Chronos

**Chronos** is the second level of *Just Shapes & Beats*. Chronos is preceded by Corrupted, and is followed by Milky Ways. It is the first regular level in the game, with the previous one being a sort of tutorial.

## Description

After completing Corrupted, the tutorial level of the game, the player is introduced with 3 circles which act as a method of the game's level selection. The first circle is *Chronos* and selecting it will start the level.

This level is quite long for starters, but it should be easy for players who are familiar with the game. This is one of the reasons why the level has five checkpoints so that if the player fails at any time, the player can rewind back to the last unlocked checkpoint. The level introduces some common hazardous elements that are going to be used in later levels.

Assuming this is the player's first level after Corrupted, from then point on, Checkpoints are now unlocked by blue broken lines, the progress bar can be seen on top of the screen and the player's lives are limited. Keep that in mind from now on.

After beating this level, the player can now move on to the other circles or unlock Long Live The New Fresh if they already completed them.

## Layout

First Phase
The level opens with a segment where square pellets will be sprayed from the right side of the screen to the left. A few seconds into the segment two triangles will appear, positioning themselves near the middle of the screen and firing three lines of circles directly in front of them. A checkpoint is located after the second triangle fires its circles.

Second Phase
The second segment follows the same square spray pattern as the first, but horizontal lines will briefly indicate where lasers will fire. Multiple lasers can be on screen at a time and they appear quite quickly. Halfway through the segment, pulse bombs will take turns appearing on the top right or bottom right of the screen and burst into rings of eight pellets. Four of these appear before a giant pulse bomb appears in the middle right of the screen. It will flash in sync with the music as it begins growing larger, and a checkpoint is reached here.

Third Phase
After the second checkpoint, the bomb will explode into numerous rings of sixteen pellets each. Lasers with warnings will appear identically to the second segment. After a while, vertical lasers will start appearing instead of the horizontal ones, and squares will start being sprayed from the right of the screen to the left again. After a few seconds, horizontal and vertical lasers will begin appearing together, and black holes will appear and expand. During this circular pattern, the third checkpoint will appear.

Fourth Phase
The square spray stops and lasers fire more slowly. Black holes will still appear. A few seconds into the segment, squares will start being sprayed from the right and horizontal lines will start appearing again. Halfway into the segment, everything stops until the fourth checkpoint appears.

Fifth Phase
The fifth segment starts with pulse bombs appearing from the bottom right and the top right. A few seconds in this will stop to make way for walls (giant versions of the lasers), and at about three-quarters of the segment, three black holes and four pulse bombs will appear on the right of the screen. The walls continue appearing, with the final checkpoint appearing during this segment.

Final Phase
The final area still generates walls, and squares are sprayed from the right of the screen continuously during this segment. At around three-quarters through this phrase, the spray will cease before the walls finally stop as well, ending the level as the music fades.

Hardcore Mode Changes
First Phase
* The triangles that fire the lines of circles appear later.

Second Phase
* There is less time between the lasers' indication and when they fire.
* The pulse bombs explode into sixteen pellets instead of eight.

Third Phase
* As with the second phase, there is less time between the lasers' indication and when they fire.
* The black holes are larger.

Fifth Phase
* As with the second phase, the pulse bombs explode into sixteen pellets instead of eight.
* There is less time between the walls' indication and when they fire.
* As with the third phase, the black holes are larger.

## Difficulty

Easy. Chronos is one of the easiest levels in the game. The giant wall part may be hard though.

## Tips And Tricks

Chronos might be a little difficult, but pretty easy. At the beginning, stay at the bottom. The triangles will shoot like lasers, so stay away from those. After the lasers, Pulse Bombs will explode. A LARGE Pulse Bomb explodes, and you don't want to move that much.

Skipping ahead to the third checkpoint, circles will appear and expand, so stay out of those. After the fourth checkpoint, there are thick lasers, so do NOT be on the edge. The Pulse Bombs could probably mess with you, so try and dodge those.

## Trivia

* This level, Milky Ways and Logic Gatekeeper are the only levels in Story Mode that can be played even *before* Corrupted is completed, as they are pre-unlocked in the game's Playlist and Challenge Mode.
	+ The above three and Creatures Ov Deception are the only levels that are unlocked by default.
* Not including Corrupted, this level contains the most number of checkpoints among other normal levels in the game, having five of them.
	+ This excludes Corrupted with twelve checkpoints, as it is more of a special tutorial level exclusive in Story Mode, rather than an actual level by itself.
* A leftover piece of text from the demo version of the game that reads "Good job! You did well so far... That's about to end." This text would appear halfway throughout the level at the bottom of the screen. This is removed because it likely went unused or due to the final product's minimalistic design.
* This level, Logic Gatekeeper, Yokuman Stage, Paper Dolls, Long Live the New Fresh, and Dubwoofer Substep used to be in the games demo back at PAX 2015 and PAX 2018 before the games official release.