I suppose we should address the bloodsucking elephant in the room early, before we get stuck in the bullet hell madness. There's a lot of Vampire Survivors clones knocking around these days, from free-to-play darlings like Holocure to flavor-of-the-month titles on everyone's lips at the moment like Megabonk. There's a wealth of them to go around.
So much so that it can be damn near impossible to discern if something is a worthy successor or just another game stacked tall to fit on the already jam-packed bandwagon, but from the moment I laid eyes on Ball X Pit, I knew there was something about this brickbreaker bullet hell was different.
Offering a blend of Roguelike progression, hands-on projectile dodging, and synergetic build options to experiment with, Ball X Pit has a little something for everyone. But is this gaming cocktail a little too complex for its own good? I called upon my many hours playing Winbrick 96 to garner this info, and now it's time for the verdict.
Hands-On Havoc
Ah, the ball pit. Something that, as a father-to-be and a former child, I know to be a staple of soft play. However, there's nothing soft about Ball X Pit, as this game goes hard right from the outset and continues to sink its hooks in relentlessly.
It's a similar effect that games like Vampire Survivors had on its respective players, but there was always something that never quite grabbed me about that title. As great as it was, it was a very hands-off experience, and for large portions of the game, you could literally set the controller down and watch as the seizure-inducing laser light show took place in real time.
...this game goes hard right from the outset and continues to sink its hooks in relentlessly.
However, Ball X Pit is far from a hands-off experience. Sure, there are so many balls in play that you'll never be able to be completely cognizant of what's happening. But equally, the game forces you to try by aiming your shots manually, moving your character to evade incoming projectiles, and depending on your character choice, you may need to play a specific way to harness the power of their given gimmick.
This immediately made me fall in love with the moment-to-moment gameplay of Ball X Pit, as you feel like part of the action in what feels like a Vampire Survivors-coded version of Stardew Valley's Journey of the Prairie King. As you always feel like you can have an effect on the outcome of each run, rather than just relying on your build.
I do have my foibles with the core gameplay, but all my hangups are minor. Boss battles are, for the most part, without substance as they only serve to elongate runs. I have never died to a boss, and that's because they are so predictable and plain in their overall design. But it's also a bonus to have these bosses at all in many ways, so it's hard to be too critical.
Plus, the game often doesn't register damage at all, which did make some wins feel quite cheap and unearned. But, again, it's hard to bring myself to look a gift horse in the mouth when this happens.
It's a chronically addictive bullet hell masterclass, and often games such as this don't quite click for a few runs. However, Ball X Pit is a blast immediately, and I know it will be a real task to peel myself away from this one when the time comes.
A Natural Evolution
I mentioned that builds aren't the be-all and end-all in Ball X Pit, but to be fair, they are pretty damn important. You may be wondering what that X in Ball X Pit is all about. I know I was. But when you engage with the Fission, Fusion, and Evolution system present in the game, it all becomes clear.
It's all about combining your powers to create something better than the sum of their parts. It works relatively similarly to Vampire Survivors in that you level basic pickups to gain stronger combinations, but where Ball X Pit differs is that you can hold your loot to gain super-strong evolutions, or fuse powers ahead of time to clear space for more basic options.
Essentially, this means that you'll rarely find yourself at the end of a run with no branches left to follow, which was the mind-numbing aspect of Vampire Survivors that led to 15 minutes or more just holding out for the grim reaper to come and grant me the sweet release of death, much like in real life.
Ball X Pit is a blast immediately, and I know it will be a real task to peel myself away from this one when the time comes.
It's more involved, but it's also deeper and nuanced, with a wealth of synergies to check out and experiment with. Which only gets deeper when you unlock more characters and eventually gain the ability to combine their respective skills for duo runs.
Runs can become stale if you continue to pick the same powers and go for your personal 'ol reliable'. But, if you're willing to truly workshop things, you'll find that Ball X Pit is a treasure trove of potential DPS builds that will melt the hordes of enemies that lurk your way.
A Treasure Hunter's Haven
Speaking of treasure troves, the big pit you find yourself regularly lowering yourself into is effectively a pilgrimage for scavengers and looters in the Ball X Pit universe. So, to get the most out of every run, you'll need to set up base on the surface and expand your excavation effort.
This is where this humble Vampire Survivors sim transforms into a Roguelike of sorts and a town builder in others. But, critically, it stays on theme as you'll need to use skills likely first acquired playing 8 Ball Pool to line up your angles and send your little guys on harvesting runs.
This creates a phenomenally addictive loop of playing a round of bullet hell action, and then coming back to your base to expand, rearrange buildings in a Resident Evil-adjacent grid, farm for resources, and hopefully gather a few more recruits and buffs to make your next run more exciting and more fruitful.
Due to the excellent pacing of unlocks and resources allocated to the player, never did I feel overpowered during a run, nor did I feel like I wasn't rewarded every time I finished a run and gained the ability to harvest. The loop is so masterfully crafted that you can start playing, and hours can melt away in what feels like minutes. Which, as any fan of the genre will know, is the sign of a top-tier game.
Fun Without A Focus
It's hard to fault the gameplay of Ball X Pit, as it's everything that I wish other games in the genre could have been, all wrapped up in a neat brickbreaker gimmick. However, it does fumble the same ball as its contemporaries in that gameplay is king. Uncompromisingly so.
The game has no story to speak of other than a little bit of context at the beginning. The kingdom has fallen, a giant ball has crashed right on top of what many once called home, and now you need to plunge deep into the crust of the earth to rebuild humanity. A simple and fitting, if rather uninspired motivator.
This doubles up with the fact that the game is not much of a looker. It's a rather functional and practical approach, graphically, as everything looks vivid enough that most assets are distinct, but if you zoom in and truly inspect what you're looking at, the graphics on show wouldn't look out of place on a Nintendo DS.
It's not a deal-breaker in the slightest, as the gameplay is burly enough to carry these lesser aspects of Ball X Pit on its shoulders. But if you're someone who perhaps doesn't resonate with the gameplay loop on offer here, then there is literally nothing else that will change your opinion.
It's all about the action, the synergies, and the Roguelike town builder progression. If you want nunace, narrative and awe-inspiring visuals, then you're playing the wrong ball game.
Closing Comments:
"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 gameplay is more than worth it here. In short, you'll have a ball. In fact, you'll have tonnes of them."
Little Nightmares 3 Review
Little Nightmares 3 is a solid addition to the franchise, but misses the mark in some key aspects.
- Released
- October 15, 2025
- ESRB
- Teen / Violence, Blood
- Developer(s)
- Kenny Sun
- Publisher(s)
- Devolver Digital
- Engine
- Unity
WHERE TO PLAY
- Number of Players
- Single-player
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Unknown
- PC Release Date
- October 15, 2025
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- October 15, 2025
- PS5 Release Date
- October 15, 2025
- Nintendo Switch 2 Release Date
- October 15, 2025
- Platform(s)
- Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Nintendo Switch, PC, Nintendo Switch 2
- Genre(s)
- Action, Arcade, Roguelike, Bullet Hell
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- File Size Xbox Series
- 5 GB
- Thouroughly addictive gameplay loop
- Feel paced progression
- A wealth of things to experiement with
- Boss battles offer little challenge
- Looks like a glorifed Nintendo DS game
- No story to be had here