On 8/27, there was a Indie World Direct. And in the game was an announcement of Peglin, a Pachinko rogue-like turn-based rpg. What that boils down to is dropping balls to hit pegs to do damage to enemies at the top of the screen. It is a little more complicated than that, but that’s the gist. Regardless, nobody seems to care. There’s little discussion of it on twitter or in my discord circles. But I care, because the game is “Mordie bait,” It reminds me a lot of the immortal Balatro. That game was digital crack, and so is this one. Its so fun and addicting. Still, Peglin doesn’t quite hit the heights Balatro did, but its sure comes close for me. Still, it nets a Must Play with a nine back-end score. And I will spend the rest of the review explaining it.
So look at the screen above of a battle in Peglin. Let us parse it. You have a pachinko board and you drop a ball. You have 3 regular balls, with no effects. And there are tons and tons of special balls, with special effects. One ball with turn pegs into a huge bombs. A few are multiballs. Still others will only hit certain pegs. You can buy balls at the end of every battle with the coins you collect, or when you visit a store. The goal is to defeat the enemies at the top, who will attack you and drain your health. On the left are your relics, which have a variety of effects, like healing you, wall bouncing giving damage, and starting with extra crit(yellow exclamation peg) or refresh(green peg) pegs.
At the end of a battle in Peglin, you can buy balls, upgrade a ball, or heal 20% of your health. Now, the game is played on a randomly generated board(see below). You have battle spaces, mini-boss spaces, random events, treasure chests(relics) and a shop. There is also a boss battle at end of the map. You start off in the forest, then castle, then cave, then dragon’s lair. At the end of an event or battle, you’ll have a special board, where you “pick” which space you want to go next. If you die, its game over and you start again from scratch. There are 4 character classes, you start off as a peglin and if you’re really, really good, you can meet the criteria for the others.
Peglin is addicting!
I mentioned above that Peglin reminds me of Balatro. Both are rogue-likes, both have depth, both keep you coming back for more. I must keep going, I must keep dropping balls. Still, this doesn’t have the same pull Balatro does. I won’t be playing this for three weeks after review like I did with Balatro. I don’t know why, I cannot put my finger on it. Still, I love Peglin and think it is awesome, its just not a ten for me, and that’s alright!
Overall: Peglin is a fun and addicting pachinko rogue-like that will keep you dropping balls for hours and hours. Doesn’t quite hit Balatro-level though.
Verdict: Must Play
| Release Date | 8/27 |
| Cost | $19.99 |
| Publisher | Blitworks Publishing |
| ESRB Rating | E |
P.S. For straight Pachinko, try Pachi Pachi On a Roll!
