Peglin review

Sometimes a game comes along that manages to catch the hearts of the masses with something truly unique, and back in 2007 that game was Peggle. With incredibly simple ball bouncing action and some clever tricks to elevate this basic gameplay, Peggle appealed to just about everyone and became a household name in the process. Despite a couple of high profile sequels, pachinko style games died out rather quickly, and those seeking this arcade-y distraction were left downloading older games and replaying them. But now Peggle has returned in spirit and in a new exciting form, thanks to the Roguelike Peglin.

What separates Peglin from those games of the past is that it’s a Roguelike with turn-based combat. Each battle pits you against a variety of fantasy foes, and each attack you make is done by firing a ball at a bunch of pegs. The more pegs you light up by hitting them; the more damage you do, so aiming for as much bouncing as possible is the name of the game. If you don’t kill enemies with as few balls as possible they’ll start to attack you, and with limited health that’s a bit of an issue.

Each fight you get into features a different set up of pegs to bounce off, but one constant is that they all have a couple of types of special pegs you’ll want to aim for. Critical pegs will change the damage you deal to critical damage, making every single peg you hit or have already hit with that ball deal extra damage. There are also refresh pegs, which restore all the pegs you’ve hit on the board and has thus disappeared. Both of these peg types are crucial for taking down enemies effectively, but not quite as much as gathering together the most powerful ball types.

Initially you’ll only have two types of ball in your collection, a standard ball, and a dagger ball with low standard damage but increased critical damage. There are dozens of other interesting options you’ll gather throughout the Roguelike side of the game, though, ranging from icicle balls that deal damage that pierces through all enemies to hurt everyone to balls that leave bouncy slime on the pegs they collide with to enable them to be hit multiple times. Eventually you’ll discover that you can build your character in a few ways, as long as you find the right gear as rewards.

Every fight you succeed in will end with a shop screen featuring a selection of new balls to buy, and the ability to upgrade any of your balls as long as you have the gold to front the cost. Then you’ll be shown a Slay the Spire style map of branching paths, and will need to pick between checking out random events, chests or battles in the hope of finding gear that works for the run you’re on.

It won’t take you long to realise how to build the best possible selection of balls and trinkets, which compliment each other perfectly. Maybe you’ll focus on blocking incoming damage, or will gather upgrades that boost your attack power every time you refresh the board. With the right combination of upgrades you’ll be an unstoppable ball bouncing machine, and will make your way through enemies and bosses with ease.

Now, as fun as it is to come up with new builds, one of the biggest issues I have with Peglin is the lack of viable options there are in this department. After four or five runs you’ll have likely tried out the majority of the potential options out there if you’re lucky, and I was left fruitlessly wishing there were a few rarer options that would flip the game on its head.

The variety of peg layouts isn’t particularly impressive either, with constant repeats as you play through. Some of them feel a little bare too, which is always frustrating. Especially on the less exciting stages it feels like way too much luck is required to succeed, and while normally I’m not adverse to a little luck in my video games, it feels way too much in Peglin.

Peglin is a fun blend of Roguelike randomness and pachinko peg bouncing, with some seriously clever mechanics. Gathering a selection of balls and trinkets that synergise well is really satisfying, even if there aren’t quite enough viable options to explore. If you can cope with the luck factor you’ll have a great time bouncing your way through a few runs of Peglin.