Ball x Pit

Ball x Pit is a game that I never want to stop playing, thanks to its clever fusion of Breakout bouncing and Roguelike randomness.

Ball X Pit is a wildly inventive twist on a classic formula, blending brick breaking with roguelike progression, RPG mechanics, and resource management into a chaotic, endlessly replayable experience. Thanks to a deep roster of characters, seemingly endless ball combinations, and a settlement system that evolves between runs, the game will sink it hooks into you and refuse to let you go.

Ball x Pit is a surprisingly deep brick-breaker that relies heavily on smart strategy, clever experimentation, and careful planning more so than RNG and luck alone.

Ball x Pit is a tremendous brew of so many ideas it ought to collapse under the confusion. However, it operates in such perfect balance that it appeals both to the one-more-go instinct and to more cerebral planning and creativity. Kenny Sun Studios set itself a heck of a challenge but, fortunately, hasn’t dropped the ball.

What a crazy crossover event Ball X Pit is! Who could have foreseen the rotund, spherical ball franchise matching up so well with a great big hole IP? Well, golfers, I suppose. In all seriousness, Ball X Pit is a melding of so many genres and games that the titular ball and the pit feel like the nominal components here, with solo developer Kenny Sun having crafted one of the best arcade roguelite crossovers we’ve ever seen.

The nice thing about BALL x PIT is that everything you need to know about the game is in the title. There are balls, you’re in a pit, that’s the meat of it. And what BALL x PIT taught me is that’s really all you need to make an engaging video game.

Kenny Sun's new game is a voguish spin on an Atari classic - and it rules.

A roller coaster ride of ball-bouncing action that loves to break its own rules.

Ball X Pit is one of those dangerous games you'll intend to play for 30 minutes, only to lose hours to it instead. A heady combination of Vampire Survivors and Breakout (with some bullet hell sprinkled in), this roguelite arcade action title is incredibly hard to put down.

Ball x Pit interpretation of one of gaming's simplest ideas is chaotic, messy, and consistently entertaining.

I find myself growing more and more tired of roguelikes lately, and I don’t really believe in “guilty pleasure” as a concept. But if you held a gun to my head and asked me to identify my gaming guilty pleasure, I’d probably answer with Vampire Survivors. It’s the perfect combination of brainless dopamine and just-thoughtful-enough build-crafting that makes me dump hours into something that isn’t up to my usual tastes. So when another game in the “like Vampire Survivors, but with Specific Twist” pool floats up to the surface, I’ll gladly check it out.

"Ball X Pit is far more than just a game that riffs on the Vampire Survivors formula. It's a game that offers a little something for everyone, with incredibly addictive bullet-hell action, thoughtful township building that doubles as a Roguelike progression system, and on-screen chaos through insane power-ups that make it nearly impossible to track every projectile racing across your screen. It's a hands-on and involved version of its contemporaries, and a truly unique option for anyone who loves the genre. Don't expect jaw-dropping visuals or a tearjerker of a story. But the trade-off of epic...