I have to admit, I’ve always been one of those people who never really got into Peggle. The idea of just sitting there, watching the game unfold without much intervention, didn’t exactly appeal to me. But then Peglin dropped on the Nintendo Switch after a surprise announcement during a Nintendo Direct, and I found myself intrigued. Maybe this could be something like an idle game, yet still engaging enough to hook me. Given my growing interest in pinball-like games, I thought Peglin might just strike that perfect balance. And while it didn’t completely convert me into a pachinko enthusiast, the gameplay mechanics certainly had me coming back for more rounds of orb-flinging battles.
If you’ve heard this setup before, stop me—Peglin is an indie roguelike game where you must vanquish all enemies in an area, upgrading your arsenal and skills on your way to challenging bosses. It doesn’t break new ground, and lays its plan in plain sight as soon as you start playing. Its visual style may not be my cup of tea, with its somewhat rudimentary pixel art reminiscent of Microsoft Paint, but it gets the job done. The variety of enemies and locations keeps your journey through Peglin’s universe fresh and engaging.
The essence of Peglin really lies in its gameplay, which can be the deciding factor for its appeal. Your main tool is an orb that you launch onto a board dotted with pegs. Each peg you strike boosts the damage potential of your orb as it targets the enemies at the top of the screen. Your influence on the board is pretty limited—you choose the direction in which to shoot your orb. Some pegs offer extra coins, multiply damage, deliver critical hits, or add unique effects to your attack. After each round, you’ll have the chance to acquire new orbs to add to your collection, which is randomly shuffled with every encounter. You might also spend coins to empower your orbs. The plethora of fun combinations and additional items you can collect enhances your orbs’ prowess, yet the game maintains good balance. For instance, I once picked up an item that gave me multiball power, meaning every orb would be duplicated. However, it limited my firing to specific directions, presenting both a challenge and an opportunity. This dynamic makes fights, especially with bosses, quite tough but rewarding. Bosses can tamper with the board by adding sticky lines that trap your orbs or summoning new foes.
While my journey with Peglin has been mixed, I’ve discovered elements I truly enjoy, like the thrill of launching orbs and amassing big points, akin to playing pinball. Yet, there’s a lot of waiting involved. After sending your orb flying, there’s minimal strategy you can employ. You guide your attack to hit specific items—critical when battling bosses or vast enemy armies—but that’s the extent of it. The game’s involvement feels lacking at times, compounded by insufficient tutorials explaining the mechanics. It wasn’t until quite late that I realized you could discard orbs to quickly access others with elemental damage. As a supposedly quick and casual game, I found myself planning more than playing, which was a hurdle for me.
Being a roguelike, Peglin involves a fair share of random elements, and I often hit roadblocks that felt like luck rather than skill. Recovering health between battles isn’t easy, and sometimes my powerful attacks would miss the crucial pegs needed for significant damage. Once a run concludes, there’s no way to permanently upgrade your attacks, forcing a fresh start each time. The farthest I progressed felt more like a stroke of luck than a testament of skilled play, which could be off-putting for certain gamers. Despite this, I kept coming back to Peglin for its addictive simplicity, eager to see if I could advance further with just one more game.
Peglin is not a game for everyone. It requires a blend of strategy and luck, and the learning curve can be steep due to a lack of clear instructions. Still, beneath these frustrations lies an enjoyable core that kept me returning for more. Achieving just the right combination of attacks and elemental effects to swiftly dismantle bosses is immensely rewarding. Even though getting into it might take some effort, once I got the hang of it, I found it hard to put down. I see Peglin as a great fallback game that gamers might pick up repeatedly. While I can’t predict the future, I have a feeling Peglin might just stick around for a while.
