Peglin

Fun, but runs are just too short. You get to feel powerful for only a few levels before it ends.

This game is either "oh hell yea I'm doing absolutely great I can never die the build is so online right now" or "I have zero agency whatsoever and my only option is to just die start a new run I guess" and there's no in between. The lows are low but the highs are sooooooo high

A mix-and-match between Peggle and Slay the Spire,, but it plays really well for what it is. There is some variety involved with each of the four characters, plus the combinations of orbs that can be utilized throughout the run, Cruciball (Ascension) mechanics, and relics that can help (or sometimes hinder) the run.
It's a good game for sure, but some achievements depend a little more on luck and may not be reliable to find every single run. I've yet to delve deeper into Cruciball and much of the base levels are easy to deal with, so I'll need more time on this before providing an updated review.

Unlike classic roguelikes, Peglin is punishing player for progressing.
At first the debuffs you get are mild, but later on it gets so bad, losing doesn't come as learning experience, instead it leaves you filled with frustration.
To clarify for those who haven't bought this game yet, the only means of progression is for you to increase the Crucible level, basically difficulty.
Unlocking 3 additional classes is a thing you can do, and all of them have their own benefit during the run, but at the end, you're unlocking higher difficulties.
Each class has to unlock it's own Crucible level, so if you're playing the default class, the other ones won't progress at the same time.
At higher levels you will lose more than 20 runs, sometimes even 40 in a row, (runs that can last up to 30 minutes) because RNG didn't bless you with specific items that stay relevant in your traversal.
A lot of orbs become irrelevant, but if you do want to make them efficient, good luck getting them AND relics through RNG. Not only that, constant need in healing and upgrading the starter orbs to have some chance of survival will leave you with a small amount of gold.
Not only that, game gives you more junk into your bag, more default pebballs and 2 literal trash orbs to interrupt your deck queue.
If you do want to give yourself more chances of winning, exploit the save reload. It will start the latest battle or event from beginning, so if you were about to die, there's your chance.
I started doing this after Crucible 16, because losing 20+ runs was too much.
Close on reaching Crucible 20 with Spinventor, so far I have a grudge against this system and I just want to see what an ultimate form of sadism looks like.
Do I like this game? Yes, it's about numbers going up, but do I recommend it? Not for everyone, however, you can still play on previous difficulties, no one is stopping you.

8/10
It is very fun and quite easy to play but the last difficulties feel a little too unbalanced, which made it feel frustrating losing countless runs just because it felt like the AI was perfectly countered against you or too powerful.
If I compare this game to Slay the spire because it plays quite a lot like it in some ways, I get the feeling that you couldn't be as flexible because some things were just too weak to use in the later difficulties and it feels like you have less impact on how the run is going to go and have to be lucky with RNG instead.
I feel like I could have been done with the game way quicker since I had a lot of strong runs that I feel should have won but lost to RNG or balancing issues in my opinion.
The gameplay is still fun and it is a game that you get that itch for "just one more game" even if you do lose frustratingly.

I wish there was as much variety in level layouts/enemies as there is in the relics and balls.
Because of this its a 4/5 for me. If dlc is added for more content on the lacking side, then its a 5/5.

Idea for devs: If ur not gonna add new enemies u could just add like an extra layout for each encounter that randomly switches from the current ones. That would make the grind of collecting everything more fun in the long run.

A fun little pachinko style game with a healthy serving of rage.