Shapez 2 early access review

We’re a small team here at God is a Geek and despite our different gaming preferences, sometimes it can be hard to assign review coverage to a particular writer. But within a nanosecond of Shapez 2 being revealed, it was clear it was a game made for me. A game focusing on automation, efficiency, puzzle solving, and geometry? You couldn’t get more Chris Hyde if you tried, a Venn diagram of my wants, and Shapez 2 is just a perfect circle, ironically perfectly mirroring the first shape I need to create in the game. But as we know fans can often be the biggest critics, and is Shapez 2 all its – ahem – shaped up to be (my god – Ed)?

Having played the original Shapez title I knew roughly what to expect, but for those unfamiliar with the series you are tasked with creating various shape amalgamations manipulated from various source shapes. Starter shapes such as squares and circles can be cut up into quarters and rotated and merged together to create brand-new shapes. You could have a circle quadrant in the top left of your shape and a square in the top right corner, and finally, some pointed star shapes making up the bottom two sections. Once you have created the required shape, you need to ship it to the main central vortex. Ship enough and you’ll complete your main objective – or milestone – and can progress.

Shapez 2 then continuously ups the ante by adding new considerations for you. Your stacking machine can actually be used to put shape quarters on top of each other. So now you’re creating multiple shapes, and then carrying them on conveyors to a stacker, making sure the correct shape is on the top and bottom to create your brand-new layered shape to ship to the vortex. Throw in the ability to colour your shape quadrants different colours and even place pins to raise different sections up one level and you can create so many different layered compositions – and Shapez 2 will demand you do. Later in the game you even unlock trains that can ship large amounts of shapes long distances quickly to enhance your operations, thus speeding up achieving those milestones.

In addition to the milestones, you’re also served up additional tasks in the form of optional shapes to send to the vortex as well, normally showcasing the latest features you’ve unlocked in your milestone’s journey. It means rather than just focussing on one or two shape compositions, you’ve actually got a to-do list of six or seven. And this is where Shapez 2 comes into its own, because it requires skill, and puzzle-solving logic to get everything to fit and work seamlessly. I’ll admit it’s sad, but there’s nothing more satisfying than leaning back and watching everything work when you have, say, 10 shapes all feeding into the vortex, each one required, and slowly counting upwards. You know you’re doing well.

But aside from that smug feeling of satisfaction, your reward for completing these additional tasks is two-fold. The first is you are granted more tile space to create your vast conveyor machinations. The space around the central vortex is limited, so you’ll want to make the shapes you need further afield, and then deliver them to the vortex to ensure you don’t get overrun. You’re free to place tiles wherever you want over a truly vast space away from the central vortex if you desire, but it will all need shipping back there, which will cost you tiles. Generally speaking though in the main game, I ended up awash with thousands of these tiles that I never used, and so rarely worried, as whenever I needed to expand I could do so to my heart’s content, which is a good thing, but makes the limitation a bit arbitrary.

The other reward you get for vortexing shapes is Research Points. These are used to unlock upgrades which will help the efficiency and flexibility of your operations. You can upgrade the speed of conveyors or your cutting and stacking machines, as well as the speed and storage space of your trains. You can also unlock new foundation tile compositions for more space, and even unlock a third level for your conveyors to allow more ways to go over and under different production lines. It’s a really solid reward system because there’s a free choice, as long as you have enough points, you can buy it, no skill tree system here. And it means you can prioritise to suit your approach.

There’s so much content packed into the game, too. You start off relatively simple as the game shows you the basics, and then you can select various different levels of challenge in terms of milestones to achieve. And even on Normal difficulty, it will require you to think cleverly about doing what you need to do. But then there is Challenging difficulty, meant for those who have completed Normal mode, and then Insane difficulty for those really looking to be really pressed. And even then, there’s a Hexagonal mode, which blew my mind after working with quarters for so long. On top of that, everything can be customised to create a unique experience down to the milestone rewards and how much platform space you have to work with. Fans of making shapes definitely will not be short of things to do, and challenges to overcome.

What is perhaps the most striking thing about Shapez 2 compared to the original is just how gorgeous it all looks. I’m a fan of conveyors at the best of times but shapes flowing down them in unison, and every single stacking machine or cutter or painter, having its own animation, and it all running in real-time without a hint of slowdown just makes everything feel like the efficiency that you’re striving for. All the brightly coloured, smooth lines, and the glittering effects of the vortex create a lovely backdrop to the mechanical, structured autonomy which you are trying to create. The soundtrack is lovely too, full of relatively calming, melodic tunes to while away the time with. Sure they become a little repetitive over time, given the sheer amount of hours you could spend in Shapez 2, but it’s a lovely inoffensive soundtrack that many will adore.

With mouse and keyboard, it all controls really well, and you have a full 360-degree view of everything you are creating, which when things get crazier than Spaghetti Junction, is a godsend. Once you’ve unlocked the function, you can create blueprints of frequently-used setups and recreate them elsewhere, or simply copy and paste from a nearby setup instead. It all feels intuitive once you get the hang of it, and you’re rarely left wondering how to do something unless you’ve made a rod for your own back with a load of messy setups.

One minor complaint I had is with the pipes that pump coloured paint around so your shapes – or layers of shapes – have unique colours. These pipes can connect in a lovely grid pattern on the x and y axis with no bother, but as soon as you create a vertical pipe, it creates a rounded edge and disconnects from one end of the axis it was on. Simply put, it means connecting vertical and horizontal pipes is more cumbersome than it needs to be, and I wish it wasn’t a thing.

The only other concern I had whilst playing was occasionally feeling like I was waiting. This wasn’t unexpected – it was the same with the original Shapez, but sometimes once you have all the shapes you need set up, you just need to wait for enough to be shipped to the vortex. True enough, you could prep for the next shape coming up, or increase your output of a current shape, but sometimes that didn’t feel worth it compared to the time to wait. It’s by no means a deal breaker as it gives your brain a slight break from having to find solutions, but as the milestones increase, the number of shapes the vortex requires can reach into the tens of thousands, and without efficient systems, that can take time.

Having played the original title, Shapez 2 is pretty much exactly what I wanted. The same shape-creating madness, but with a visual overhaul, and a smattering of new ideas to help keep things fresh. This sequel also offers more support in terms of understanding how to create the shapes you need and gives you more scope to achieve them thanks to the triple-layered setting and the introduction of mechanics like trains to move large amounts of shapes around quickly. For the right type of gamer, this will be an immensely satisfying timesink where the only limit is your automation imagination.