Before I get into my review, I want to mention that with this level pack, I can anticipate a lot of the community making really shallow "Too much slope! Momentum slop! Every level nowadays is too large!" comments that I see happen with a lot of momentum and speed based levels built for this game, so if anyone has thought that looking at the screenshots or playing through the opening level, I implore you to put aside your preconceived notions and play the level pack on its own terms.
Project Junio is a generational level pack. It's very rare to see a mod this stylistically consistent and cohesive. Every level here could only exist for Project Junio; It exists almost as its own gametype.
Something I realized, is that this level pack is not designed to be rushed. I sucked at all the levels my first time around, and didn't collect nearly enough emblems to progress. But once I slowed down, replayed the levels and hunted for emblems, I discovered just how much depth is displayed here. I spent like three hours gawking at the visual fidelity and architecture here. There's detail, so much detail, an obsessive amount of detail. You're rewarded at every corner for exploring, and generally the scenery is awe inspiring.
These levels are **REALLY EXHILARATING** when you learn them too. The difficulty curve is solid, the high speed and super powerful rebound dash makes for a really unique experience where I feel tremendously powerful, yet the levels still challenge my reaction time with proper challenging obstacles and platforming.
However, with all my praises, this isn't perfect by any means. The levels are very often too visually busy, and the directioning is unclear. I found myself going the wrong direction or even backwards constantly. Something I see constantly in this project is that you have to run on leaves, where each end has a 512x512 opaque leaf texture that looks like a wall and completely covers your camera every time you cross through it. You absolutely need to replace these with a shorter texture if you expect it to be a main path, it feels really unpolished.
Similar to the visual clutter, there's a lot of sector clutter that gets in the way of the player in really annoying ways. Often I'll get caught on an arbitrary step-up, slam into a block that doesn't need to be there, and not see where I'm going because just **so much stuff**. You should clear up the ground on the intended paths in a way that doesn't slam you into walls as much or kill your speed for no reason.
And also, similar to the directioning issues, it's often unclear where you're supposed to rebound, since often times the rebound dash use has little flow to it, I just have to slam up against a wall at an odd angle and hope it brings me high enough. A lot of my rebound use often felt unintentional. I'd recommend making it more clear what areas should be rebounded on, and where. Some polish at the expense of maybe feeling a bit more hand-holdy.
The level unlocks are also something I anticipate being an issue. I was willing to play each of the levels 3 or 4 times over to collect emblems, but the beginning of the pack here is extremely slow. Most players won't be willing to play past Verdant Bastion because of the 12 emblem difference between it and Crimson Shrine. It wasn't until after Verdant Bastion where I started unlocking levels at a quicker pace. I think it might be worth making the first few levels unlock faster.
Something else I noticed is that the hub never tells you what levels you unlocked and where they are. The unlocks all say "New Level Unlock" instead of telling you what level you unlocked. This leads to situations like the 18 level unlock, Tropical Jungle, where I had no reason to think I should look UNDER THE HUB to find the level I unlocked. I thought the unlock was bugged.
Pat yourself on the back, Malom, this is an absolutely insane effort, triumphs, flaws and all.
You've done -- entirely by yourself -- what should take an entire development team of people. Making this many hours of content on your own is a feat in and of itself. I wish you best of luck in what you create in the future, or how you update this pack.
