Acheron (2024)

Acheron is a 2.1 Extreme Demon mega-collaboration hosted by ryamu and Riot, published by ryamu and verified by Zoink on 23 August 2022 after 72,808 attempts.^[1] It was initially set to be verified by Wolvez, who achieved 96% and 92% x2^[2] before dropping the level on 7 April 2022, leaving the level with an open verification. The level features a dark, predominantly grayscale theming blended with red accents. It is considered a standalone successor to Tartarus, the level that inspired Acheron and its 1.9-styled decoration.

Acheron was initially placed at #2 on the Demonlist before being shifted to #1 a week later, surpassing Slaughterhouse and becoming the most difficult Demon in Geometry Dash; it was later dethroned by the shift of Avernus from #2 on 16 October 2023. Acheron is renowned for its meticulous balancing, presenting consistently high difficulty throughout every section. The level's ending is notably unforgiving, featuring claustrophobic and frame-perfect gaps.^[3][4] While Acheron garnered praise for its style and sync, opinions on the gameplay were divisive, with players generally agreeing the level to be unenjoyable.^[1][5][6][7]

A third level, Aeternus, was created in 2.1 and is also set to be the hardest level in the game.

History[]

Creation of Acheron[]

Throughout the first week of July 2021, the project's creators would upload their part in Acheron onto YouTube. The level was unveiled to the public on 7 July 2021 on Riot's and IcEDCave's YouTube channels.

Wolvez and leaking drama[]

In September 2021, Wolvez intended to be Acheron's official verifier. Just a GD player asked for a copy to showcase on his channel, which Wolvez agreed to. When Exen also requested a copy, knowing Exen's history of leaking levels, Wolvez and ryamu advised against it. Despite this, Just a GD player gave Exen a copy without permission, angering the hosts. Tensions between the two parties escalated, leading Just a GD player to threaten to leak Acheron to Vernam unless Wolvez dropped the level. Wolvez, aware of Vernam's reputation, reluctantly complied, passing verification to spaceuk. Realising his mistake, Just a GD player apologised, and Wolvez regained verification. Later, ryamu uploaded Acheron to prevent further leaks. He clarified that any verification by someone other than Wolvez wouldn't be official.

After the drama concluded, Wolvez began progressing on the level, initially getting 38% on 28 October 2021^[8] and 66% a week later.^[9] He would soon make more significant progress including 85%,^[10] 92%,^[11] and finally 96%.^[12] However, on 7 April 2022, Wolvez dropped the verification due to his worsening health condition caused by anaemia.^[13] As a result, the hosts made the level an open-verification.

Open-verification progress[]

Numerous skilled players attempted to verify Acheron after the open-verification race had begun.

ThnnderGD was one of the first players to make some progress by getting 38% on 9 April 2022.^[14] Baeru would get a run of 49-100% on 15 April 2022.^[15] However, they lost interest in the level. OneAlphaHelix would get a run of 34% on 11 April 2022, followed by 38% a week later.^[16] Over the next month, he would get 44%, 55% and 67% on 21 May 2022.^[17] Zoink made the most serious progress on the level, getting 66% on 25 May 2022.^[18] He would then get runs of 82%^[19] and 91%.^[20] On 7 June 2022, Zoink uploaded a showcase of his version of Acheron with fixed hitboxes and buffs.^[21] Two days later, Zoink would also crash at 96% on the same spot where Wolvez also crashed.^[22]

As Zoink slowed down playing Acheron, OneAlphaHelix would continue to grind out the level on Twitch, getting 72% on 1 August 2022^[23] and 79% on 8 August 2022.^[24] OneAlphaHelix played on his version, which was still around Top 1 difficulty but was nerfed and re-balanced to improve the enjoyment of the level. On 18 August 2022, Zoink would crash at 97% on Acheron. Riot uploaded a super-buffed version of the level onto his account around this time.

On 22 August 2022, Zoink finally verified Acheron after 72,808 attempts.^[25] The level was rated five days later. On 30 January 2023, Zoink verified a small buff-date of Acheron, adding slight buffs and fixes to the level.^[26] However, RobTop update-locked the level, so Zoink uploaded this updated version onto his account.

