Since late 2013, Robert Topala's Geometry Dash has been the first gaming app I load on any new iDevice I come across. Now the devilish rhythm platformer will be the first game I load on new gaming PCs as well.
I can't believe I've only mentioned the game on Kotaku once, back during the times of the Week in Gaming Apps. Between my iPhone 5c, iPhone 6, iPad Mini and iPad Air 2 I must have put dozens of hours of effort into navigating Geometry Dash's music-based levels. One-button controls make it seem like bouncing along to the music is a simple task, but auto-jumping pads, mid-air jump spots, gravity shifts and some incredibly fiendish level design turn first attempts into fifth attempts into twenty-second attempts.
I generally start up the game and go to a more difficult level like "Jumper." Over the course of half a year I've managed to get 23 percent through the level before bailing. So I sit and retry, hoping for that 24th percentage point. Now and then I'll hop back into one of the game's easy early levels to make myself feel better. (view at 60 FPS if you can)
Maybe I'll try to go through the levels in order. That's level one, how about two?
I can get through the first three of the eighteen or so levels included with the game with few problems. From there on up it's a string of increasingly dismal failures — but not as dismal as they were a month or two ago. I'm getting there.
Meanwhile the community is creating its own levels, so if I ever manage to overcome RobTop's creations, greater challenges await.
And now the game is on PC — the videos above were captured from the Steam version. It's been in the Greenlight program since the summer, and now it's available for the downright silly price of $3.99. I shall never escape Geometry Dash, and I'm okay with that.