Difficulty

**Difficulty** is the way that people can argue on how hard a Level is. The difficulties can be as easy as *Auto* levels to *Extreme Demons*. The Difficulty is sometimes depicted by the Community, but sometimes it's in the hands of RobTop.

## Difficulty Rating

The way people rate the difficulty of a level is called the **Difficulty Rating** spectrum. With this Rating System, people are able to tell how hard a level is going to be by only looking at the Difficulty. Each Difficulty has its own set of *Difficulty Levels*, making it able to branch out into multiple *Tiers* for each Difficulty.

### Non-Demon Difficulties

Up first are the **Non-Demon Difficulties**. These difficulties are not portrayed as the *Demon* Difficulty and are often way easier than them. They're difficulty is also depicted with the amount of Stars given in *Rated* Community Levels. These levels cannot have their Difficulty changed after being *Star Rated*.

#### Auto

The lowest Difficulty in the spectrum is the **Auto** Difficulty. Any level that has this Difficulty is always worth 1 in-game and have no inputs required to beat the level. This Difficulty is often looked at as the weirdest Difficulty of them all, as it throws the whole point of the game away.

#### Easy

The first playable Difficulty is the **Easy** Difficulty. This Difficulty used to be levels that had quite a bit of gameplay, but that the gameplay wasn't very hard. However, that has changed and most Easy Rated levels have barely anything that can kill you. Easy Difficulty Community Levels are always 2. A popular example of an Easy level is Sonar by JerkRat.

#### Normal

The **Normal** Difficulty is slightly harder than the previous Difficulty. Levels of this Difficulty start to trinkle in some more challenging parts, but stay very easy. Normal Difficulty Community Levels are always 3 in-game. A popular example of a Normal level is End Of Line by PMK.

#### Hard

The **Hard** Difficulty starts to challenge the player a little. Levels of this Difficulty have tighter spaces and sometimes memorization involved. Normal Difficulty Community Levels are sometimes 4 and other times 5 in-game, depending on how hard the level is. A popular example of a Hard level is OuterSpace by Nicki1202.

#### Harder

The **Harder** Difficulty is where levels start to get challenging. Most levels of this difficulty require Practice Mode. Harder Difficulty Community Levels are sometimes 6 and other times 7 in-game. A popular example of a Harder level is SLAM by rafer.

#### Insane

The **Insane** Difficulty is the most challenging Non-Demon Difficulty. Most levels of this difficulty require Practice Mode and some decent skill. Insane Difficulty Community Levels are sometimes 8 and other times 9 in-game. Many 9 are also debatably Demons. A popular example of an Insane level is Tetrix by Insendium.

### Demon Difficulties

**Demons** are way beyond the difficulty of the previously stated Difficulties. Their whole purpose is to be very challenging and (hopefully) enjoyable. Despite there being many different Demon Difficulties, some organizations such as the GDDL also have divided these into *Demon Tiers* for a more precise *Difficulty Management*. All Demons are worth 10 in-game.

#### Easy Demon

**Easy Demons** are one of the most commonly seen Demon Difficulties in the game. They're often meant to be the stepping stone into harder Demons for newer players. Some of these Demons are barely even Demons, due to the changes in Difficulty over the years. A popular example of an Easy Demon is The Nightmare by Jax.

#### Medium Demon

**Medium Demons** are one of the most commonly seen Demon Difficulties in the game. These are a little more challenging than Easy Demons and can be tricky for some people, especially newer ones. A popular example of a Medium Demon is Theory of SkriLLex by noobas.

#### Hard Demon

**Hard Demons** are the Demons that really start to challenge the player. They require a lot more skill than Medium Demons do. A popular example of a Hard Demon is Nine Circles by Zobros.

#### Insane Demon

**Insane Demons** are fairly more challenging than Hard Demons are. They can be a lot harder than Hard Demons and may not be doable for some players. This Difficulty is often a milestone for players to achieve. A popular example of an Insane Demon is Supersonic by ZenthicAlpha.

#### Extreme Demon

**Extreme Demons** are the least seen out of the Demon Difficulties and didn't exist until Cataclysm popularized its existence. This is by far the hardest Difficulty in the game as of now and are so diverse from each other that one Difficulty can be different from the other by a substantial amount. All Players dream about beating one of these someday, but often don't succeed. The hardest Extreme Demons are also put into the Demon List to let people know what truly is the hardest Extreme Demon in the game. A popular example of an Extreme Demon is Bloodbath by Riot.

## Demon Difficulty Rating System

Over time, Demon levels have changed in Difficulty. Because of this change of mind, there's a way to change the Difficulty of Demons: The **Demon Difficulty Rating System**. This system allows any player to choose a Demon Difficulty. The Difficulty that currently has the most votes, will be the canon Difficulty for the level.

This system does have its flaws, however. You can only vote once, meaning that you can't change your mind about the Difficulty after you've rated it. Another flaw is that people can abuse the system to spam a certain Difficulty. This happened once with Problematic, where the level temporarily was an Extreme Demon until it was lowered down to an Easy Demon later on.

This system is also in place for *Unrated* levels. In these levels, people can choose between the Non-Demon Difficulties and the "Demon" Difficulty (non-specific). This system can also be abused, just like the Demon version. However, an Unrated level cannot be given the Demon Difficulty under any circumstance, even though it shows the Difficulty as an option.

## Difficulty Disagreements

Due to Geometry Dash being older than a decade at this point, there have been a lot of changes to the *Difficulty System*. These changes have caused the GD Community to have **Difficulty Disagreements**. This is very prominent in older levels, such as The Nightmare that are now not even considered Demons anymore, according to the GD Community.

This case is even worse when it comes to the Non-Demon Difficulties. Any level with this type of Difficulty that has been Rated, can only have their Difficulty changed if RobTop feels like doing that. This causes a lot of problems, with most levels having an inaccurate Difficulty that cannot be changed.