Post-release controversies[]

Before its initial placement, people discovered an alternate click pattern around the 34% UFO part, considered one of the hardest parts of the level. However, clicking for a second time after clicking the blue orb will make the jump significantly easier. Displeased by this, ryamu updated the level later on by adding a spike on the part to discourage 'skipping' the obligated click pattern. However, this feature was quickly reverted to another update, adding a trigger orb at the UFO part, which caused the player to crash on it with the text 'clueless :v' appearing. However, both updates have made the level impossible to pass through; however, ryamu would revert these changes later. These updates drew criticism from the community.^[27]

After Zoink got 72% on his version of Acheron, he stated during a stream by the player Arcturus that he had slightly nerfed the level in private. The verified version of Acheron is nerfed compared to the version he got 72% on. spaceuk had been practising the version of the level before the nerfs and deemed that to be harder than Slaughterhouse. This instance could be why it was not placed at #1 on the Demonlist.

A month after its rating, the level was initially placed at #2 on the Demonlist on 27 September 2022.^[28] This caused controversy, with some criticising the Demonlist team about a supposed bias despite the emphasis that the placement is highly subject to change. The majority of the criticism blames both Doggie and OneAlphaHelix due to them believing that the level should be placed at #2 in difficulty, both of which have significant progress on their versions of Acheron.

One of the possible reasons for the uproar is that many in the community thought Zoink's version of the level had never received nerfs and that the version spaceuk had practised was identical to the version that was later verified. Vulcanium4, a list moderator for the Demonlist responded to the controversy, saying that the placement is the 'best' that the team could have given.^[29] The level was later moved to #1 on 7 October 2022.

On 27 January 2023, ryamu added another update for Acheron; if the player uses the different click pattern at 34%, the text 'not cool man:(' will appear following the player until the end of the level. The string of updates caused RobTop to revert the changes and update-lock the level.^[27] As a result, Zoink uploaded the buff-date of Acheron on his own account.

Gameplay[]

Note: If a player's name is italicised, the player has created gameplay in the section featured. If a player's name is underlined, the player has created decoration in the section featured.

