{"id":11261,"date":"2025-11-04T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/torrentialequilibrium.net\/?p=11261"},"modified":"2025-11-03T18:22:56","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T00:22:56","slug":"let-me-tell-you-about-balls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/torrentialequilibrium.net\/?p=11261","title":{"rendered":"Let me tell you about balls"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ve recently become more than a little enamored of an independent video game called <strong>BALL x PIT<\/strong>. To be quite honest with you, I\u2019m not entirely sure how one is supposed to pronounce that title, but I\u2019ve just been saying \u201cball pit\u201d in my head. What I <em>am<\/em> sure of is that I won\u2019t be capitalizing the whole thing every time I type it out. That\u2019s just obnoxious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ball x Pit is, largely, a brick-breaker game. You\u2019ve probably played one before. <strong>Arkanoid<\/strong>, <strong>Kirby\u2019s Block Ball<\/strong>, <strong>Wizorb<\/strong>, uh\u2026 <em>others<\/em>. If these don\u2019t ring a bell, the gameplay consists of shooting a little ball up a shaft, where it will bounce around a bunch, and if it hits one of the bricks in said shaft, the brick goes away. The goal is generally to clear all the bricks without letting your ball fall off the bottom of the screen. Ball x Pit works a bit differently, as waves of brick-shaped monsters will constantly spawn and slowly move towards the bottom of the screen. If they reach the bottom, they will attack your character, and if you lose all your HP it\u2019s game over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"BALL X PIT \u2013 Release Date Trailer \u2013 Nintendo Switch &amp; Nintendo Switch 2\" width=\"660\" height=\"371\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/npSBksOTz8c?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However! You have not one, but a small arsenal of balls to fire at the encroaching enemy, giving you a much better chance at success. And not unlike <strong>Vampire Survivors<\/strong> (and the many clones that followed it), enemies will drop crystals when they perish, and collecting enough crystals will net you a level up. This gives you a (random) stat increase, as well as a choice from three upgrade items. Upgrades come in two flavours: new balls with special effects, and passive items that confer all sorts of advantages. Sometimes one of the options will be a thing you have, in which case you\u2019ll be able to upgrade it to further boost its effectiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As you battle the seemingly unending waves of block monsters, you\u2019ll eventually see a little swirly rainbow thing, and that\u2019s what <em>really<\/em> beefs you up. By default, you can choose \u201cfission\u201d which randomly gives you 1-5 upgrades to your held equipment. If you have two or more balls at level 3, you can choose \u201cfusion\u201d which will mash two together to combine their powers. And if you have two or more compatible balls, you can choose \u201cevolution\u201d which combines two balls into one completely new one that\u2019s typically better than the sum of its parts. Fusion and Evolution are really the keys to victory here, as making the right combos can result in some insanely powerful effects, like firing off lasers across the whole board that cause status effects to any enemies hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is a pretty solid gameplay model all on its own. It\u2019s fast-paced, makes you feel powerful, and has very fine-tuned difficulty scaling so that wins and losses come at a pretty even pace. The only downside is that there are only eight levels, each one lasting around 15 minutes. So you could, in theory, burn through to the end very quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However again! Very much like SNES classic <strong>Actraiser<\/strong>, there\u2019s a second gameplay mode: a rudimentary town-building sim. And this is where the meat and potatoes of Ball x Pit\u2019s replay value lies. In between rounds, you\u2019ll be able to build new structures using blueprints you find in the game\u2019s block breaker stages, harvest resources used to build and upgrade said structures, and expand your acreage for a vast sum of gold coins. Buildings do a great many things like improving your characters\u2019 stats, improving stat scaling, adding new features to both game modes, and most importantly :unlocking new characters to play as.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Characters are what makes the limited number of stages fun to play over and over again, as each one not only has their own default ball and stat distribution, but they all have a different gameplay style. The knight guy that you start with is totally normal, perfect for learning the game. The next guy you unlock is a wild-west sheriff-lookin\u2019 dude who\u2019s always got auto-fire on. One of my favourites so far is a philosopher who chooses his own upgrades and fusions. And the most recent unlock I got is a bandit-type who hangs out on the bottom of the screen like everyone else, but fires his balls from the <em>top<\/em> of the screen. It\u2019s a little mind-bending, as it forces you to think about how you play a little differently. I\u2019ve heard rumours that there are unlocks that change the game even more drastically, and I\u2019m very much excited to see what kind of wacky surprises I\u2019ve yet to find!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, the problem with Ball x Pit is that as fun as it is, it\u2019s really only going to have legs if you\u2019re interested in unlocking all the new things. Grinding the block breaker stages is fun in and of itself, but eventually only serves the purpose of being a conduit for blueprints and cash to expand your town with. I, currently, am having a great time rearranging my little toy houses and wheat fields between rounds, but the sheen is starting to fade a little bit, and I can see how certain types wouldn\u2019t get any satisfaction out of it at all. Is there a solution for this? Not at present, but it\u2019s entirely possible that something unlocks later on that will completely recontextualize the game. Like a mode that makes you play through all the stages sequentially. That\u2019s kind of what I\u2019m hoping for. <em>Then<\/em> I could see the thrill of not knowing if you\u2019ll get to the end being reason enough to play. But when you only have to play one level at a time, it ends up lacking a little bit of the roguelike charm. Also the frustration, to be fair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I should also mention that some replay value comes from the game adding a Fast mode for each stage after you complete it at normal speed. And then a Fast+ mode after that. And then a Fast++ mode after<em> that<\/em>. I haven\u2019t got a clue how deep this rabbit hole goes, because I haven\u2019t been able to clear a Fast++ stage yet, but there has to be a limit. (There does have to be a limit\u2026 right?) Maybe there\u2019s some other difficulty modifier that comes after the speed maxes out, like an increase to enemy HP, or a nerf to your character\u2019s stats. As far as I\u2019m aware thought, every possibility is still on the table. These fast modes are also worth the effort, as each one cleared gives you a permanent passive buff for all characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With all that said, I can\u2019t confidently express what I think about Ball x Pit yet. I\u2019m enjoying it a lot right now! But will it get old and fall to the wayside? Or will it keep surprising me with new features and characters that play wildly differently from each other? It\u2019s really hard to say. I\u2019ve been playing a few hours a week since release and probably could be farther along by now, but I\u2019ve been just a little too focused on buying upgrades over new buildings. But what happens over the next few hours of play will cement whether Ball x Pit ends up being one that I go back to for a good, long time, or gets left by the wayside in favour of newer, shinier games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve recently become more than a little enamored of an independent video game called BALL x PIT. To be quite honest with you, I\u2019m not entirely sure how one is supposed to pronounce that title, but I\u2019ve just been saying \u201cball pit\u201d in my head. What I am sure of is that I won\u2019t be &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/torrentialequilibrium.net\/?p=11261\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Let me tell you about balls<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-video-games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/torrentialequilibrium.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/torrentialequilibrium.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/torrentialequilibrium.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torrentialequilibrium.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torrentialequilibrium.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11261"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/torrentialequilibrium.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11263,"href":"https:\/\/torrentialequilibrium.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11261\/revisions\/11263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/torrentialequilibrium.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torrentialequilibrium.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torrentialequilibrium.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}