This is the Only Level (Adventures in Singularity)

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"Elephants sometimes do forget... the rest of the levels." —Slogan for This Is the Only Level

This is the Only Level (Adventures in Singularity) is a game created by jmtb02. It features an elephant, trying to escape a room. That's all the game is.

Or so you would think.

Actually, there is only one level... but you have to repeat it, over and over. And each time you finish it, the aspect of the levels change. There are thirty variations of the level (called stages) in all, and each of them are different.

It can be played here.

A sequel, titled This is the Only Level TOO (The Heroic Quest to Complete Another Level) has since been released, featuring Level 2 and thirty new stages. It can be played over here. A third game, This is the Only Level 3, has also been released. You can play it right here.

The same elephant stars in Achievement Unlocked and its sequel, as well as Elephant Rave, Run Elephant Run, Obey The Game!, and Elephant Quest.

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Tropes used in This is the Only Level (Adventures in Singularity) include:

All three levels provide examples of:

• Door to Before: The exit of the level takes you back to the start of the level.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: There IS only one level in both games. You just have to do them loads of times.
• Fake Trap: In the first level, the spikes in "Dull surprises" act as springs. In the second, they have different properties in "Left IS Right" (the bottom of the row of spikes on the left wall is fake), "On Ice" (all the spikes disappear when you go near them), and "D34TH 15 2AD" (you have to make certain sets of spikes disappear in a certain order). Otherwise, they kill you.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The titles of each stage contain a clue as to how to solve them.
• Interface Screw: Some of the stages in both levels either reverse your controls or disable certain buttons. Some of them even make you use entirely new keys.
• Invisible Block: In the first level's "Mime's folly", there is an invisible wall to the right of the button that you have to jump over. The second level features "Amazeing", which is a maze made up of invisible blocks.
• Jump Physics: The elephant (and the secret characters in the sequel) can jump like freaking Mario. Sometimes.
• Locked Door: In almost every stage of both levels. Sometimes figuring out how to open it is part of the stage puzzle.
• Pressure Plate: The button that sometimes opens the door.
• Side View
• Solve the Soup Cans: Admittedly the hints are there in the titles but the solutions are still pretty far out.
  • For Level 1 in particular, "Time to refresh" requires you to refresh the page in your browser to unlock the door (though an updated version of the game changes the title to "Refresh or Panic" and lets you hit the panic button instead of refreshing), and "Credit page" requires you to go back to the menu, then go to the Credits page and click "Main menu, and unlock Stage 27 for me" there.
  • In Level 2, "Peek-a-boo!" requires you to face away from the door to open it, then dash through before it closes again, "Stuck?" requires you to click the walkthrough button to unlock the door, "Deaf, Dumb, and Blind" not only requires you to navigate the course while blacked out, but also hit the Mute button, and "What's On The Menu?" requires you to go back to the menu, then control the elephant in it and bring it onto the button at the top left, and return to the game.

Level 1 provides examples of:

• Doomy Dooms of Doom: The "Candy stripes of doom" stage.
• Everything Breaks: In the "Collapse" stage.
• Schmuck Bait: The button in "Think before doing" closes the already-open door.
• Urban Legend of Zelda: Several people claimed the existence of a Stage 31. This is based off a glitch on the menu and does not exist. However...

Level 2 provides examples of:

• And Now for Someone Completely Different: Stage 9 has you controlling a donkey. This is inverted when you actually unlock the donkey as a playable character. Going back to Stage 9 does nothing, but going to the stage after that has you play as the elephant instead.
• Continuity Nod: The "stage cleared" message for the final stage is "But is the level over?", which was the only message for clearing the stages in Level 1.
• Descending Ceiling: Stage 14.
• Everything's Better With Dinosaurs and NuttySquirrel: Two of the secret characters.
• Fake Difficulty: The only type of difficulty in FML mode, which derives its challenge from putting the player in frequently Unwinnable scenarios and insurmountable odds.
• Letters 2 Numbers: Stage 27: D34TH 15 2AD.
• Luck-Based Mission: Any stage easily becomes this in FML mode due to the randomly-generated extra bits of level, since all too often the position of said bits makes the level Unwinnable. Sometimes they even block the exit.
• Minus World: The Easter Egg and a reference to the Urban Legend of Zelda from the previous game.
• Platform Hell: FML Mode (FML is an acronym for Fuck My Life "Frustratingly Manipulative Level"). It is not Unwinnable by Design (determined players have completed FML mode), but it comes oh-so-close.
• Rouge Angles of Satin: The beginning of the ending text says "You have beat the only level in the game." Tasselfoot's video walkthrough shows a version of the game where the clear message for Stage 12 is "But your still trying to find the ending."
• Shout-Out: There are two references to Super Mario Bros.. -- the clear message for "Red Light!" is "But the end is in another castle.", and Stage 11 is titled "World 1-2" and requires you to hit the top of the level to reach a warp zone on the other side. Also, the clear message for "Sliding Portcullis" is "But Will It Blend?"
  • There is also another one to another of jmtb02's game, Achievement Unlocked; stage 28, Surface Painting, has you coloring the surfaces.
• Speed Run: Required to unlock the secret characters.
• Warp Zone: In Stage 11. All three pipes lead to the same level you've been going through.
• Where It All Began: Stage 7 makes you return to the starting pipe.

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Level 3 provides examples of:

• A Winner Is You:

YES! You win! NO! We don't have anything awesome to give you. BUT... maybe we could assign you some random title

• Art Shift: The background and blocks are much more detailed than in the first two levels.
• And Now for Someone Completely Different: Similar to the second level, one stage has you controlling a Raptor.
• Bullet Hell: Stage 15. And every stage in FML Mode.
• Fun with Acronyms: In stage 15, you are supposed to spell "Blue". The name of the stage will abbreviate to B.L.U.E.
• Schmuck Bait/Call Back: A Reference to the first level, Stage 21's switch closes the already open door
• Shout-Out: The clear message for Stage 3 is "But are these the droids you are looking for?" Stage 11's is, again, "But does it blend?" Stage 6 is called "Speak Friend And Enter". Stage 15 is called "The Touhou Project", and invokes Ikaruga.
  • More references to previous Elephant games: stage 9 is based on Elephant Rave. The pastries first appeared in Achievement Unlocked 2.
• Speed Run: Similar to the second level, required to unlock FML Mode. (Which stands for "Friendly Memorable Love", apparently.)
• Unexpected Gameplay Change: To get through Stage 27 you have to play a game of Snake in the corner of the high scores screen.