I have a new, all-consuming obsession, and that obsession is Ball x Pit. I didn’t set out to replace all my free time with grinding its roguelite take on Breakout, but its reliance on strategy (with a butterfly kiss of luck) and enticing upgrade paths both on and off the playfield grabbed a hold of the primal lizard parts of my brain to the detriment of all other civilized activity. I am hooked. In fact, Ball x Pit is the only video game I’ve played since I first started it a couple weeks ago. I cannot break free from its satisfying loop of running a level and upgrading my balls, upgrading my city to unlock more balls, and then jumping right back in. It’s a sickness, a sickness with no cure – and, honestly… I’m not even sure I’d want to be healed from the madness that has taken hold of me. I’ve been recommending it to everyone and, so far, those who have taken my advice inevitably reach out to tell me the same thing: “You ruined my life, you sicko.” It’s fantastic. Join us. We all bounce down here.
At a distance, Ball x Pit looks like one of those crappy games you see advertised on TikTok or Reels. You know the ones: “We’re playing a game the comments said was fake part 17,” or something like that. At first blush, it does look like some endless runner game trying to hook you with playtime gems or whatever predatory garbage is in vogue these days. But, crucially, it’s not one of those games at all, as it’s entirely free of microtransactions and actually respects your time as it vacuums it all up. It doles out satisfying upgrades in each level and then gives you the opportunity to build up more permanent powers in your home base. There’s nothing cheap or underhanded about it. It makes you feel powerful, not cheated, and even with an element of RNG in each level, it requires you to make the most out of every opportunity rather than rely on dumb luck or random chance. When you beat a level, it feels like you earned it.
The actual gameplay seems straightforward on the surface, too: Your character, or characters, march up the playfield firing bouncing balls at wave after wave of enemies. The balls are weaponized, the enemies are crushed under the onslaught, and eventually you get to a given level’s unique boss. That’s the basic loop, but the operative word there is “basic.” Because, friends, Ball x Pit is much more complex. For starters, there are different kinds of balls to fire. For example, your initial character, the Warrior, starts with a special ball that imparts a “bleed” status effect that stacks up to cause extra damage on successive hits. As you defeat enemies, you’ll also pick up gems in order to level up, which then gives you a choice of balls and other power-ups to use during that specific run.
There are special balls with status effects or area-of-effect damage, balls that spawn more “baby balls” (weird), and loads of other options. Then there are buffs, passive effects, defensive boosts, and even allies who’ll join you in the march forward, dealing out damage or even health. Some of the power ups are much better than others. The Earthquake ball, for example, deals damage around the enemy it hits and, like most of the AOE balls, becomes incredibly powerful when fully upgraded. Others, like the Wretched Onion, kind of suck. Part of the fun is finding out which upgrades work best in any given level, as well as discovering what happens when you combine certain balls with Fusions and Evolutions that mix or modify their powers even further.
Fusions can simply save you a slot by mashing two effects onto a single ball, but specific combos instead get the chance to evolve into a new power. For example, fusing the Horizontal Laser with the Vertical Laser creates my personal favorite, the Holy Laser. It shoots beams of pure fiery death vertically and horizontally on hit while also dealing AOE damage, which is as useful much as it just rules.
It’s cool that fusing balls both scales the damage you are dealing and gives you room to add even more. It’s hard to keep track of all the possibilities, but there’s an in-game encyclopedia that shows you the combos you’ve unlocked. I’m more than 30 hours in and I still have fusions I haven’t found yet, which I find pretty damn exciting.
Honestly, the laser balls in any configuration do a crap-ton of damage, searing rows and columns, sometimes adding stackable status effects like radiation while also doing normal, hot laser damage. When you’re fully powered up and the RNG gods have held you in their favor, it’s a beautiful bloodbath. Lasers and explosions and effects are going off constantly, and the damage counters fill the screen as entire rows of enemies evaporate into experience gems, as well as gold you’ll spend back in your town between runs.
