Arkanoid. Those autoscroller games available on mobile that infest my Instagram and Youtube feeds. The city building bit from ActRaiser. Roguelikes. Those four elements have absolute nothing in common, at least on paper. I never thought a game featuring all of these bits mixed in a blender would ever exist, let alone work, but the developer behind Mr. Sun’s Hatbox, alongside the madmen at Devolver, managed to make that happen. What’s more, Ball x Pit is more than just a combination of nonsensical ideas that somehow work together. It’s actually one of the most entertaining roguelites available right now.

The gameplay loop in Ball x Pit is odd to describe, but I’ll give my best shot. In order to reach the farthest depths of the gigantic pit that once housed your kingdom, you need to constantly improve your base with gear pieces. In order to get these gears, you need to play a handful of levels where the main objective is to survive an utterly nonsensical barrage of enemies coming your way, with your main means of defense being… balls. Yep. Balls. Lots and lots of balls. Keep shooting them at your enemies, get them back when they ricochet, and repeat the process. Earn experience points to increase the power of your balls, and acquire new balls for you to handle.

The “action” side of things has you blasting balls up the screen until all enemies disappear. It’s a bit reverse pachinko, a bit Bust-a-Move, a bit those mobile games you see ads for on social media. It’s incredibly easy to play, as you don’t even need to press a fire button if you don’t want to: you press the autofire button once, you will start blasting balls automatically, and all you’ll need to worry about is aiming and moving around, avoiding enemy shots like it’s Ikaruga or something. You might think this makes Ball x Pit easier to handle, but nope, this is a bit challenge. Positioning, aiming, and proper utilization of the many powerups you can acquire during a run are crucial.

At the end of a run, be it by dying or defeating its boss, you will amass experience points, used to improve your stats permanently, and resources for you to invest in your town. Yep, Ball x Pit isn’t just an arcade shoot ’em up, as another important piece of its gameplay loop lies on the creation of a small village. Think of it as a simplified version of ActRaiser: you use the resources acquired during a run to invest in wheat farms, stone quarries, and whatnot. You then tell all characters you’ve unlocked so far to either extract these resources from the ground, as well as build new buildings and housing units for further characters, by basically launching them like a Bust-a-Move orb. With these new resources and characters, you can beef yourself up and venture once again into the Pit, in yet another round of ball shooting.

This insane gameplay loop shouldn’t work, but it does. On paper, that just sounds like a chaotic mess… and sure, it kinda is, but at the end of the day, what matters is that this complete nonsense is fun and addictive. Furthermore, despite the apparent low budget and small developmental size, Ball x Pit still manages to feature a pretty good presentation, with retro-styled graphics and a plethora of songs that had no right being as catchy as they ended up being.

Ball x Pit is what I love the most about Devolver Digital’s curation: scouting and publishing ideas that sound completely chaotic and nonsensical, only for them to end up working so much better than anyone could have ever predicted. The combination of bullet hell shooters, block puzzles, city management, and traditional roguelike elements are all seemingly random ingredients that work incredibly well together, resulting in one of the most addictive roguelite gameplay loops in recent memory. An absolutely easy and mandatory recommendation.

Graphics: 7.5 Retro-styled but still very appealing, at least when you’re actually playing the game. The visuals in the town building mode are less interesting to look at, but you don’t spend that much time on it, to be fair.	Gameplay: 9.0 A gameplay loop that’s equal parts super simple, chaotic, and actually strategy-heavy. Aiming and shooting is the lesser of your concerns. Planning your positioning, fusions, and also taking care of your town, are also equally important, and go along incredibly well.
Sound: 8.5 The songs when actually playing the game are a lot catchier than I could have ever imagined.	Fun Factor: 9.5 A mixture of completely nonsensical gameplay elements that end up working so much better than anyone could have ever predicted. It is one of the most addictive roguelite gameplay loops in recent memory.
Final Verdict: 9.0

Ball x Pit is available now on PS5, Xbox Series S/X, PC and Switch.

Reviewed on PS5.

A copy of Ball x Pit was provided by the publisher.