The Long Game
Developer/publisher Berzerk Studio Format PC, PS4, Switch Release 2018
Progress reports on the games we just can’t quit, featuring fresh hell in Just Shapes & Beats
Set to the bouncy chiptune of Danimal Cannon’s Long Live The New Fresh, Just Shapes & Beats’ opening boss fight starts predictably enough: the tutorial prepares you for a musical bullet hell in which you must dodge pink shapes using only a thumbstick and an invincible dash. A circle spews spiky pellets – at the drop, it suddenly transforms into a monster, sprouting rocket-powered arms all the better to batter you with. It’s a moment that crystallises what some of the greatest masocore games have in common: the element of surprise.
But the thrill doesn’t last. Mastering these games, whether it’s a platformer, a combat challenge or a bullet hell, demands three things: memorisation, execution and a little bit of cheese. You repeat a stage over and over, learning patterns, perfecting timing and figuring out safe spots. Eventually, you enter a zen state where the chaos on the screen takes a backseat to what’s happening in your own head. The game changes from palm-moistening challenge to relaxing pastime. A favourite level becomes almost like playing a beloved tune on the piano.
At the beginning of the year, Just Shapes & Beats did the equivalent of moving all the keys up one space, via an update that – among adding other things such as faster retry and extra levels – slightly changed the
position of obstacles in certain levels. Termination Shock’s retooled slingshot pillars mean we can’t hide in the bottom-right corner of the screen any more, and the tiny adjustment to the pillars in the last phase confuses our muscle memory: we have to learn how to shimmy to the beat, on top of avoiding pellets. It’s infuriating, but an improvement, further syncing our movements with the music rather than letting us rest.
The Hardcore Mode update (released first on PS4 but since made available on other platforms) has taken a sledgehammer to the piano keys. Each of the 39 levels has received an even more fiendish variant, with different obstacles, larger bullets and increased speed. Spectra, once a sedate jam session, has become a desperate dash for space, while the addition of a buzzsaw inside the rolling cog in the Close To Me boss fight is pure evil.
The exhilaration is back. Soon enough, we’ll comb it into zen-like patterns again with the rake of our skill. It’s refreshing to get another chance at that cycle: while it’d be significantly more complicated to alter levels in the similarly charismatic Cuphead, Just Shapes & Beats’ purity means it can be revivified with relative ease, giving us more deliciously nasty surprises to sink our teeth into – a great model for the future of masocore. Long live the new fresh, indeed.