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Countless verifiers and 7 years in the making, Komp and Nikro's collab has finally hit the servers. And yes, it's harder than ICDX. Instead of the typical analysis, I'm going to tell a story. It starts in February. I see a host of a megacollab I'm set to verify begin talks with Nikro. As this level looked really good for my skillset, it seemed within a reasonable range from looks, and because I knew that people were trying this same level in 2017, I was confident I could do it in a week. So, after seeing this level dead for years, I decided to try my chances and ask this person to bring up the idea of letting me verify the level. A few months later, Luqualizer (my man 🤝) recommended me again once Dual dropped the level. It was that day that Komp decided to let me have a go, it was happening. One of the first things I learnt was that I was not allowed to touch the difficulty of the level at all. I had no idea of this condition going into the verification, so when I heard this I felt a little sad, part of why I asked was because I wanted to try balancing a timing level. I was still confident in my own ability though, I had just beaten Tenth Circle & SARY NEVER CLEAR, which both tested my patience, so even if it was a bad level I thought I'd be fine to go through with it. I was also informed that I was not allowed to share the level with anybody. I thought, fair enough, the level has been around for 7 years without a single leak happening so I could see why keeping it secret was such a big deal. I never realised at the time how badly these conditions would amplify my terrible experience. I got a copy from Luqualizer, and I started playing. I learnt it backwards, first doing 78-100, 64-100, then 48-100 on my third day. I was the first person to do half of the level, this was amazing news. Then I started playing the first half, and that's when it hit me. This was the most chokepoint heavy level I had EVER seen. It's really easy to do in small runs, or in practice mode. Even if you struggle with one chokepoint, you can just move your start position or checkpoint past it, and never worry about its inconsistency again. This is why back in 2017, people only compared its difficulty to levels like Sonic Wave. But in actual runs? It is so hard, that it could rival Sonic Wave *Infinity* in difficulty. It's the most boring, infuriating and luck based experience you could ever ask for. It's like trying to speedrun Super Mario Bros., where half of the experience is just holding right, but then suddenly you have to do multiple frame perfects and subpixel positioning in a second. Every single chokepoint in this level gives you new experiences and stories to tell because of how dumb they all are, and the practice that each one demands from you. I came into this level expecting it to be finished in a week. but, 3 months later, I felt like I couldn't do it. Every time I touched this level I was infuriated within mere seconds of starting the session. No matter how much skill and effort I put in, it didn't matter. Because that's not what this level asks from you. This level wants time, and luck. A LOT of it. On August the 16th, I slept pretty badly; I only got about 5 hours, then took another two naps to slowly build that total up to 8. That still sucked though, and my luck with the UFO was terrible. Then suddenly, I got 73. Now, that's not close to beating it, and I wasn't confident thanks to my inconsistency with 64-100 in runs, but at least I got somewhere. But all of a beat it. In the most fitting way possible. My consistency was terrible, so I couldn't believe it. But after all the months this level drained from me, I could be sure of one couldn't be more relieved. I hated this. This level may look pretty and relatively easy, but hiding underneath is one of the most interesting gameplay experiences you could ask for. I'm running out of character space, so, all I can say now VERY careful with this. It won't go as easy as you think. Progress: 48-100%: 36%, 28-70%: 50%, 28-73%: 28-81%: 80%: 39-100%: 28-100%: 88%: 89%: 94%: Original audio: The hardest parts are 18%, 28% to 54%, 68% to 80% and 85% to 100%. ------- SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHANNEL! ------- Level: Hard Machine, published by komp Song: -Time Machine- by @Waterflame Menu music - Sonic Mania - Stardust Speedway Zone Act 1 Thumbnail by DoSh7t I do not own ANY songs used in this video. - Chapters: Intro 0:00 Verification 0:30 Reaction & Monologue 2:06 Outro 5:28 Teaser 5:47
