Players face off against three random stages (even ones not yet unlocked), voted on by the group, and a boss fight to top it off. The challenge mode contains more content.

The story mode can be beaten in a couple of hours. Those looking for people to play with can drop into online multiplayer rooms and play with random people or online friends. Solo, the game is still a good time, though it feels like dancing alone in the middle of a club. The same general rules apply, but if a player loses all of their health, another player can rescue them, assuming they don’t float off the screen first. Multiplayer is the clear focus of the game. This can be helpful when playing with friends. Even then, there is a “casual mode” that doubles player HP for a more breezy experience. The majority of stages don’t exceed two to three minutes, so it never feels too frustrating.

The player-shapes have a limited number of hits before they return to a checkpoint most stages have about three to four checkpoints, but boss stages have no checkpoints. The player-shapes cannot fight back, but they can move in all directions, as well as dash in any direction, in their quest to reach the triangle at the end of the stage. Just Shapes & Beats is an active, but passive game. The four main shapes must work together with the innocent denizens of the world to reclaim the triangles and restore the balance of the world. The story is simple a red cat-like beast invades a world of peaceful shapes and conquers its main power source, mythical triangles. This basic premise forms the basis of the story mode, as well as the challenge and party modes. Just Shapes & Beats, by the three-person developer Berzerk Studio, is a musical dodge-’em-up where up to four little shapes have to survive an onslaught of rhythmic obstacles until the end of each stage. If your eyes are straining from thousands of polygons moving on-screen in real-time 4K 60FPS, then Just Shapes & Beats is the perfect, pulsating palate cleanser.

Just shapes and beats trailer