Penguin (2026)

Peglin is a bit of a missed opportunity. It's fun at first, but once you realise that your success depends almost entirely on what the game randomly serves up to you it begins to lose its lustre. This also makes its difficulty very inconsistent, you can win your first ever run by accident and lose your best run because the randomisation screws you over. If you just want to do some pachinkoing - which is definitely a word - this will give you plenty of variety to keep you going for a while if you can put up with losing through no fault of your own sometimes.

The Xbox port of Peglin might drop the ball in a few places, but it's definitely high on the fun scale. Even long after playing, I can still see balls bouncing around in my head, so be wary of its lasting effects on your dopamine-hungry brain!

Peglin is a brilliant alternative within the roguelike genre, taking all the classic elements of the genre and transporting them to uncharted territory in the form of pachinko, with spectacular results. It's true that part of the difficulty lies in luck, as we have little control over the board beyond the relics and the special effects of the balls, but even so, it's an extremely addictive game that we can return to again and again.

I had a fantastic time with Peglin, and there is a potential for plenty of hours of gameplay if you want to achieve everything the game has to offer. It is indeed a game of luck in some respects, as you can only really project the direction of your shots, but you do influence how the game plays out with your choices throughout the game. Some runs take persistence, and you’re destined to fail many times, but I found this where the fun factor was. Working my way to the final bosses in the hope that how I played would either take them down quickly or chip away at them was intriguing. If you enjoyed the Peggle games and also like your roguelikes, then this is a mash-up that simply works well. For the amount of hours you get in return, it’s a worthy investment of just over £16. With a huge whack of user reviews being in the very positive category over on Steam on PC, that speaks volumes. Whilst this was released back in 2024 on PC and Nintendo Switch, it is one of the best indie titles I’ve had the pleasure of playing on an Xbox in 2025.

Peglin is easily one of my new favourite games. It’s cleverly designed, every playthrough feels different, and there is a comedic chaos to all the insanity that is happening throughout the game.