I’m sure many of you have played or at least heard of Geometry Dash, the side scrolling platformer/rhythm game that has induced the rage of many since 2013. On the surface it may just seem like just some game you’d play to pass the time whilst on the way to school or waiting for an appointment due to its simple premise, tap a button, and the square jumps, avoiding the obstacles in its way. However, this simple game is home to an incredibly creative and talented community, with over 242 million downloads, 17 million registered accounts and 10 million custom levels. Its popularity and complexity is somewhat understated due to its simplicity on the surface, and within this article I seek to do the game justice, revealing the skill contained within every corner of its vast community.

Many would likely think of games such as Elden Ring, and other Soulsborne games as the most difficult, however I would argue that the most difficult achievements in gaming are contained within Geometry Dash, as evidenced by the top players and the levels they play. These levels and players are all highlighted within the ‘Pointercrate Demonlist’, a website run by the community which seeks to display the top 150 hardest levels in the game, as well as the players who beat them. Some levels take hundreds of thousands attempts to beat for some and require serious amounts of dedication and perseverance to beat. I can speak from personal experience, as the hardest level I’ve beaten took me 12000 attempts, and the feeling of completing it was unmatched. The shear effort required to beat a top 150 level is immense, resulting in reactions such as the infamous Kenos verification reaction from Npesta, which has become a meme that’s transcended the Geometry Dash community. If you have time, I urge you to look up ‘Tidal Wave GD’, ‘Avernus GD’ or simply just go through the demon list and watch the levels to gain a better understanding into their immense difficulty.

The competitive scene of Geometry Dash has been prominent since early 2014, and can be separated into two eras, pre and post Pointercrate. Pre-Pointercrate would include players such as Cyclic, Andromeda, Zobros, and the most influential player in the game, Riot. Iconic players post-Pointercrate would cement themselves within the community as well, including names such as Trusta, DiamondSplash, Boldstep, Sunix, Noctafly, Wooshi, Technical, Nswish, SpaceUK, Doggie, Paqoe, Trick and Zoink. Hacking is an incredibly prevalent issue within Geometry Dash, and within these names, Cyclic, Andromeda, Noctafly and SpaceUK would end up being exposed as hackers. Space UK’s controversy was especially scandalous, as over 75 levels he beat (these included all of his hardest achievements) were revealed to be botted. Before this, he’d been

considered the best player for around 2 years before his exposal, and his dominance caused many to be demotivated in continuing the game. Although there are many more instances of hacking in the community, these have been the most high-profile ones.

This likely means nothing to many, however, the point I’m attempting to make in highlighting these people, is to emphasise how important this community is to many, and how active it is. Geometry Dash is incredibly unique in that, it’s a game entirely sustained by its community. The gap between the current version of the game (2.2) and the previous update (2.1), was seven years apart, and so the game relied on the incredible skill and creativity within its players to keep the game together.

Without the creation of custom levels, Geometry Dash would have died long ago, and so it’s a pivotal aspect to the game which has allowed it to maintain a community even when updates are few and far between. In utilising the limited amount of command triggers and decorations available to them, many creators in this space have created levels that have incredible aesthetics and art within them. Some of the most popular creators within the game throughout its existence have been Viprin, Krmal, Serponge, Hinds, Bli, Mindcap, Jeyzor, Knobbelboy (who also was a top player), and Wulzy (there are hundreds of others however naming them all would take way too long).

The talent of the communities’ creators is showcased in the incredibly unique styles of each level, specifically rated levels, which are officially acknowledged by Geometry Dash’s creator, RobTop. Of course, I’m not able to go over every single level in the game, as there’s millions of them, however I’ll name some standouts with links attached to showcase the shear dedication and creativity within this community:

Astral Divinity, by Knobbelboy

Change of Scene, by Bli

Cosmic Cyclone, by APTeam

Edge of Destiny, by CDmusic and more

WHAT, by Spu7Nix

iSpyWithMyLittleEye, by Voxicat

These are just a few examples, however there are thousands of other captivating levels you could view or play for yourself. I hope that, in talking about the various levels and players of the game, I’ve been able to highlight the eclectic community that keeps Geometry Dash alive and encourage you to check some of these levels out for yourself. It’s a game of boundless potential, and one that is very special to me, and many others.