Soundodger 2 is a rhythm game where you move a small circle to avoid obstacles to the rhythm of the music. While it's a simple concept, the variety of deadly obstacles, the speed, and the precision needed (not to mention the extra game modes and abilities) make it an exacting challenge.

You play a small white sphere, which you move around the circular play area to avoid the multitude of spikes, lasers and other deadly obstacles that move across the screen in time to the music. It starts off simple, but as you make your way through the levels, the margin for error gets much smaller as the number of obstacles increases and the spaces you can move to get smaller and less predictable.

As you progress, you can use your abilities, of which you only have a limited number per stage. These include a temporary shield that creates a static bubble of safety for a limited time. Clever deployment of these abilities can help you out of tricky situations, and for an extra challenge, you can try and complete the levels without them. Extra game modes are also available, such as one where you also have to ensure a grey ball that mirrors your actions is kept safe, or where you guide a trail of balls through the spikes along with your own ball.

The level editor allows you to import your own music and create custom levels to it, which can make use of all the different obstacles present in the game. You can then share your levels and let other players try and beat them. This steady stream of player-made content means there's always a new challenge waiting to be overcome.

The result is a game that's simple and easy to learn but requires lots of practice, patience and perseverance to master its unique game modes, abilities, and challenging levels. Finally completing a stage you've practised for hours is both hugely rewarding and fun.

There are two versions of the game:

• Soundodger+ (2013) PC
• Soundodger 2 (2021) PC