it's super cool that the ability to play custom remixes is a finally reality in a very nice and convenient way. considering this game is completely made by fans for fans, all of the custom remixes are fan made and this game gives you all the tools to make your own stuff, it's really neat. they've even added in a few completely original fan minigames, something that wasn't asked for but is definitely welcome.

with the custom levels themselves, there are some people out there who really know how to cook up some fun and impressive levels. there are some levels i'll play that do things that are very clever or feel like they're similar in quality and thoughtfulness to something you'd see in a base rh game. at the same time though, as to be expected with open source rhythm games there are some levels that are real stinkers. not to say i put down anyone who is just trying their hand at making their own remixes, like me personally i haven't even bothered opening the level editor so other people have already made greater steps than i have. my biggest criticism though with some of these levels sometimes though is that no matter how well made or cool looking they are, it sometimes doesn't really feel like some of them are meant to be played the way some of them just throw in a fuckton of cues or have transitions between minigames that feel impossible to react to. obviously it's a case by case basis, not all levels are created this way, but there are a good handful i've played that i think have potential to be good but are just brought down by a feeling of trying way too hard, and i think sometimes the solution is to just tone it down a bit. there's a sort of balance you need to find to make a level feel difficult but still reasonable to play.

also, one last point that is more of an external factor but something i hadn't experienced until now with this game that i really don't like is acquiring custom levels. if you want to download custom levels for yourself, the only way (at least afaik) is to join the heaven studio discord and go to a channel with a massive amount of forum posts, each individual one containing a custom level someone made. in the past i've never really had to join a discord to access something like this but i've heard stories of people that have had to put up with it. usually things like the entire collection of custom levels would just be on a separate website for people to upload their own levels, but godddddd it sucks so bad to have to scroll through a bunch of individual forum posts just to find new things to play. you can search for certain levels someone may have made and there are a small selection of tags you can filter through, but considering heaven studio is still fairly new i don't even bother searching for things i want because the likelihood someone has made something specific im looking for is very slim and the small amount of search filters don't really help narrow things down. also because of this system of having to use discord to find new levels there's not a whole lot of moderation in terms of like separating the good levels from the bad like something like osu's ranked and unranked map system, so really the only way to tell if a level is gonna be well made or not is to read comments on the post for a level, or if there are no comments you just have to download and play it for yourself. given, like i said earlier, heaven studio is fairly new so all of this could be subject to change and maybe eventually there will be a better way of hosting downloads for new levels, but for the time being it's something that personally factors into my enjoyment with this game even if it isn't directly an issue within the game itself.

dude oh my god how did i forget all about this game. back in like middle school when i think i was the most into attack on titan i had been i would be on this game probably every day after school. i remember i would have my friend over and we would take turns playing and listen to like attack on titan opening 1 10 hours long mix in the background. i remember going into public lobbies where people would like hack the game or some shit and they would be playing on unreleased maps and have characters with guns way way before s3 of aot had even come out. this is just one of those games where i look back on it so fondly because of how fun it was to play and because of how into aot i was at the time, also the fact it was very mechanically rewarding to play and took a lot of time to learn. i remember first playing the game after watching people on youtube play it and when i tried myself i couldn't get titan kills for myself and basically just acted as titan bait for other people. then i think about the natural progression of getting better at this game and learning to zip by titans and charge up a slice and seeing the game tell me i got a sick ass kill, it felt so good to do.

this game also just makes me think about being a stupid kid and the time period of when i played it. what's crazy about this game is that i feel like so many other people ive talked to who were also into attack on titan when they were in middle school were also super into this game, it's like such a universal experience ive had talking to other aot fans who have been there since the anime first came out. it's just so crazy to me that a fan game could be as well made and insanely popular as this one and also the fact that nobody, not even myself, cares at all about any officially made aot games, probably because they just don't hold a candle to this one. say what you will about aot in the modern day now that the anime has finished and the story is over now, but this game was during a golden age that was undeniably such a good time to be an aot fan and i personally cant help but think back on this era affectionately.