by Anthony O'Connor
Worth: $17.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Intro:
… an absolute cracker of a game.
2025 has been a banger of a year for video games. It’s actually a little absurd. In this year alone we’ve had Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Monster Hunter Wilds, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, Doom: The Dark Ages, Elden Ring Nightreign, Borderlands 4, Ghost of Yōtei and Battlefield 6. Still and all, these are all either AA or AAA games with significant budgets and plenty of resources. How’s this year looking for low budget indie bangers that might fly under the radar due to the fine work from the big boys? Basically, what is this year’s Balatro? Friends, the answer is very simple: Ball x Pit. Is that “Ball times Pit”, “Ball ex Pit” or just “Ball Pit”? We may never know. One thing we can be sure of, however: it’s an absolute cracker of a game.
Ball x Pit is a fantasy, roguelite ball bouncer set in the ruined city of Ballbybon (heh) which features bad puns and a massive pit. Said big hole in the ground is chockers with riches (yay) and monsters (boo), and it’s up to you to send various adventurers into the cavernous depths to claim the former and slaughter the latter. In practical terms, Ball x Pit is a game of two parts. There’s the pit delves where the action is a bit like Arkanoid or Breakout, except instead of destroying various coloured bricks, your balls slap the crap out of squashed-looking monsters that dwell in mobile sarcophagi who constantly approach your character with evil intent and will hurt you if they reach the bottom of the screen. Helping your ability to halt the dogged hordes are various ball upgrades, unique powers and fusions of abilities that become wilder and more devastating as the game goes along. Assisting in these upgrades is the second part of the game, which plays like a base management sim and includes farming, structure building and even recruiting new characters to use as the runs get tougher and more demanding.
The experience of playing Ball x Pit is absurdly, insanely addictive. After the (likely disastrous) first few runs you’ll get the hang of the combat and mechanics, and the base building begins to feel intuitive, and you’ll soon find hours have passed. This is the epitome of a “just one more run” game and an indie charmer hasn’t been so moreish since Balatro. The graphics are charming pixel art, the soundtrack features multiple bangers and the gameplay is so simple and yet with so much depth under the hood.
In short, Ball x Pit is a hoot. It’s the perfect palate cleanser to this year’s meatier offerings and you may find yourself finding excuses to pike on social outings just to get back into that monster-filled hole. For the very reasonable price of $22.95 that feels like an absolute steal.
