Be a little pachinko playing goblin in Peglin

I’m not sure how I can describe this game any better.

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Peglin is a roguelike with a unique twist: You’re a cute little goblin, and also you fight your way through the world by playing peg-popping brick-breaking pachinko. “Peglin plays like a combination ofPeggleandSlay the Spire,” say the developers, and from some time with the game that’s… completely correct.

The more pegs you hit, the more damage you deal to enemies each round. As you fight through the world you get new orbs to pop pegs with, each having its own effect. You also get relics that affect the physics of the world, the kinds of pegs you find to pop, and the enemies you fight.

So you might have a poltorbgeist, which passes through pegs when moving up. Or the Matryorbshka, which breaks into other, smaller balls. There’s also more normal stuff—like a rock, or a rubber ball. It’s a deckbuilder, but instead of a deck you’re building a bag of weird magic balls. (They call these bag builders, over in board game land.)

Peglin is developed by Red Nexus Games, an indie studio, and launches into Steam Early Access on April 25, 2022. You can findPeglin on Steam. It has a demo you can try immediately, should you like.

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Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he’s not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.

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