Ball X Pit Review: The Most Addictive Game I’ve Played In Years

I’m a little late to the party on this one. A longtime online friend of mine showed me some of his endgame-level gameplay of Ball X Pit, a cross between Vampire Survivors, Arkanoid, Space Invaders, and the base-building elements of Actraiser Renaissance that’s basically an arcade twin-stick vertical scrolling shooter roguelite dungeon-crawler (try saying that five times fast!) that sees you clearing levels with fusible abilities wielded by characters with diverse, game-changing skills. I had never imagined anything like it, and just seeing a few seconds of gameplay was enough to get me to check this one out as it seemed right up my alley. It turns out that I picked the right time to dive in, too, as The Regal Update dropped in late January, bringing a lot of new content.

Balls to the Wall Action

The premise of Ball X Pit is exceptionally simple, but success in this game is a matter of careful planning, picking the right upgrades for each run, and dogged persistence, which often necessitates bullet hell reflexes combined with precision shooting. In practice, it’s super easy to pick up and play and far less complex than it sounds. That is, until you realize that you’re hours deep into mixing and matching your abilities, as you often have a choice between Fusion (combining the effects of two special balls), Fission (straight upgrades), and Evolution (combining two level 3 balls to make a wholly new ability). You can also opt to fill up your slots with special balls and passives and use your upgrades to gain harvests for your town. 

That’s right, there are two types of balls - special balls (the ones that can be upgraded and fused) and baby balls (the small white ones which can be spawned and upgraded separately thanks to certain abilities). Certain builds will focus on special balls and their effects, while others may rely on the sheer magnitude of constantly spawning baby balls overwhelming your foes. I like a combination of the two. Catching balls will allow you to toss them back out immediately, but if you miss your catch, they’ll bounce off the wall behind you, likely go for another round, disappear, and be subject to a short cooldown. So if you want to min-max, you’ll try to catch as many special balls as you can while doling out the damage.

It’s Like Playing Five Types of Games Simultaneously

Like the indie hit Vampire Survivors, you’ll be progressing slowly, over many playthroughs, dying to an endless swarm of enemies as the game takes its time doling out upgrades and new characters. But unlike Vampire Survivors, your foes come in a steady swarm from the top of the screen down to the bottom, and you can’t run from them, as any enemy that touches the bottom screen will continuously damage you until one of you is killed. Foes also hurt you from proximity, and many will fire projectiles. Each level has a set progression, and you can plan accordingly. No effort is wasted. Whether you survive to the end of the gauntlet (approximately 15 minutes on the slowest speed, 12 on the middle, and 10 on the fastest) or not, you’ll keep the EXP and gain whatever rewards you’ve found, which can then be used to build up your base and harvest resources for further upgrades.

Yes, there is a home base, and in between runs you’ll take a massive elevator to and from the eponymous pit that houses the demonic forces you’ll be mowing down, in eight levels far below the ruined city of Ballbylon. You can increase stats across the board, provide passive buffs, and more through building structures and harvesting resources. Planning for the harvesting part is a big part of the fun, as you “launch” workers at your structures. So if you want to mine a ton of gold while simultaneously building several buildings, you’d do well to reposition your structures into a closed corridor before launch, as your gatherers pick up speed with every bounce. It’s fun to watch them ricochet, and even more fun to see your city grow into a rebuilt New Ballbylon.

As of the latest update, there are 16 characters, and every one is worth using as they each have unique abilities that often drastically change their playstyle. Later on, you can even send two characters in simultaneously, which combines their abilities. My favorite warrior, The Falconer, fires balls from falcons on either side of the screen. The Juggler is also a top pick of mine - he launches balls by lobbing them in the air, so you can aim precisely where your shots land and even get behind enemy lines. Early on there’s The Disgraced Deputy, who auto-fires while moving at full speed, but shoots scattered shots (can’t aim precisely). The Cohabitants are a couple that shoots mirrored images of each ball at half damage - a great combination for certain levels. The Cogitator is great if you don’t want to think about upgrades, as he picks all of them for you. There’s even The Radical, who will simply play the game for you and select upgrades. He’s great if you just want to sit back and let the game play itself, or just see what choices a CPU would make. 

Hours of Your Life Will Vanish Forever

With 17 base balls and 42 evolved balls, there’s well over a thousand possible combinations thanks to the Fusion system, with 97 confirmed evolution options, including balls that can be upgraded multiple times. As I’ve been mostly focused on challenging myself on the Endless levels (at some point, you can play through levels to your heart’s content after beating the boss, and tackle increasingly tough foes), I didn’t really get super deep into micromanaging specific builds, and even though I’ve spent nearly 40 hours on this game already, I can and will probably spend many hours more experimenting.

My complaints are very few. The music generally rocks. But I wish that there was more variety in the music, and that the tracks were longer and would evolve more during your gameplay of any given stage. I also wish that the world and lore were more fleshed out. Even when I rolled credits, I wasn’t sure what was happening or why I should care beyond my sheer love for the gameplay loop. Some lore drops or journals to discover would have gone a long way. 

The Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game is a major upgrade to the Switch version. While it is locked to 60fps when docked, it has an uncapped 90fps in handheld mode. The textures are also much crisper, and HDR is supported. Unfortunately, it does not support Mouse mode on the Joy-Cons. But I couldn’t imagine playing the game any other way than by using dual sticks.

I can’t really say whether or not any given person would fall down the rabbit hole of this game the way that I did, but I do know that for the asking price of $14.99, this was not only absolutely worthwhile for me, but it’s one of the most addictive games I’ve played in years. I called up a close friend of mine and got him addicted to it, too. I hope he can forgive me. Ball X Pit makes for the perfect combination of old-school charm and difficulty, creating a unique fusion of so many seemingly disparate gameplay elements into something more than the sum of its parts.

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Verdict: 4.5 / 5 (Fantastic, Near Exceptional)

PROS

• Insanely addictive puzzle-shooter-roguelite gameplay

• Fun bullet hell bosses and eight unique levels

• Plenty of unique builds and item combinations make for endless variety

• Maximizing the base building is addictive and fun in and of itself

CONS

• The soundtrack can get repetitive over time

• No lore, story, or background as to this strange world 

What I’ve Played 

• 40 Hours of Ball-Busting Badassery

• Unlocked all characters and levels

• Unlocked most of the city map

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About the Author - Joseph Choi

Filipino-American gamer, professional shepherd and farmer, author, and filmmaker/videographer living in Central California. First consoles were the Game Boy and Sega Genesis, and I've been gaming since then, with a focus on Nintendo and Sony consoles.