Back in June, publisher Devolver Digital decided to switch up its usual Summer Game Fest showcase format and to a single game, Ball x Pit by indie developer Kenny Sun and a few collaborators. The demo , and I’ve been looking forward to the full game ever since. During Nintendo’s Indie World stream on Thursday, it emerged that Ball x Pit is coming to Switch, , PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Game Pass on October 15. A Switch 2 version will arrive later this year.
Ball x Pit is a bit like if Breakout, Vampire Survivors and Space Invaders were blended together with a pinch of base building thrown in for good measure. Your character will (manually or automatically, it’s up to you) fire destructive balls at waves of enemies that approach from the top of the screen, trying to destroy them before they reach the bottom and cause more damage. You’ll collect more types of balls and augmentations throughout each run and upgrade both.
The action really kicks up a notch when you’re able to fuse two balls and combine their effects. A fusion might grant you a ghost ball that passes through enemies but sticks a lightning rod into each one it makes contact with, dealing recurring damage to both that particular bad guy and others nearby. There are more than 60 different balls to play around with and combining a pair frees up a slot for another one, so you can end up with truly wild builds. You’ll also unlock more characters with unique skills that you’ll want to experiment with too.
Along with the brick-breaking action, there’s a base-building element to Ball x Pit. You can help expand the settlement of New Ballbylon (chef’s kiss on that name) with dozens of different buildings that can help you unlock more power-ups, characters and so on. The two sides of the game feed into each other and make for a very sticky, satisfying loop.
According to Devolver, Ball x Pit had the 12th most-played demo during the most recent Steam Next Fest. More than 270,000 people have tried it out on Steam (demo progress carries over to the full game). Ball x Pit is easily one of my most anticipated games for the rest of the year. My only dilemma now is to figure out which platform to play it on.