• 0-9% (ryamu + Riot + IcEDCave + GrenadeOfTacos): The level starts with a quadruple-spike jump, similar to Tartarus. After that, the player must perform tricky orb timings and a blue-orb spam. After the spam, the player has to precisely jump onto a yellow pad, sending them into a yellow gravity portal.
• 9-17% (Silver): After being thrown around by a few gravity portals, the player is taken upwards to hit a blue orb, leading them into a precise jump to a precise blue orb timing. The blue orb timing sends the player onto a blue pad, leading them into a tough memory part where the player must navigate through many Clubstep monsters. After the memory part, the player has to jump onto a blue pad, which brings them into a segment with tricky orb timings. The part ends with the player hitting a blue orb, leading to a pink orb inside a normal-gravity portal.
• 17-30% (IcEDCave + Deadlox): Then, the drop begins with a brief triple-speed auto cube segment that contains a total of five pads. The fifth pad launches the player into an anti-gravity mini-ship section. This section starts with the player needing to instantly fly downwards to hit a yellow orb inside a normal gravity portal. The yellow orb shoots the player up into a block, and now the player must precisely fall downwards to a pink orb that launches them into an anti-gravity portal along with a normal-sized portal. After entering both portals, the player must straight-fly through a narrow Clubstep-monster before entering an anti-gravity portal. After some upward straight-flying, the player must hit a yellow orb directly on top of an anti-gravity mini-sized portal. The yellow orb leads the player into another downward straight-fly, and the straight-fly is concluded with a normal-gravity portal directly on top of a yellow orb. The yellow orb projects the player into a brief cube segment that contains a single jump, a double-speed portal and an anti-gravity portal. Next, the player becomes normal-sized, and they must traverse through a considerably tight wave segment that becomes anti-gravity and mini-sized midway through. After the player becomes normal-gravity again, they must enter a cube section where they now have to perform a jump onto a blue pad, immediately followed by another jump. The second jump projects the player onto a blue pad, leading them to a yellow orb. Finally, IcEDCave and Deadlox's part concludes with a precise triple-speed straight-fly that becomes anti-gravity halfway through.
• 30-40% (Deadlox + ryamu + Komp + AzuLer): After the straight-fly, the player becomes a mini-cube, and they are instantly sent downwards onto a platform to time a jump to a blue orb. Then, the player must jump onto a blue pad, leading them into an exceedingly tight jump. After the jump, the player goes at double-speed and must perform another jump, projecting themselves to a yellow orb timing. The yellow orb timing leads into a normal-sized UFO section. The section instantly starts with a difficult jump leading to a downward slope, sending the player onto a blue pad. Next, the player must fall into a blue orb that proceeds them into a brief spam-based segment. Afterwards, the player must fall into a cube portal, directly followed by an anti-gravity portal. The following cube section begins with four blue pads concluding with a jump into an anti-gravity portal. The full segment ends with another jump into a normal-speed anti-gravity wave segment that becomes normal-gravity midway through.
• 40-49% (ryamu + Ewop): Then, the player enters a triple-speed cube portal. The player must now jump onto a blue pad leading them to a yellow orb timing, and it sends the player into a mini-sized ship portal. In the following ship segment, the player must fly downwards into a normal-gravity portal, followed by more flying downwards. Afterwards, the player must perform a considerably tight yellow orb timing which projects them into a normal-sized anti-gravity portal. Next, the player must fly downwards into a mini-sized normal-gravity portal and perform a brief yet precise straight-fly that concludes with a yellow orb. The player is projected up into the air until they hit a block, where they now have to fall through a tight space to hit a pink orb that launches them into an anti-gravity portal and a normal-gravity/normal-sized portal soon after. The full section ends off with a straight-fly featuring a slight upward bend.
• 49-54% (ryamu + Goobfrudla + Ewop): Next, the player transitions into a wave segment that becomes anti-gravity and mini-sized midway through. However, at the end of the segment, the player becomes normal-sized once again, and soon after, they must click a pink orb while simultaneously entering a UFO portal. After falling upwards for a bit, the player must time a jump into a normal gravity portal, leading to more falling action. Then, the player must time two jumps, the second leading into an anti-gravity portal, another jump and a yellow orb timing.
