Just Shapes & Beats is a two-dimensional rhythm-action bullet hell game available on PC, PS5/4, Xbox One & Series X|S originally released on May 31st, 2018. The goal of the game is simple – avoid moving shapes. It’s the type of game I think I would really enjoy, but it has been sitting in my Steam library (a digital library for PC games) for nearly half a year unplayed. That may seem kind of strange, procrastinating playing video games? As weird as it may seem, it’s a very real thing I do. Possibly because it wasn’t a very high priority for me, so I was excited to finally get around to playing it.
The game, stylistically, is very simple. Solid colors only, basic shapes such as squares, circles, and triangles are used. The game is in a top-down view, meaning the player can move in any direction on the screen rather than just left and right, which is most commonly seen in games like Mario Bros. Speaking of movements, the player can only move in 8 directions, left, right, up, down, and diagonals. The player also has the ability to “dash”, or move quickly in a given direction. The dash is interesting because it’s also used to ignore damage from obstacles.
The core gameplay is very simple; as mentioned previously, the goal of the game is to avoid moving shapes. It sounds easy, but things get fast quickly. The first level of the game is very simple, just a short tutorial which is meant to teach the movement mechanics. It does this very well! All obstacles are colored pink, so it is easily identifiable what is harmful and what is not. After the tutorial, things pick up as you are put into the first 3 levels. These 3 levels are an extension of the tutorial, so these levels aren’t too bad to complete. Every level of this game uses these basic shapes to create creative and interesting level designs, each with unique patterns and gameplay styles.
I mentioned earlier that this is a rhythm game, but nothing I’ve described so far indicates it is. The key is that you, the player, do not move to the rhythm of a song. The obstacles do, which makes things pretty interesting as this is not something seen in a lot of rhythm games. This can be seen in the earliest levels, where you have lasers activating to the beat of the song. The goal, of course, is to avoid these lasers (or any other obstacle) for a set amount of time until the next checkpoint comes around. When you die, you are sent back to your last checkpoint. If you die too many times, you have to start the level from the very beginning. Sometimes, after enough levels you will encounter a boss stage, which is first seen after the first 3 tutorial levels. This boss stage is like a regular level except there are no checkpoints. These boss stages usually include a large figure to avoid, which is timed to the music. The boss stages offer a unique challenge that I really enjoyed.
As strange as it may seem, this game has a story. I won’t get into it too much to avoid spoilers, but the basic premise is that The Boss (from the boss stages) has taken over a peaceful world, called “Paradise”. Before his takeover, the player explores this world, which is also creatively used as the game’s credits scene. Despite the limited visuals, this part of the game is very colorful and interesting to look at, I really like it! It’s now your job to take The Boss down once and for all! Which includes the exploration of 5 main chapters of the game until the end of the story.
The game does not only include a story mode, but an online mode too where you can play with others online or locally. As well as a party mode, where the game never stops until you die, kind of like old arcade games that were purely high score based. Music choice in the game as a whole is mostly EDM/DNB type songs, which are my personal favorites among genres.
Overall, Just Shapes & Beats is worth the money. Awesome songs, simple yet effective visuals, fast-paced and unique gameplay, and difficulty are key parts of what makes a game great. If you also like these things, I would really recommend buying the game at some point.