The Ball
The Ball is a first person action-adventure game featuring a full single-player experience built on Epic’s Unreal™ Engine 3 technology. As a swashbuckling archaeologist working on the slopes of a dormant volcano somewhere in Mexico, you get stuck in a cavern. It doesn’t take long before you realize this is more than just a cave. You reveal ancient ruins that have been hidden from outsiders for centuries and discover a mysterious artifact, a gold and metal shelled Ball. As you progress towards solving the mystery of this amazing place you must unlock the secrets of the Ball and learn to control this ancient artifact. Venturing deeper into the volcano, you reveal some of mankind’s greatest secrets and you will start to encounter not just puzzles and traps, but also various strange creatures – the guardians of this mystery. These creatures have to be overcome, using only the Ball to defend you.
Key Features
- 8 hours of single-player adventure
- Game mechanics that are very simple to pick up, immersing the user in the physics-based gameplay right from the start
- 8 huge levels to explore
- Includes bonus Survival game mode, with 4 additional levels
- Wide range of enemies to overcome, including mummies and an undead gorilla
- Unique vehicles – an underground train and the mysterious “Ball Chariot”
- 35 secrets hidden away to be discovered, as well as multiple achievements for the player to earn
- Steamworks™ features including achievements and leaderboards
Game Discussion
Steam User 5
I've tought this would be a pretty bad game judging by the title but well that's the reason why you DONT judge a game by its title (mostly). The ball surprised me a lot, its a solid adventure game with puzzles that are actually quite easy to pick up on and are pretty satisfying. The story is eh...? fine i suppose?, its not too easy to understand and most of the lore pieces are in secrets wich some of are hidden darn well. The object that you will use in your adventures (the ball of course) is pretty intresting...i mean its a ball that has insane powers and well its your only tool that will keep you alive for most of the game so it is kinda strange to say the least...but very creative!. Belive it or not this title has combat (yes of course you use the huge deadly ball) there's no guns, no melee weapons and that's pretty great because you learn how to use environmental hazards agianst your enemies. What about the levels you might ask? well its...hard to explain, the maps are pretty big and open but linear wich is a problem because there are a few places in levels where it looks like you might go trough them but in reality an invisible wall blocks these paths. Altough The Ball has a few issues its a very unique experience you dont get punished by dying or simply doing something wrong and altough it has lots of action its one of these games that dont expect too much from you, wich is great!. The atmosphere and the gameplay are well executed altough the start of the game is rather bland and Unfortunately the best part of the game is at the ending levels wich is not that great, but still i think it deserves a 8.5/10.
Steam User 3
fun fact - Pee is stored in the BALL
all jokes aside
5/10 its mostly walking to get to the next puzzle
+ 10$
+ one of a kind puzzles that you could only find in this game
- puzzles are all on the easy side
+ running monsters over with the ball
- no sprint
+ can make ball semi transparent in settings so you can kinda see through
- very few checkpoints and far apart
- no map
- story could be a lot better
+ 10$
- ball takes up 85% of the screen, no reason for it to be that big
- ball can be janky at times
- broken achievement, at least one. how do i not have the 1st achievement for finishing the first levels??? i finished all the other levels
+ can turn off gore
Steam User 2
Played so much of this game back in the day. Sure it’s an older title, but I still feel the mechanics are unique and the setting is interesting enough that this game still holds up well. Would love to see a remastered VR port someday, I feel like that could be a really neat experience. Beyond that, I love this game and it’s a great fit if you’re looking for an interesting physics-based puzzler with a cool storyline and unique mechanics.
Steam User 2
The Ball is an interesting game. Definitely recommended to everyone who is interested in puzzle and logic and to everyone who is interested to learn about the secret underground world that The Ball presents. There is an interesting lore explained by the secret heads to find hidden around the different levels. It was a pleasant surprise, I came here expecting that the game would have been filled with an interesting plot and jump-scares. I left this game with more patience towards very well designed puzzle games and confused about the ending.
Overall it's a nice experience. 6.5/10
Steam User 1
One of the most ok games I've ever played. It's a constant back-and-forth between nice setpieces, held back by invisible walls not letting you explore, or even get a good look at, those setpieces, interesting puzzle mechanics, held back by finnicky and unrewarding combat, and a story that completely went in one ear and out the other for me.
For every step forward this game takes, it takes exactly one step back. The most 5/10 game I've ever played.
Steam User 3
Genuine hidden gem of a puzzle adventure. It's like portal, but instead of a portal gun, you have a ball, and instead of GLaDOS, there are monkeys.
Steam User 2
Obviously the narrative logic to this game is nonsense but the puzzle platformer's strong level design is more than enough to keep the game rolling.