• 54-59% (Metalface221): The yellow orb timing launches the player into a double-speed cube portal, and the player instantly falls onto three blue orbs, leading them to a fake pink orb timing (where the player must continue holding after hitting the third blue orb, leading them to jump off the pink orb). After the fake pink orb timing, the player must jump to a yellow orb, projecting themselves into a triple-speed ship segment. However, the ship segment does not last very long, as it only requires the player to fly upwards into an anti-gravity portal, leading them into a downward straight-fly from there. Metalface221's section ends with a brief normal-speed mini-sized cube section, where the player must jump into a blue orb timing.
• 59-66% (Deadlox + Cersia): The blue orb timing leads the player into a normal-gravity triple-speed portal. Now, the player must time a blue orb leading to a yellow pad, launching the player into a normal-gravity portal stacked on top of a blue orb. If the player hits the blue orb, they will land on a pink pad, lightly projecting them onto a yellow pad that resides under two portals (those being a normal-sized portal and a normal-gravity portal). The yellow orb casts the player into a brief straight-fly before the player must enter another cube portal stacked on top of a yellow orb. The yellow orb leads the player to a blue orb, and if the player continues to hold after hitting the blue orb, they will jump off the platform they lie on and encounter a brief three-block gap cube spam.
• 66-69% (ryamu + Riot + Deadlox): Finally, the first drop concludes with the song and the level both decelerating. This section begins with the player entering a mini-sized double-speed portal and then a half-speed portal soon after. After falling, the player must time a blue orb leading into a considerably tight normal-gravity straight-fly. After flying upwards for around two seconds, the player must proceed to enter an anti-gravity normal-sized wave section that instantly becomes normal-gravity right as it begins. Afterwards, the player traverses through exceedingly tight spaces for around two seconds.
• 69-85% (IcEDCave): The second drop begins with a triple-speed mini-cube segment. It starts with a pink orb timing that lightly launches the player onto the corner of a block where they must jump. The jump leads to a blue orb, and if the player continues to hold, they will jump into two gravity portals that transport them into a ship portal. After entering the ship portal, the player must fly downwards into a normal-gravity normal-sized portal. Then, the player must fly slightly upwards until they reach an anti-gravity portal with a yellow orb inside. The yellow orb launches the player downwards until they reach a normal gravity portal with a yellow orb inside. Afterwards, the player must hold until they reach an anti-gravity UFO portal. Now, the player must jump into a mini-sized normal-gravity ship portal and straight-fly through a tight Clubstep monster to reach the cube portal on the other side. The following cube segment is automatic, as it only contains five pads: four blue pads and one pink pad. The pink pad launches the player into a brief ball segment where they must perform six exceedingly precise timings. The sixth timing leads to a blue pad, sending the player into a double-speed UFO portal. The player begins by hitting a pink orb leading into an anti-gravity portal in the following UFO section. Then, the player must jump into another pink orb, leading into a normal-gravity portal. Finally, the player must jump into another pink orb, slightly launching them into a brief normal-sized ball segment. After the player performs three ball timings, they transition into a triple-speed wave section that becomes mini-sized midway through and anti-gravity at the very end. Finally, IcEDCave's segment concludes with a considerably tight normal-sized straight-fly.
• 85-100% (EndLevel + LimeTime313): Afterwards, the player is converted into a cube and must now instantly hit a pink orb after automatically hitting a blue pad. The pink orb casts the player into a normal-gravity portal with a yellow orb lying under it. The yellow orb shoots the player to a pink orb, leading to a blue orb, and the blue orb transitions the player into a brief double-speed wave segment that contains a single click. Then, the player converts back into a cube, and now they must jump into two exceedingly tight pink orb timings. The second pink orb timing lightly projects the player into a ball segment. It starts with two considerably tight clicks and a third one leading to a yellow orb that lies directly under a normal gravity portal. The yellow orb shoots the player into a mini-sized triple-speed portal, and now the player must perform two more timings before becoming a double-speed cube. Then, the player must jump twice, the second jump being at normal speed. The second jump also leads the player into an extraordinarily tight half-speed wave segment, eventually leading to the final ball segment containing two inputs, a simple ball input and a considerably precise yellow orb timing. Finally, the level ends.

