, both of the cubes must hit a yellow orb (after avoiding a fake red orb), leading to two oppositely facing dash orbs. After these dash orbs, both cubes must hit a pink orb to leave the dual, then jump into a brief spider segment synced to the song. The player must then jump into a green orb inside a UFO portal as a cube. This green orb leads into a normal-gravity portal, where the player must now jump into a wave segment with precise timings. If the player continues to hold after passing this section, they will become a cube and be thrown into a blue orb that must be timed late. Afterwards, the player must hit two blue orbs. The second blue orb transforms the player into a ball before entering an anti-gravity portal with a blue orb inside. Next, the player becomes a cube, and they must immediately time a jump into a green orb and a blue orb before doing a yellow orb. The player subsequently enters a UFO portal to perform a single timing before performing two wave timings. This whole section ends with a robot part and a cube part. The robot part contains an anti-gravity portal with a pink orb, which leads to a normal-gravity portal with a black orb. After these orbs are hit, a few quadruple-speed orb timings follow, mainly red orbs and pink orbs.
- 63-84%: This section begins with several black orbs that the player must avoid. Afterwards, a cube part requires the player to hit blue orbs while avoiding fake black orbs. The colour scheme in this section is black for the background platforms, pink or purple for the front platforms, with a lime green background. As the colours change, the player must hold after hitting a blue orb to buffer-click the following green orb. This cube part finishes with a late blue orb timing. Next is a very brief UFO section where the player must hit a green and blue orb before hitting another green orb, which then brings them into a wave part. The wave starts at a normal size, but then enters a mini portal. In the mini portal, the player switches gravity and must go into a cube portal before hitting a yellow jump and red orb. The player must then hit the first three of the four red orbs, each hitting the ceiling. Afterwards, the player must jump into a robot portal while hitting a yellow orb. Next is a yellow pad with a black orb, which sends the player into a cube portal. The player must hold to hit a blue pad, followed by a black orb. Afterwards, there are three orbs: yellow, red, and blue; the player must hit the yellow and blue orbs. A blue orb on a pink pad follows, and the player then needs to jump and hit all three black orbs simultaneously. The player then enters a brief spider part, where they must avoid the dash orbs and hold onto the black orb to buffer the input. The player then transforms into a cube and then a ball, requiring a single precise timing. Afterwards, the player becomes a cube again and must hit a black and pink orb, which transfers them to a UFO part. Ultimately, two UFO timings in gravity portals contain red orbs. The player must then avoid the following black orbs to proceed to the final section.
- 84-100%: The last part slows the gameplay down to double-speed. The player must perform two precise timings as a cube before holding down on a pink dash orb and hitting a pink orb precisely when they release. Afterwards, the player must jump to hit a green orb, leading to a tight pink orb timing that they must time correctly to pass. The player then must hit a pink dash orb, followed by a green orb. Two blue orbs follow, one causing the player to fall onto a pink pad and another causing them to fall onto a blue pad. The player then becomes a UFO, where a few orbs must be hit, before transforming into a robot. As a robot, the player must jump onto some blue pads and make a small jump to get to the final cube part. In this part, the player must first time themselves hitting a yellow orb and then hold down on the last green dash orb, which carries them to the very end. The player must release at the right time to fall and hit a blue orb, then jump off the ceiling to hit a green orb. This green orb must be timed carefully, as a triple-spike ends the level. This triple-spike can be easily jumped over by just holding down after the green orb, but it is easy to hit the green orb too early or too late. After the player jumps over the triple-spike, the end screen appears, displaying the dedications.
Gameplay
Trivia
- Acu was rated on 6 May 2020 and received an Epic rating.
- Acu was ranked #46 in GDToday's '100 Greatest Levels of All Time' list.
- Acu was nominated for Best Extreme Demon in the Geometry Dash 2020 Awards.
- Acu was both built and verified by neigefeu, making it a 'fully solo level'.
- According to neigefeu, Acu was built in about five weeks and 150 hours.[1]
- Acu is considered one of the first modern-themed Extreme Demon levels in the game, having bold colours and no outline for many structures in the level.
- There are 'guide circles' in the level's editor that show players some places to put start positions to practise sections of the level. neigefeu most likely placed these because, due to the high amount of movement, start positions often bug out if placed in certain locations.
- According to neigefeu, they named the level 'Acu', as 'acu' is the Latin root for sharp. They thought that this would be a good name for an Extreme Demon.[1]
- Dorami beat Acu in only 30 minutes during a challenge.[3]
- If the player hits the fourth red orb at around 73% and dies to the seemingly empty space, text appears that says 'Good Job :)'.
- If the player crashes into the black structure at 44%, a sad face will appear on the saw blade on the left side of the structure.
- Acu was in EricVanWilderman's 12 Demons of Christmas 2020 series, as Demon #9.[4]