There is a particular pleasure in discovering a game that takes a familiar idea, gives it a wonderfully peculiar twist and somehow makes it feel fresh all over again. BALL x PIT already understood the appeal of combining old-school ball-bouncing action with the addictive progression of a roguelite, creating an experience where every run offered another chance to discover a devastating combination of abilities. Risen Ballbylon takes that established formula and gives it a substantial injection of new content, introducing fresh battlefields, characters, enemies, bosses, balls and an expanded approach to rebuilding your settlement. More importantly, it gives experienced players a compelling reason to return, rather than simply offering a handful of additional challenges to work through.
Developed by Kenny Sun and published by Devolver Digital, this expansion is designed for those who have already completed the main game. That requirement is worth emphasising because Risen Ballbylon is not intended as an alternative starting point for newcomers. Its content only becomes accessible after finishing the base game, making it a genuine continuation for players who have already spent considerable time exploring the original pit. Rather than taking the lift further underground, however, this adventure reverses direction, sending players upwards towards a strange city suspended high above the abyss. It is a clever change of perspective that immediately gives the expansion a sense of occasion.
A Different Kind of Ascent
The central appeal of BALL x PIT remains its wonderfully satisfying blend of angled ball shots and relentless enemy encounters. Players must carefully position their attacks, using walls and available space to ricochet projectiles through advancing groups of enemies. A well-placed shot can trigger a spectacular chain reaction, with balls bouncing repeatedly across the battlefield and inflicting enormous damage. There is a lovely rhythm to the action, particularly when a carefully assembled set of abilities works together, turning an otherwise difficult encounter into an explosion of destruction.
Risen Ballbylon understands that the best way to extend this experience is to introduce mechanics that genuinely change how players approach their runs. The expansion adds four new battlefields, each with its own collection of enemies and a formidable boss waiting at the end. More than 40 new enemy types add further threats, ensuring that familiar strategies cannot simply be relied on without some adjustment. The new environments also help the expansion feel like a proper journey into unfamiliar territory, rather than a collection of recycled encounters with slightly different scenery.
The upward journey is an especially welcome idea because it gives the expansion its own identity. Having become accustomed to descending into the depths, players are now challenged to explore the remains of a former city transformed by the effects of the meteor. There is something appealing about the suggestion that the world above the pit has suffered its own terrible fate, and the new setting provides a natural backdrop for the additional enemies and bosses. It also gives the experience a sense of progression that feels appropriate for an expansion aimed squarely at returning players.
Eight New Characters, Countless Possibilities
One of the most exciting additions is the introduction of eight new playable characters, each bringing a distinctive approach to the familiar combat system. These are not merely cosmetic alternatives, as their individual characteristics can dramatically shape how a run unfolds. The Sentinel, for example, can aim in any direction, offering a degree of flexibility that changes how players approach positioning and enemy placement. Meanwhile, The Wallbreaker introduces an unusual twist by allowing balls to warp to the opposite side of the screen the first time they strike a wall.
The Right Hand Man is another particularly interesting addition, rewarding players who understand how to make the most of the battlefield’s geometry. His balls inflict double damage when they strike the right wall, but only half when they hit the left. This creates a clear tactical consideration, encouraging players to think more carefully about their angles rather than simply firing projectiles and hoping for the best. These character-specific mechanics are precisely the sort of additions that make an established roguelite feel new again, because they encourage experimentation rather than simply increasing the numbers attached to existing abilities.
The remaining characters further broaden the possibilities, and discovering how their individual traits interact with different ball combinations is a substantial part of the attraction. Some approaches will naturally appeal to players who prefer straightforward damage, while others encourage a more considered style of play. The important thing is that the new characters give experienced players fresh problems to solve. Familiarity with the original game remains valuable, but it does not guarantee success when the rules of a particular run have changed.
Balls, Fusions and Beautifully Chaotic Combat
Of course, the real star of BALL x PIT has always been its ball system, and Risen Ballbylon makes a considerable contribution to that side of the experience. The expansion introduces 24 new balls, adding another set of abilities to discover, combine and turn into increasingly destructive weapons. The Beast ball latches onto enemies and continues to damage them until they die, while the Kaiju ball triggers earthquakes that bring a different kind of devastation to the battlefield. Elsewhere, the Misfortune ball curses enemies, and the spiky Hedgehog ball provides another unpleasant surprise for anything unfortunate enough to get in its way.
These additions are particularly valuable because the appeal is not simply discovering what each ball does in isolation. The real excitement comes from experimenting with combinations and finding unexpected ways to make different abilities complement one another. A seemingly modest addition can become considerably more dangerous when paired with the right supporting effects, and that process of discovery is what gives the game such an addictive quality. A run that initially appears unremarkable can suddenly turn into an extraordinary display of bouncing projectiles and cascading damage.
