Tech: Ball x Pit review

Roguelite "bullet heaven" games were popularized by 2022's mind-numbingly addictive Vampire Survivors, and ever since, indie developers have taken turns putting their own spin on the genre. The latest (and ballsiest) iteration? Ball x Pit, a Survivors-like from Kenny Sun that blends waves of enemies and power-ups with the block-busting action of Breakout and Arkanoid:

Like most of these games, there's little story to speak of: the city of Ballbylon sank into the earth in a great catastrophe, and you guide adventurers into the giant pit, seeking riches in the ruins. Your only defense against hordes of block-like enemies are the balls launched from your character, which carom around the playfield causing damage along the way. There are dozens of special balls for you to discover - fire, lightning, etc. - which can be evolved and fused to create devastating, screen-clearing combinations.

Ball x Pit is a fun timewaster, especially in portable form on the Switch 2. The gameplay is pretty simple (your only controls are move, aim, and fire) but the wide variety of characters and enemy types spices things up.  One character launches balls from the back of the playfield, another uses a giant shield to deflect balls Arkanoid-style, and still another turns Ball x Pit into a turn-based strategy game. My only gripes are that there's not much depth here, and there's a lot of grinding required to get all the characters and levels (including a somewhat tedious city-building minigame that I would have been glad to skip).

Rating: 80/100