A Small Game That Turned Into A Huge Obsession
After spending a lot of time in big 2025 blockbusters like Arc Raiders and Battlefield 6, the writer was burned out and ready for something smaller and more relaxed. The plan was simple: pick up a quick indie game as a palate cleanser and reset before the next big release season.
That plan completely fell apart with Ball x Pit.
Ball x Pit is an indie roguelike that quietly launched in October 2025 and still managed to sell 300000 copies in just five days. It looks like a simple arcade style game on the surface, but it combines roguelike progression with pinball style ball physics in a way that quickly becomes incredibly addictive.
Instead of being a small distraction between bigger games, it became the main event. With 744 hours in January to fill, the writer jokes they could probably spend all of them chasing the perfect ricochet.
Pinball Meets Roguelike Chaos
The core idea behind Ball x Pit is easy to grasp. You constantly fire bouncing balls at waves of enemies that slowly move toward you. As you clear enemies and survive longer, you unlock more balls and powerups until the entire screen is filled with colorful pixels ricocheting everywhere.
The magic is in how those balls behave. Each ball type and passive item has its own twist. Some balls pass straight through enemies. Others inflict status effects or gain special bonuses when they bounce off walls or foes. You are not just aiming randomly. You are always trying to line up that one perfect angle that will send your shots pinballing around the arena for maximum damage.
Things get even more interesting when you start combining ball types. The game lets you merge certain balls to create new, more powerful evolutions. For example:
- Combine Bomb and Poison balls to create a Nuclear Bomb ball that explodes on contact
- The Nuclear Bomb also applies radiation to all enemies in the blast
This sort of combo system means you are always chasing your next clever build. You are not just surviving the current wave. You are planning out what your loadout could become several upgrades later.
The simple loop of aiming, bouncing, upgrading and evolving quickly worms its way into your brain. It delivers the same kind of just one more run feeling that made games like Vampire Survivors so popular, but with a more physics driven twist.
Sixteen Wild Characters And Pinball City Building
Ball x Pit is not just about the balls themselves. It also has a growing roster of characters that change how you play. At the time of writing there are sixteen unlockable characters, each with a unique trait that bends or even breaks the normal rules.
A few standouts include:
- The Repentant deals more damage each time a ball bounces but the ball returns to you immediately when it hits the back wall. This forces you to aim creatively so your shots bounce side to side instead of straight to the back.
- The Cohabitants are effectively two characters in one. They fire balls in mirrored directions which looks amazing but each shot only does half damage. You have to think about covering multiple lanes instead of focusing all your power in one line.
- The Shade fires balls from the back of the map instead of the front. At first this feels risky and awkward but once you understand how to build around this trait it opens up a lot of powerful setups.
On top of the character variety, stages also introduce their own twists. A snowy level might include enemies with ice shields that only block damage from certain angles. This gently pushes you to master ball trajectories and think more like a pinball wizard than a traditional shooter player.
Then there is the surprise second layer to Ball x Pit. Between combat rounds, the game quietly transforms into a city builder. You harvest resources and construct buildings that unlock new characters or grant permanent upgrades. Instead of just clicking menus, you still use the same satisfying pinball like mechanics.
You place structures around your base, then literally launch your workers at them. If you aim well, your workers will bounce through multiple objects and harvest more resources in a single run. The city building phase essentially turns your upgrade screen into a mini pinball challenge that is just as fun as the main combat.
This is one of the reasons the reviewer constantly tells themselves they will do just one more round. Every run is not only another chance to push further in combat but also another chance to enjoy a resource run and refine your base.
Why Ball x Pit Works So Well
The writer admits they were starting to feel burned out on roguelikes in general. The genre is packed with games that promise endless runs, meta progression, and weird build combos. But Ball x Pit shows that there is still room for fresh ideas.
It does not reinvent roguelikes entirely. Instead, it mixes familiar elements with clever twists:
- Aiming and bouncing balls instead of shooting directly
- Characters that radically change how you approach each run
- A city builder layer that uses the same satisfying physics
All of this adds up to a game that is easy to pick up for a quick session but very hard to put down. It is engaging enough that the writer chooses to keep playing it on their handheld ROG Ally rather than moving to a more powerful PC. That says a lot about how strong the core loop is. It does not need flashy graphics or massive open worlds. It just needs that perfect bounce.
If you are into roguelikes, physics based games, or you just want something new to fill the gap between big releases, Ball x Pit looks like one of those small indie gems that can quietly take over your entire month.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/it-doesnt-matter-that-there-are-no-big-new-games-in-january-because-you-can-just-play-744-hours-of-ball-x-pit-instead/
