Kenny Sun’s Ball x Pit feels like a fever dream stitched together from the DNA of Breakout, Vampire Survivors, and a touch of Diablo. It’s the kind of game that looks deceptively simple at first glance — bouncing balls and falling blocks — but beneath the rhythmic destruction lies one of the most addictive roguelites of the year.
Imagine Peggle meeting Vampire Survivors inside a bullet-hell roguelite, then dropping both into a PS1-style pit of monsters and treasure. That’s Ball x Pit in a nutshell. You control a hero at the bottom of the screen, moving to dodge projectiles and collect XP gems while firing an endless stream of ricocheting balls at enemies descending from above. Each ball has its own quirks — lasers that pierce multiple foes, orbs that spawn “baby balls,” or vampiric spheres that leech health.
Each run is a blend of luck and planning. As you level up, you draw from random upgrades and skills, fusing and evolving balls into unpredictable hybrids that light up the screen with chaos. It’s simple enough to understand instantly, yet layered enough to keep you hooked for hours.
The Loop That Never Ends
Like Vampire Survivors, Ball x Pit thrives on repetition. You start weak, grow absurdly powerful, and eventually descend into total sensory overload. The feedback loop is dangerously satisfying — enemies crumble, gems rain down, and your arsenal evolves until the battlefield is a storm of light and destruction.
The balance isn’t perfect — bosses tend to soak up damage, and runs can stretch to 20 minutes or more — but the rhythm of play makes the grind feel hypnotic rather than tiring. The fusion and evolution mechanics also keep experimentation alive, rewarding players who chase new combinations instead of sticking to safe builds.
Building the City Above the Pit
Between runs, the game shifts gears with a surprising twist — a base-building mini-game. Using resources gathered from the pit, you rebuild the ruined city of Ballbylon. The catch? Construction is done with the same ball-bouncing mechanics. You literally fire your heroes like pinballs across your settlement to harvest crops, gather materials, and finish buildings.
While this section is slower and occasionally cumbersome, it adds meaningful long-term progression. Buildings unlock new heroes, grant permanent buffs, and give each run a sense of purpose beyond just survival. It’s not everyone’s favorite part — some may find it interrupts the flow — but it’s a charming experiment that ties the chaos together.
Characters, Builds, and Madness
Ball x Pit’s growing roster of heroes adds huge replay value. Each has distinct traits — one automatically chooses upgrades for you, another splits your firepower in two, and one even attacks from the back of the pit for unique angles. Balancing these quirks and their scaling stats creates a sandbox of strategy and chaos.
The game practically begs you to find ridiculous builds: lightning balls that explode on impact, bleed effects stacked with poison clouds, or fusions that break every rule. The result is equal parts clever and comedic, a roguelite that constantly dares you to break its systems.
Performance and Presentation
On the visual side, Ball x Pit embraces a gritty, retro aesthetic — grainy textures, dark fantasy tones, and a pulsing electronic soundtrack that keeps your adrenaline high. It looks particularly sharp on PC and next-gen consoles, though Switch performance can dip when particle effects flood the screen.
The design occasionally gets messy during high-intensity moments, especially in stages filled with ice or heavy effects, where readability takes a hit. Still, the spectacle of bouncing lights and collapsing enemies more than compensates for it.
Verdict: A Brilliantly Addictive Hybrid
Ball x Pit isn’t just another roguelite; it’s an inspired collision of genres that shouldn’t work together — but somehow does. Its blend of precision physics, evolving power fantasies, and light city-building creates an endlessly playable loop that’s hard to put down.
The game’s balance could use tuning, and the base-building might test your patience, but when you’re locked into a 20-minute run with hundreds of balls ricocheting across the screen, none of that matters. It’s pure, controlled chaos — the kind that makes you say “just one more run” until it’s 3 AM.
Fdaytalk Rating: 9/10
A mesmerizing fusion of Breakout and Vampire Survivors energy. Imperfect, unbalanced, and absolutely unmissable.
Available on: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC
Developer: Kenny Sun
Publisher: Devolver Digital
