BALL x PIT was provided by Devolver Digital for review. Thank you!
Some of my favorite games early on in the Steam Deck’s lifespan were smaller-scale indie games, and there’s one in particular I fell for the most: Mr. Sun’s Hatbox. This roguelike took elements from Metal Gear Solid 5’s multiplayer and made it into something special. I still go back to it to play from time to time. However, developer Kenny Sun is coming out with their next game, and it has become my addiction ever since I started playing it.
BALL x PIT takes the Galaga format, puts a Brick-breaker spin on it, and wraps it all in a gorgeous, 3D pixelated roguelike package. It’s relatively easy to understand. You move around, shoot balls, and destroy all the enemies coming at you before they can reach and kill you. As enemies die, they drop exp gems, which increase your stats, as well as get new specialty balls and passive upgrades. These will all make you stronger, and from there, you can complete each level and use the resources you get to make you permanently stronger.
The balls we get from upgrading are not your average balls; they have some sort of specialty and element to them. This can range from the classic fire and blizzard balls to the more unique egg sac and wind balls. Each has its own benefits, like fire balls setting enemies ablaze, ghost balls penetrating enemies until they hit the back wall, and earthquake balls hurting enemies around a 3-5 tile radius after smacking someone. Each ball can level up three times, making them more powerful and/or enhancing their effects.
However, getting the right combination of balls is important too. As we play, we will pick up Fusion Reactors that can fuse balls together, combining their effects. And if you have two compatible balls, they can combine and evolve into something completely new with more powerful effects. This ultimately makes choosing the right balls, and passives to complement them, very important.
For example, getting the right balls to create the Turret Ball, which shoots two baby balls every time it hits a wall, could benefit a lot from passives that increase baby ball damage. Or using balls that can poison enemies, combined with a passive that has a chance to turn poisoned enemies that are killed into zombies that fight for you, can end up turning the tide. It’s so satisfying to get the right combo that can absolutely dominate the enemy, and there are a good number of combos to discover.
BALL x PIT also has a decent-sized character roster to check out, with each person having a quirk of their own. While our initial character doesn’t have any, we will very quickly unlock characters that change the way we play each run. Their characters were the balls that would be lobbed upwards and onto the field. The balls could be shot from the back wall instead of our character. One character even has a shield that will reflect balls back, similar to Brick Breaker, but they will gain double the damage. There will even be an upgrade later that can allow you to bring two characters in at a time, combining their abilities. Some of these abilities are just not great, like having to shoot the ball from the back, but there were some that I just fell in love with, like penetrating enemies until it hits the back wall.
With each character having a variety of abilities, there’s bound to be one that is above the rest. However, you are going to have to use multiple different characters if you want to progress and unlock more levels. Each character that beats a level earns a gear, which is used to upgrade your home base and unlock new levels. There will be more required as we continue playing, encouraging the use of multiple characters and trying out new playstyles. I appreciated this. I would have easily sunk into one or two characters, but I learned and saw the benefits of many others because I was forced to expand. I also discovered which ones I just couldn’t figure out.
Instead of just using currency to purchase upgrades like other roguelikes, we instead have to construct different buildings. As we play, we will get blueprints to unlock new buildings for us to place on our field. These will cost money and resources, and while some buildings can be built immediately, others will need more. After each run, we can actually send all of our unlocked characters to bounce around that field and into all the buildings. This will be how we can build the later buildings with better buffs, as well as gain extra resources. Most buildings can also be upgraded, and some provide effects to other buildings around it, like one giving any character buildings around extra EXP for their permanent level-ups.
Balancing building resources and other buffs to get in BALL X PIT is enjoyable, though I wasn't a fan of constantly having to go back and send my characters out. I just wanted to get back to shooting more balls, and while that can still be done, I found that having to go back and forth so often was just not as fun. It is okay every now and then, but if you really want to maximize resources that will be necessary, going back to the field after each run will be the best course of action.
BALL x PIT's gameplay feels like the perfect fit for a portable device, and I can happily say that it is! The game is a joy to play on the Steam Deck, hitting 90 FPS easily and fitting the entire screen with 1280x800 resolution support. Gamepad controls feel great, and everything was just as close to perfect as humanly possible.
Playing at 90 FPS does have a little too much battery drain for my taste, regularly hitting 13W - 14W, so I preferred keeping a 60 FPS lock to bring battery drain to 10W - 11W. This adds about an hour of battery life while keeping the smoothness, which I appreciated a lot.
There may be some small text here and there, but apart from that, it's pretty much perfect to play on the Steam Deck. I can't imagine playing it any other way, and I am glad I don't have to.
There is no accessibility tab, but we can toggle screen shake, vibration, the ability to manually activate the level up screen or disable the stats screen, allowing a slower game speed, changing sensitivity, toggling language, remapping controls, and changing audio sliders.
The game supports 16:10 resolutions, cloud saves, and controllers. There are no HDR settings.
BALL x PIT is a highly addictive roguelike that I found hard to take a break from. The Galaga mixed with Brick Breaker format works extremely well as a roguelike, and the wealth of characters, balls, and ways to combine them keeps the experience exciting and a bit unpredictable. The way to get passive buffs and new characters is interesting, although having to continually go back can be obnoxious. Still, this is me being very nitpicky, and I would still consider this an essential purchase for your Steam library.
It also helps that it feels flawless on the Steam Deck. There is some small text here and there, but nothing that harms the overall experience. This is a must-have portable game, and I can't say that enough.
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
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BALL x PIT is an incredible Brick Breaker-esque roguelike that I find hard to put down, and it helps that it's near perfect on the Steam Deck.
