Shapez 2 leaves early access with a new game mode all about building massive factories: 'This isn't just a game is finished release'

For much of its early access development, Shapez 2 was an interesting alternative to the tentpole automation sims like Factorio and Satisfactory. A more streamlined affair that dispensed with many of the supplementary systems seen in those aforementioned games, Shapez 2 adopted a more puzzle-centric approach to assembly-line construction.

That's still very much the case. But with Shapez 2's recent departure from Steam early access, developer tobspr games has also aligned the game more closely to those factory building titans. This isn't just a 'game is finished' release," writes tobspr. "With this update, we're introducing a huge amount of new content and improvements on top, for new and existing players."

Chiefly, the 1.0 patch adds a new mode that focuses less on solving specific puzzles, and more on building the massive, multipurpose factories that make this genre so dangerously compulsive. Manufacture mode mixes things up so that instead of shovelling shapes into the game's central, ravenous vortex, you need to supply specific shapes to trade stations scattered across the void. These stations will then output a new shape, which you can use to supply a different trade station.

In this manner, Manufacture mode gives you the ever-increasing complexity of construction that is at the heart of factory sims. As explained in a separate dev blog, tobspr intended for such a mode to be the default mode of Shapez 2. But they felt that going straight into building massive factories could be "overwhelming for new players" and decided to make it an optional game mode that sits alongside the more puzzle-centric structure. Nonetheless, it gives experienced players a whole new way to play Shapez 2, which makes sense given they will have already seen much of the game's existing experience.

As for that existing experience, Shapez excels in tickling that part of the brain that loves to set things up and watch them run: looping conveyor belts shuttling LEGO-like studs in hypnotic formation. The lack of survival mechanics or hostiles to defend your factory on means you can focus purely on the construction side of things, refining your factory designs to their cleanest, most efficient forms.

In addition to manufacture mode, the 1.0 version adds some extra challenges to classic mode, as well as visual improvements and two new shapes to manufacture—X and Y. A pedant might argue those are letters rather than shapes, but I suppose there are only so many ways you can draw a triangle or an oblong.

The update also reworks the tutorial, adds achievements, and introduces modding support. If you're intrigued by Shapez 2 but are yet to pick it up, tobspr's factory sim is currently on a 20% launch discount. That means you can currently grab it for $24 (£20). The discount ends on May 7.