Ball x Pit

• Title — Ball x Pit • Developer — Kenny Sun • Publisher — Devolver Digital • Director — Kenny Sun • Designer — Kenny Sun • Programmer — Kenny Sun • Composer — Amos Roddy • Engine — Unity • Platforms — * macOS • Nintendo Switch • PlayStation 5 • Windows • Xbox Series X/S • Nintendo Switch 2 • iOS • Android • Released — * macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox Series X/S • 2025 10 15 • Nintendo Switch 2 • October 28, 2025 • iOS, Android • March 12, 2026 • Modes — Single-player

Ball x Pit takes place in the ruins of Ballbylon after the city was destroyed by a meteor, leaving a giant pit. Adventurers come to the ruins to seek riches of the former city but must face hordes of monsters that lurk in the pit. Game Informer describes it as a game that combines roguelike, bullet hell and town-building simulation genres. The game has two separate stages. The first stage is inspired by block breaker games like Arkanoid. In this stage, the player controls one of several adventurers, launching various balls at enemy forces that march slowly towards them; if any monster reaches the bottom of the field, they will damage the adventurer, and the run will be over if the adventurer takes too much damage. Each adventurer starts with a certain inventory of balls, some which can inflict special damage to the monsters. Similar to Vampire Survivors, collecting gems dropped by the monsters levels up the adventurer, giving them the choice to add new balls, leveling up existing balls, or receiving passive items that affect the gameplay loop. At times, monsters will drop a special item that can be fissioned to drop several powerups, or used to fuse two existing balls into one with the effects of both, or evolve balls into a more powerful version. Each run is broken into multiple segments; the early segments end with a mini-boss fight while the final stage is against a powerful boss character. After either completing a run or losing all health, the adventurer returns to the surface to work on expanding a small village adjacent to the elevator that takes them into the pit. Using gold, blueprints, and material resources like wood and stone collected during the action stage, the player can build resource spaces or start the construction of buildings which can bring in additional adventurer characters or improve the attributes of all characters at the start of the action stage. The player can also expand the size of the village or upgrade existing structures with gold. To complete most of these actions or to collect resources, the player can assign workers to these spaces. The workers can collect resources or advance construction of buildings. Over multiple runs, the player can also gain gears from boss fights that allow the pit elevator to reach different levels with new monsters and bosses to defeat.

Lead developer Kenny Sun said he was inspired by Punball, a ball-breakout mobile game he had found around November 2021 that included roguelike elements. While he enjoyed the game, he felt there were several elements he could improve on, and after a few weeks, started work on his own game. As he expanded on his ideas, elements like introducing multiple adventures and the city-building supported the meta-progression between runs and keep the game interesting over multiple runs. On January 26, 2026, the game's first update, the Regal Update was released. The update features two new characters (The Falconer and The Carouser), eight new special balls and three passive abilities. The update also features an endless mode and is the first of three planned updates for 2026. On April 27, 2026, the second update, the Shadow Update was released. The update features an additional two new characters (The Tunneller and The Tiptoer), eleven new special balls and four new passive abilities. The update also adds an option to re-roll past upgrades. An iOS and Android port of the game was released on March 12, 2026.

The game sold more than 300,000 units across all platforms in its first five days. In December 2025, the game surpassed 1 million copies sold worldwide. Following this success, the developers announced plans to support the game with three free content updates scheduled for release throughout 2026.

• Year — Award — Category — Result • 2025 — The Game Awards 2025 — Best Independent Game • 2026 — 15th New York Game Awards — Excelsior Award for Best New York Game • Ultra Game Awards 2025 — Surprise of the Year (Independent Game) • Best Innovation (Independent Game) • Independent Game of the Year (Players' Voice) • 26th Game Developers Choice Awards — Best Debut • Best Design • Innovation Award • 28th Independent Games Festival Awards — Seumas McNally Grand Prize — Honorable mention • Excellence in Audio • 22nd British Academy Games Awards — Game Design • New Intellectual Property