Review of Peglin – Nintendo World Report

I have to admit, I was someone who never really got into Peggle. The passive nature of the game, where you mostly just watch things unfold, never quite appealed to me. However, when Peglin unexpectedly dropped for the Nintendo Switch after a Nintendo Direct, my curiosity was piqued. I wondered if it might capture my attention the way an idle game might, offering a blend of the familiar and new. Having dabbled with pinball-style games before, I thought Peglin might just be that perfect hybrid. While it didn’t convert me into a pachinko enthusiast, I did find myself repeatedly drawn back to its ball-launching battles.

Let’s see if this rings a bell: Peglin is an indie roguelike where your task is to defeat all enemies in a given area, progressively upgrading your weaponry and skills before ultimately facing a formidable boss. While it doesn’t necessarily break new ground, the game clearly sets out its stall from the get-go. Personally, the visual style didn’t really click with me—it has a Microsoft Paint-esque pixel art vibe—but it serves its purpose. What keeps things interesting is the variety of enemies and environments you encounter as you traverse Peglin’s world.

The gameplay is where Peglin will either win you over or lose you. You launch an orb at a board filled with pegs, and each peg hit increases the damage your orb will inflict on the enemies above. Your main decision-making comes in choosing the direction to fire the orb. Some pegs offer bonuses like extra coins, critical hits, or various other boosts to your attack. After each round, you have the option to purchase new orbs or enhance your existing ones, adding a layer of strategy to the randomness. There’s an array of fun combinations and items to discover that enhance your orb’s abilities, always maintaining a balanced challenge. For instance, I came across an item that granted me multiball capability, duplicating the orbs upon firing, but with the limitation of only firing in certain directions. This kind of strategic push and pull makes for some tough battles, especially against bosses who can disrupt your board by introducing sticky lines that trap your orbs or spawning additional foes.

My journey with Peglin has been quite balanced. On one hand, I genuinely enjoyed the thrill of launching orbs and amassing damage, reminiscent of a pinball game. On the other, the game’s passive vibe, where post-shot interaction is minimal, left me desiring more strategic involvement. Planning the trajectory and which item the orb will hit is crucial against bosses or large enemy groups, but beyond that, you’re mostly along for the ride. The lack of comprehensive tutorials didn’t help; it was far into my playtime before I realized I could discard orbs to expedite the appearance of others with specific elemental advantages. While this is a pick-up-and-play title, I found myself strategizing more than actually playing, which felt like a hurdle.

Being a roguelike, Peglin leans heavily on randomness. I often found myself in situations I couldn’t best, not through a lack of skill but due to the difficulty of replenishing health between skirmishes or missing critical pegs entirely. Progressing is reset at the end of each run, making significant advancement feel more like a lucky break than a testament to skill. This element could be a deal-breaker for some players and often led to extended breaks from the game for me. Yet, the addictive simplicity of hurling orbs at pegs to see how far I could get kept drawing me back.

Ultimately, Peglin isn’t for everyone. Its roguelike structure demands patience, with luck playing a much larger role than one might expect in reaching the game’s end. The challenge and sparse explanations of mechanics initially frustrated me, yet there’s an undeniably good game at its center that draws you in repeatedly. Unleashing a killer combo and rapidly downing bosses with elemental attacks was a sheer joy. Though the entry barrier might be higher than I’d like, once I was hooked, I couldn’t stop rolling those orbs. In the end, Peglin feels perfect for background play, a game you might find yourself returning to time and again. While I can’t predict its long-term fate, I suspect Peglin might stick around in players’ rotations for quite a while.