I do like a good roguelike game. Or more usually a roguelikelike, maybe a roguelikelikelike, or even a roguelikelikelikelike. Rogue was great but a bit dated now. Probably. I haven't played it since 1988 when I had it on a 5.25" floppy disc for the Amstrad PC1512.
OK, that was true, but even as I typed it I got curious and went off to archive.org for a quick dungeon bash (matron). It's strange what sticks with you, I instinctively mashed 'S' when I reached a dead end in a corridor, and sure enough there was a secret door there. Then I got killed by a rattlesnake. Did I want my possessions identified?
Anyway, that confirmed the while Rogue was indeed most impressive in the 1980s and eminently playable now, there are better options out there now. Like Vienetta. By which I mean Vienetta was impressive in the 1980s, not that it's a better option than Rogue now. Though there are strong arguments for the latter as well. Anyone else have a craving for several rippled layers of ice cream?
So. As you've no doubt surmised from that fact that I'm talking about Vienetta, I bought Ball x Pit over the Christmas holidays. It's a lot of fun. There we go, I know everyone's been on tenterhooks for my enormously in-depth review.
What really kicked this all off was the fact that Ball x Pit is often tagged as a roguelike. As the opening linked article shows, the debate over the definition of roguelike was well-worn even ten years ago, but as per the How Roguelike is your game? tool, Ball x Pit would be, by my assessment, Roguelikelikelikelike at best. The current definition of roguelike generally seems to be along the lines of 'keep doing sort of the same thing but gradually unlocking more stuff as you go', which is one of my favoured genres recently with games like Vampire Survivors, Balatro, Megabonk, Death Must Die, Jotunnslayer and Ball x Pit in the last year, and it's far too late to try and coin a new name for that style of game. The roguelike horse has not merely bolted but come back, built an upgraded stables, and unlocked a new class of horse by the time the stable door is shut. I still like roguelikelike, though, shame that never really caught on.