Fails[]

• Wolvez and Zoink both crashed at 96% on their own versions of the level.
• wPopoff, Doggie and OneAlphaHelix crashed at 97%.
• Trick, RaeveZ, and yolomodeboom all crashed at 98%.^[30][31]

Trivia[]

• ryamu's version of the level is free to copy, while Riot's version cannot be copied.
• The level contains 47,965 objects.
• The level is 1m 7s in length.
• The level was rated on August 27, 2022.^[32]
• The level was initially placed at #2 on the Demonlist on September 27, 2022, above Abyss of Darkness (#3) and below Slaughterhouse (#1).
  • This addition pushed Firework out of the Top 5, Molten Core into Extended List, and Solarion into Legacy List.
  • It was later swapped with Slaughterhouse on October 7, 2022, securing the Top 1 spot.
  • On October 16, 2023, Acheron was dethroned after swapping positions with Avernus.
  • On June 16, 2024, Avernus was moved below Acheron, marking Avernus as a false Top 1. The level was at the top spot for 374 days but was the hardest demon on the list for 486 days.
• On 7 October 2023, Acheron became the fourth overall Top 1 level to stay at the top spot for over a year, following Bloodbath, Bloodlust, and Tartarus.
  • Acheron and Bloodlust are the only Top 1 levels to stay in the top spot for over a year without being temporarily dethroned.
• Acheron (Greek: Αχέροντας) is named after the river located in Epirus, Greece. According to Greek mythology, it is one of the five rivers of the Greek underworld, nicknamed the 'River of Pain'. It serves as the entrance to the underworld.
  • It is also depicted as a plane of existence in the Forgotten Realms setting for Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), making Acheron one of two #1 levels to share a name with a D&D location along with Avernus.
• Skipping the triple-speed portal at 17% by jumping over it will result in death by hitting the spike, and the text 'DEEZ NUTZ :v' will pop out.
• Acheron shares several similarities to Tartarus aside from their theming:
  • Both levels were open verifications, although Acheron was initially set to be verified by Wolvez.
  • Both levels sparked controversy after their verification. In Tartarus' case, Dolphy's verification was questioned for its legitimacy, while in Acheron's case, the level's initial placement on the Demonlist sparked controversy as well as the 34% UFO due to some minor changes that caused the level to become impossible.
  • Both levels reigned as #1 for over a year.
  • The level was dethroned by Avernus; however, it was moved below Acheron at #4 on June 16, 2024, although when Acheron is no longer #1, similarly to how Tartarus was temporarily dethroned by The Golden.
    • Strangely enough, Avernus is the unofficial "sequel" to the Golden, the same way that Acheron is the unofficial sequel to Tartarus.
• Acheron had different gameplay sections scrapped in the current version, notably in IcEDCave + Deadlox's part at 17-30% and the last part from 95-100%. This version was uploaded by ryamu on 5 May 2023.^[33]
• Throughout its verification race, Acheron had many different versions of varying difficulty:
  • Original Version - The first version of Acheron. The difficulty is estimated to be around Top 5-10.
  • Wolvez Version - The well-known version of the level. This version was the buffed version Wolvez practised when he used to be the official verifier. The difficulty is around Top 3.
  • Zoink Version - The currently rated version. It contains numerous fixed hitboxes to increase its difficulty. It is around Top 1 in difficulty according to numerous skilled players. A buff-date of this version was also verified on 30 January 2023 and uploaded to Zoink's account.
  • Alpha Version - OneAlphaHelix's version of Acheron. It is a fixed version with the 31% cube nerfed while adding buffs on the easier sections and the pre-drop. The difficulty is around Slaughterhouse.
  • Doggie Version - Doggie used his fixed version of Acheron. A notable nerf was the 61% jump. Some clicks have been buffed. OneAlphaHelix believes that this version is easier than Wolvez's version.
  • Riot Version - The hardest version of Acheron. It is a super-buffed version recently uploaded by Riot, and its difficulty is near-impossible.
• This is currently the hardest featured level in-game.
  • It is the first featured Top 1 Demon since Tartarus.
• spaceuk was thought to be the first victor of the level on 23 October 2022, in 39,887 attempts.^[34] However, he confessed to hacking the level on 26 April 2023.^[35]
• Doggie became the true first victor of the level on 3 November 2022 after 121,749 attempts, 11 days after spaceuk hacked the level.^[36]
  • He also said that this is his least favourite Extreme Demon, with an enjoyment rating of 1/100,
• Trick became the second victor of the level on 26 February 2023.^[6]
  • He used to think Abyss of Darkness is harder; however, he now thinks Acheron is Top 1 after beating the level.
    • He also said that this level is one of his least favourite levels in the game, only to be beaten by Verdant Landscape.
• The biggest fluke to 100% on the level was achieved by Zeroxy, who fluked from 61% on 21 May 2023, taking over 153,000 attempts to beat it.^[37]
• Netermind became the 13th victor of the level after approximately 65,000 attempts.^[38]
  • His attempt count for the level is currently the lowest ever recorded.
• OneAlphaHelix became the fifth victor of the level on 3 July 2023 after 420,317 attempts.
  • His attempt count is currently the highest ever recorded for the level.
  • However, his completion sparks a small controversy regarding his usage of the 'force don't fade/don't enter' hack.^[39][40]
• eandis and RaeveZ became the sixth and seventh victors of the level on 19 July 2023, within two hours of each other. The former spent around 91,510 attempts, while the latter spent a total of 323,378 attempts.^[41][42]
• A day after eandis and RaeveZ, Taiago became the eighth victor after 209,905 attempts.^[43]
• Acheron is part of the community-based 'ASK' trilogy along with Slaughterhouse and Kyouki.
• Acheron is the 38th former Top 1 in the game's history.

Videos[]

• Verification

• Buffed Updated Version

• Original Version

• Acheron Versions Explained

See Also

Jawbreaker

Demonlist[]

References[]