I know what you’re thinking: “Taylar, you have a different roguelike game every two weeks that you gush about, but always end up going back to Slay The Spire. Why is this any different?” I get it. I’m a roguelike whore. I’m out here sleepin’ around with every procedurally-generated, random-loot-pool, run-based game on the market. I’m always talkin’ about the next big thing and how great it is, just to go back to ol’ faithful. Hear me out on this… Peglin is gooooood. Not just kinda good. Not even pretty good. This game has been infecting my every thought. I dream about Peglin at night. During work meetings that I ‘have to attend‘ but don’t participate in, in any meaningful way, I play Peglin. I am totally infatuated with that green, stone-throwing gremlin.
I still know what you’re thinking: “Taylar, you keep saying this game is good but you still haven’t told us what Peglin is!”, and to that I say, “be patient, little one“. Peglin is a turn-based, roguelike with deck builder mechanics. Similar to these kind of games, you fight enemies and elite monsters, draft cards, upgrade them, collect relics that change the way your cards behave, navigate paths that ultimately lead to the act boss. Except with Peglin you’re not collecting and playing cards, you’re launching orbs onto a board similar to the late 2000’s classic Peggle. Each type of orb has unique abilities and effects including AoE attacks, damage carryover, respawning pegs, and many more. The combination of deck building and peg board clearing is an incredibly satisfying one that touches you in the good feels in a lot of different ways.
Don’t even ask, cause I know what you’re thinking: “Taylar, this game sounds awesome, but it’s in Early Access, why should I give them my money for an unfinished game?” Okay, first, dumb question. Second, because the team at Red Nexus Games has been putting out some incredible updates. Since the game’s launch on April 25th, there have already been a couple of sizable content updates and bug fixes, adding new orbs, events, art, sound effects, etc. The team has also provided a pretty extensive roadmap to 1.0, outlining additional levels of difficulty, new events, bosses, elites, orbs and playable characters. And more important than any of this crap, the game is so satisfying. Have you ever found yourself watching random videos of people cutting up soap on Facebook? Or TikToks of people creating brick domino lines that lay perfectly? This game is that feeling on steroids. As you progress into the later acts and start hitting dozens of pegs a turn, you get this blast of serotonin watching your orbs fall and clear the board. Imagine throwing like 50 bombs at once and doing 50×50 damage to every enemy on the screen. I don’t think you can find anything more satisfying than that in all of gaming right now.
Listen, I need you to stop asking, “how does he know that I stop to watch those soap videos?” Everyone stops to watch those soap videos; they’re amazing. What you really should be asking is, “Taylar, I have my credit card ready, how do I buy this game?” The answer is to get your ass to Steam, and don’t even think twice about it. I’ve put over 90 hours into the game already, and I’m so excited to play hundreds more as additional content releases on the game’s path to 1.0. If none of what I’ve said was enough to convince you, there is a demo you can download and play right now that includes the entire first act. See for yourself how fun this game is.
You can follow all of Peglin’s progress and updates here.
