On Dec. 19, 2023, after almost six years since the last major update, the long-awaited “Geometry Dash” update 2.2 was finally released, causing the game to hit its all-time highest player count ever, numbering at a whopping 88,346 players. The update added a whole slew of new features, from a new official level, a new gamemode, new editor features and over 600 new unlockables for players to use. However, was this update really worth the six-year content drought the game had received in its name? In this review, I will discuss each new feature and give my opinion on whether I think the years-long wait was worth what we got in the end.
New Official Level: “Dash”
After over six years since “Fingerdash” was added with update 2.1, the roster of official levels has finally been updated for 2.2 with the addition of “Dash.” This level uses most of the new editor features introduced with 2.2, including the new Swing gamemode, dynamic camera, new editor features and much more. Despite criticisms from the community regarding the readability of the gameplay when a preview for the level was released some time ago, the level is quite fun and introduces the new features fairly well. While there are some parts near the beginning of the level that feel like they try to cram in too much of the new stuff at once, the level is still fairly easy for its Insane difficulty rating; I don’t really consider myself to be that great of a player and even I was able to complete the level in less than 50 attempts. Overall, I found the level to be a fairly good introduction to 2.2 and its mechanics and definitely would recommend giving it a try if you haven’t already.
New Gamemode: Swing
The new gamemode, Swing (also referred to as “Swing Copter” by the community), was teased before the update and was officially introduced with “Dash.” Mechanically speaking, the Swing is kind of a cross between the ship and the ball game modes; it flies like the ship, but each tap or click switches gravity like the ball. Personally I was worried about how this gamemode would be implemented, as many of the community-made iterations of the concept felt clunky to use. However, after playing “Dash” as well as a few other new community-made levels that use the Swing, I can easily say that the Swing feels much better to use then I anticipated, and I am very excited to see what the community can come up with in regards to using this new gamemode in future levels.
New Editor Features
On the same note as the Swing, many new editor features have also been added with the update. Since I am terrible at creating levels myself, I won’t get too far into these, but they still are worth bringing up as they greatly increase the amount of options creators have when making levels. The most important of these new features in my opinion are the camera controls. Camera controls allow creators to change how the camera works within the level; rather than the static camera of before, the camera can zoom in and out or even go upside down. Going along with this is the new “F block” that allows the player to stick to walls, allowing them to be able to go sideways up walls or go upside down without a gravity portal. This is used multiple times in “Dash” to mixed effect. However, despite community concern that the new mechanics would lead to levels that can’t be sightread (the ability to tell what to do in a level just by looking ahead of oneself during gameplay), I’ve found that all the new community created levels I’ve played are fairly straightforward. Over the past few years the community has learned a lot about what makes a fair and fun level, and I believe new levels that use the new features will be just as fun if not even more fun than older levels that don’t. Overall, I believe these new features will add more dimensions to traditional gameplay and more options for creators to use in their levels, which is a great thing for us players and for the longevity of the game.
Platformer Mode
One of the greatest features introduced in 2.2 is the long-awaited Platformer Mode. This mode allows one to have full control over their icon using either WASD or the arrow keys to manually control their icon. This along with the new editor features allows people to create a wide variety of levels that aren’t possible under the limitations of traditional “Geometry Dash,” including puzzle levels, bossfight levels, story-based levels or even horror-themed levels. Personally I have played so much of this new mode, and I think it is fantastic to allow people’s creativity to shine through as well as for improving the longevity of the game as a whole.
Over 600 New Customizations
One of the biggest complaints I had about “Geometry Dash” before the release of 2.2 is, strangely enough, the lack of player customization options. However, update 2.2 blows all my complaints away, with a crazy amount of new customizations for all eight game modes. The insane amount of new customizations as well as new colors, death effects, ship trails and other miscellaneous customizations make it so that there is truly something for everyone. Along with the new customizations, new ways of getting them have been implemented as well, including new item shops, new gauntlets, new achievements and 5 new shards of power. Going along with the new shards is another new feature known as Paths. Paths can be purchased for 25,000 mana orbs (50,000 at launch), and each path corresponds to one of the 10 different shard types. Once unlocked, the player can level up the Path by earning stars, with every 100 shards unlocking a new icon or color, maxing out at 1000 per Path. Paths are another tool that greatly adds to the games longevity in my opinion, since it takes 10,000 stars to unlock all 10 rewards in each of the 10 paths, a huge undertaking for any completionist.
2.21 and Future New Features
“Geometry Dash” developer Robtop actually had even more content planned for 2.2 that didn’t make the cut for the update, including a Versus mode, new Gauntlets, a Map mode (kind of like Gauntlets except for Platformer levels instead of traditional ones) and a new official demon level called Explorers. However, Roptop has decided that these features still need to be ironed out a bit, so he has chosen to release them along with the next big update, 2.21, which I am in full support of. Roptop has worked really hard to get this update out for us after so long, and he deserves a bit of a break; I would much rather he take his time in implementing these new features rather than trying to rush all of them out with the release to 2.2.
So, Was 2.2 Worth the Wait?
Even despite the 6-year content drought it took to get us this update, I would say what we got has made it absolutely worth it. Though there are a few bugs, Robtop has been hard at work ironing them out, already releasing three patches with more sure to come. Update 2.2 really made me fall in love with “Geometry Dash” again, and all the new features such as Platformer Mode, the new editor features and the new customizations have surely rocketed the game to new heights and increased the game’s longevity dramatically. The update has really given me a passion for “Geometry Dash” again, and I am so excited to see the amazing things the community will be able to create with all these new features. I would very much recommend that anyone with even a passing interest in trying the update out to do so, and anyone who has never played “Geometry Dash” to at least try it out; it’s only five dollars on Steam and even less on the App Store, which is honestly a steal considering the hundreds of hours of fun one can have in this fantastic game.
