Peglin

Peglin is an unusual roguelike inspired by Peggle and Slay the Spire, in which we have to throw stones precisely. Red Nexus Games studio took a completely different direction than in the case of their debut work - the multiplayer shooter Friday Night Bullet Arena (in which each player had only one cartridge at their disposal). This time we get a single-player game.

Early access

Like many indie games, Peglin came to players in a test version as part of early access. The initial content was modest - one playthrough took about an hour. Development plans included the addition of "runes" customization options, so-called seeds - special codes allowing players to share randomly generated sessions. In addition, the Red Nexus Games team prepared more content to diversify the gameplay.

Plot

Peglin doesn't dwell too much on the plot. We have a charming goblin (the title peglin) , which life constantly gives a hard time. MMostly because of the dragons, who constantly steal his gold. At one point, the time has come and the hero goes on an expedition through forests, mountains and mighty fortresses to regain his possessions and show the nasty reptiles where the crayfish winter.

Game mechanics

At the heart of Peglin are the turn-based battles against enemies you'd expect from a fantasy production. Battles can be challenging (especially boss battles), and the croissant-like nature of the game also manifests itself in procedurally generated levels and a permanent death system. Losing means the necessity of starting the adventure anew on a new map. From time to time we also make decisions, such as choosing the next destination on the world map.

What makes Peglin unique from other roguelikes is the combat system. We use various orbs as weapons, which we throw not at our enemies, but - just like in Peggle - on the board filled with stones. The more stones we hit, the more damage we inflict, while the targets disappear after being hit.

Different types of ammunition add variety to the game: from simple stones, through haunted pebbles, to ball lightning. They vary in damage and special effects, such as area attack. In addition, there are special targets on the board: bombs deal large amounts of damage to all enemies, exclamation points deal deadly critical damage, and stones marked with the letter "R" allow you to refresh the board, bringing back previously removed objects.

Like in Slay the Spire, orbs are represented by cards, and we can't choose any. More orbs scroll through the cycle, at the end of which the hero loses an extra turn to "reload" ammunition. In addition, cards can be upgraded after victories to increase their damage or give them more powerful special effects. During the expedition we will also find relics that will strengthen our attacks, allow us to skip an extra card (to get to the sphere of interest faster), etc.

Game modes

In addition to the basic campaign, Peglin offers, among others, Cruciball mode (only in the demo version in early access). This one makes each level introduce additional difficulties, such as increasing the health of enemies, forcing us to use regular stones more often or reducing the number of refreshes and critical attacks.

Technical aspects

Peglin features 2D pixelated graphics inspired by games from the 1990s.