When Devolver Digital first unveiled Ball X Pit, it immediately stood out — a wild experiment that somehow fuses Vampire Survivors’ endless grind with the ricochet joy of Peggle. Created by indie designer Kenny Sun, the game feels like a fever dream built from familiar parts, all arranged into something strangely mesmerizing.
Available now on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, Ball X Pit thrives on its contradictions. It’s both chaotic and methodical, skillful yet semi-automated — a digital snow globe of destruction that rewards timing, upgrades, and a little bit of luck.
The Premise: When Peggle Meets Vampire Survivors
Imagine standing at the edge of a crumbling city and firing endless streams of glowing orbs into a swarm of living bricks. That’s Ball X Pit in one sentence — a roguelite brick-breaker shooter where every ricochet counts and every mistake stings.
Each run unfolds like a miniature apocalypse. You aim, you dodge, you collect experience gems — all while your screen fills with bouncing projectiles and flashing damage numbers. Enemies descend in waves, firing back as your barrage of balls chews through their ranks. It’s equal parts strategy and spectacle, blending the hypnotic satisfaction of Peggle with the unpredictable intensity of Vampire Survivors.
What makes it work is the rhythm. Once autofire kicks in, you’re no longer just a player — you’re a spectator in your own storm of ricochets. Watching hundreds of glowing spheres collide and cascade is oddly calming, even when everything’s exploding.
Mechanics, Heroes, and the Eternal Loop
Beneath the chaos lies structure. Ball X Pit revolves around short, 15–20 minute runs where you build your power step by step. Each hero starts with a default projectile — your “ball” — but you can add more through upgrades, evolving them into deadlier forms. Some pierce through multiple targets, others spawn baby orbs, siphon health, or trigger explosions on impact.
The fusion and evolution systems keep every run fresh. Fusing balls stacks their effects, while evolution transforms them into new types entirely. With four upgrade slots, you’re constantly weighing trade-offs — area damage or faster ricochet? Healing or destruction?
Heroes add another layer. Each has unique perks and stats, encouraging experimentation, even if you’ll likely favor a couple of reliable builds. It’s a game about micro-decisions — when to move, what to upgrade, which shot angle might save the run.
It’s chaotic, but never random for the sake of it. The best moments come when control and chaos meet — when your ricochets chain perfectly, clearing the board in a flash. It’s half skill, half spectacle, and all of it addictive.
The Pit and Its City: Base-Building Breaks
Between the frenzied runs into the pit, Ball X Pit slows down — just a little. The game introduces a base-building minigame, where players use collected resources to expand a small settlement perched above the abyss. Crops grow, buildings rise, and new characters gradually appear, offering passive buffs or fresh abilities for your next descent.
It’s not the most polished part of the experience, but it serves a purpose. These quiet interludes are a palate cleanser between waves of ricocheting madness — a brief pause that gives meaning to the grind. Every structure adds momentum to your next attempt, connecting the city’s progress with your evolving heroes.
Still, it’s not where the fun truly lies. Building feels slow and occasionally clumsy, but it reinforces the loop: chaos, recovery, rebuild, repeat. The deeper the pit grows, the more satisfying the return to that fragile, flickering town becomes.
Style and Sound: A Love Letter to PS1-Era Weirdness
What really gives Ball X Pit its character isn’t just the mechanics — it’s the style. The game leans hard into that late-’90s PlayStation energy: rough textures, flickering lights, and those charmingly blocky models that feel one step away from breaking apart. It’s like someone found an old prototype from 1999, dusted it off, and gave it a pulse.
The sound design seals the mood. Drums thump in looping rhythms, faint drones hum beneath the chaos, and every ricochet lands with a crisp metallic ping. It’s not just noise — it’s a pulse. After a few minutes, you stop hearing it as sound and start feeling it as rhythm.
Devolver Digital’s games often celebrate the strange — Loop Hero, Inscryption, Cult of the Lamb — and Ball X Pit fits right in. It’s an ode to weird creativity, rough on the surface but deliberate in every choice. Those rough edges aren’t flaws; they’re fingerprints.
Verdict: Organized Chaos Worth Diving Into
Ball X Pit won’t please everyone. Some runs stretch too long, and the late-game bosses take a bit too much punishment. But the real hook isn’t in perfection — it’s in the loop. Every ricochet, every upgrade, every tiny decision adds to a kind of hypnotic flow that’s hard to escape.
If you’ve ever lost hours to Vampire Survivors, Peggle, or any roguelite that mixes chaos with control, this will feel instantly familiar. It’s unpredictable, occasionally messy, but always satisfying to watch unfold.
You don’t play Ball X Pit for the score — you play for the trance it creates. Numbers go up, bricks go down, and somehow it never gets old. Imperfect, sure, but impossible to look away from.