I’ve always steered clear of Peggle, partly because the passive nature of its gameplay doesn’t quite appeal to me. Watching things happen rather than engaging actively isn’t my preferred style. However, when Peglin made an unexpected debut on the Nintendo Switch following a Nintendo Direct, my curiosity was piqued. I thought it might offer an appeal similar to idle games, or perhaps serve as a bridge between the casual and the engaging. Alas, while Peglin didn’t lure me into a full-on pachinko mindset, its core mechanics did manage to pull me back for more rounds of launching balls at foes.
Pause if you’ve heard this one before: Peglin is a rogue-like indie game designed around the idea of defeating all enemies in a given area. As you progress, you steadily enhance your weaponry and moves, all culminating in a showdown with a formidable boss. Admittedly, Peglin doesn’t break new ground; its objectives are pretty transparent from the get-go. The game’s art style, with its pixel graphics reminiscent of something from Microsoft Paint, doesn’t quite hit the mark for me—but it does serve its purpose. The diversity in enemy types and the range of settings do keep the journey through Peglin’s world engaging.
It’s the gameplay, though, that will either captivate or lose you. In Peglin, your primary action is launching an orb at a board scattered with pegs. Each peg hit by your orb translates into the final damage inflicted on the enemies hovering above. Your influence is limited to deciding the direction of the orb. Some pegs offer bonuses like coins, multiplied damage, critical hits, or other attack enhancements. At the close of each encounter, you can choose to acquire new orbs, which are shuffled for each battle, or you can allocate coins to upgrade and increase their power. Discovering different combinations and additional items throughout your journey amplifies your orbs’ abilities, striking a nice balance. For instance, I found an item that granted me a multiball effect, duplicating each orb upon firing, but it constrained me to specific firing paths. This dynamic of push and pull frames some combats as incredibly challenging yet rewarding, especially with bosses causing havoc by inserting sticky lines among pegs that snare your orbs or by spawning new enemies.
My own time with Peglin feels somewhat mixed. On one hand, I thoroughly enjoyed hurling orbs and racking up damage—akin to playing pinball. On the other, the game leaves much to passive action. Once an orb is launched, there isn’t much strategizing left beyond choosing your target, which is crucial against bosses or waves of enemies, but that’s where it ends. The lack of engagement is compounded by insufficient tutorials on the mechanics and actions available. I discovered far too late that discarding orbs could expedite more effective attacks, such as those dealing elemental damage to specific enemies. Though designed as a pick-up-and-play game, I often felt bogged down by strategy rather than action, which occasionally hindered my enjoyment.
As with many roguelikes, Peglin requires a great deal of chance to succeed, meaning there were moments when I felt truly stuck by circumstances beyond my control, like low health between fights or key attacks missing critical hits. Once a run ends, there’s no option for permanent upgrades, forcing you to start from scratch. The furthest I’ve progressed felt more about luck aligning than skill execution. This reliance on chance may deter some, and indeed, drove me to take breaks between sessions. Yet, its simple but addictive gameplay loop kept me returning, eager to see if I could push just a bit further each time.
In all, Peglin isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. The blend of roguelike elements and the considerable luck factor needed to reach the end was a slow burn for me. The opaque mechanics and the limited influence on gameplay can be frustrating. However, the core of Peglin is incredibly enticing, drawing me back more times than I expected. When you do manage a killer combo or elemental burst against a boss, the satisfaction is immense. The exploratory entry feels a bit steep, but once you get the ball rolling, it’s hard to put down. Ultimately, Peglin feels like one of those delightful background games that players will likely revisit often. While my crystal ball doesn’t offer definitive insights, I have a hunch that Peglin is here to stay.