The expansion also introduces 45 new passives, providing an enormous amount of additional variety. Among the named additions are Lucky Coin, Eldritch Gauntlet, Vampire’s Kiss, Volatile Explosive and Relentless Whip. Their inclusion gives players another layer of potential build combinations to explore, and the sheer number of new options should keep even experienced players busy for some time. Rather than making every run feel like a straightforward repeat of something already mastered, Risen Ballbylon encourages players to take risks, try unfamiliar combinations and discover which abilities work best together.
There is always a degree of unpredictability in a roguelite, and that is part of the appeal. Not every run will produce the combination you were hoping for, and some encounters can become considerably more challenging when the available abilities fail to complement one another. That occasional reliance on random rewards can be frustrating, particularly when tackling tougher content, but it also makes those moments when everything falls into place feel genuinely rewarding. When a build finally clicks, the satisfaction comes from understanding how its individual parts contribute to something far more powerful.
Rebuilding a City Above the Abyss
Away from the battlefield, the settlement-building side of BALL x PIT receives an equally substantial expansion. Risen Ballbylon introduces 20 new buildings, giving players additional ways to develop their base and improve the longer-term progression system. Among the new structures are the Floating Fortress, Crystal Monolith, Soup Kitchen, Circus Tent and Fission Chamber. These unusual additions reinforce the world’s strange personality while giving players more reasons to invest the resources gathered during their adventures.
The introduction of crystals as a new resource is particularly important, as it adds another consideration to the game’s economy. Gathering materials and deciding how best to invest them has always been an important part of the wider experience, but the additional resource adds complexity to planning settlement development. Players must consider what to prioritise and how new buildings can contribute to their continued progress. It is a welcome extension of the original system, providing another reason to keep returning to the battlefield even after a particularly successful run.
There is a satisfying connection between the action and the settlement management, because progress in one area supports the other. Every expedition offers the possibility of bringing back something useful, while the buildings you develop provide further opportunities to improve your future attempts. This creates a rewarding cycle that makes the expansion feel cohesive rather than a bundle of unrelated additions. It is also a reminder that BALL x PIT is more than a simple arcade action game, with its wider progression systems playing an important role in keeping players invested.
Presentation and Lasting Appeal
The pixel art remains a major part of the game’s personality, with its dark fantasy setting providing a distinctive contrast to the colourful chaos of combat. The ruined architecture and strange inhabitants of Risen Ballbylon give the new battlefields their own identity, while the visual effects help make the bouncing projectiles and explosive abilities feel suitably spectacular. There is a fine balance to strike in a game where the screen can quickly become crowded with enemies, balls and effects, and maintaining enough visual clarity is important when everything is moving at speed.
That said, particularly chaotic encounters can occasionally be difficult to read. When several powerful abilities activate together, the sheer volume of visual effects can obscure some of the action, making it harder to identify incoming threats. This is not enough to undermine the overall experience, but it is one of the compromises that comes with building increasingly elaborate combinations. Players who enjoy pushing their builds to ridiculous extremes will probably accept the occasional visual overload as part of the spectacle.
The controls remain central to enjoyment, with accurate aiming and sensible positioning making the difference between a successful run and an early defeat. Whether playing with a controller or using a mouse, the fundamental appeal comes from understanding angles, anticipating enemy movement and making every shot count. The action is easy to understand, but the possibilities become considerably more involved as additional characters, balls and passives enter the equation. That accessibility, combined with the depth of the progression systems, is one of the reasons the original game proved so compelling.
Verdict
BALL x PIT: Risen Ballbylon is an impressive expansion that understands exactly what made the original experience so enjoyable. Rather than reinventing the formula, Kenny Sun and Devolver Digital have focused on giving players more ways to experiment, more challenges to overcome and more reasons to keep returning. Four new battlefields, eight characters, 24 balls, 45 passives, more than 40 enemy types and 20 additional buildings represent a substantial amount of new content, particularly for those who have already exhausted much of what the base game has to offer.
The occasional frustration caused by unpredictable ability combinations and the visual clutter that can accompany particularly explosive builds are minor blemishes on an otherwise excellent package. The new characters and balls provide meaningful changes to how runs unfold, while the expanded settlement-building mechanics add another layer of purpose to every expedition. The decision to make the expansion available only after completing the main game also makes sense, as its wealth of additional systems is clearly aimed at players who already understand the foundations.
Most importantly, Risen Ballbylon captures that wonderful feeling of wanting to attempt just one more run, even when you know perfectly well that you should probably stop playing. There is always another character to experiment with, another combination to discover, another building to construct or another boss to defeat. For anyone who loved the original BALL x PIT, this is a substantial and thoroughly worthwhile return to the abyss, even if the journey now takes you in the opposite direction.
