A catchy game full of playable jokes
PLUS: The ex-head of Assassin’s Creed says "Ubisoft asked me to step aside"
I wish I could tell you about the final character I unlocked in Ball x Pit, the ridiculous game I have somehow found 21 hours to play over the last two weeks.
Fittingly, I played it in a ridiculous way, mostly on a $1000 gaming handheld that’s touted for playing the highest-end new games on the go. And yet there I was playing a mutated version of Breakout or Arkanoid, with splotchy retro graphics, running at 120 frames per second.
I cannot tell you about the final character I unlocked in Ball x Pit, because it is the best joke in a game that is full of unlockable, playable jokes. I don’t want to ruin it.
But I can give a sense of why this game is worth your time, if you’re looking for something that’s funnier to play, the longer you stick with it.
Ball x Pit (PC, PlayStation, Xbox, coming later to Switch 2) initially seems to be a silly, super-charged game of bouncing balls up a lane, against slowly approaching enemies.
It’s easy to play. You might die a bit, but you’ll quickly level up and unlock perks and characters that change how the game is played. It seems pretty conventional at first.
Your starter character is a warrior knight. He shoots balls that the player aims up the screen. There are special balls (the knight’s first ones have spikes) and regular white “baby” balls.
The enemies he defeats on each vertically-scrolling run drop gems, money, and blueprints.
Throughout each run, you keep upgrading your character and the balls they shoot. You can add poisonous projectiles, armor for your character, maybe a ghost ball that shoots through enemies, or a knife that makes balls hurt more if they bounce into an enemy’s left side. The upgrades don’t stick, but the player can use collected blueprints to build up a town that you visit between runs.
Yes, you read that right. Ball x Pit is also a city builder.
Buildings in the town unlock a wide array of lasting perks, such as better loot drops and the ability to trade resources at a market.
Ball x Pit’s town mode initially seemed like a forgettable distraction, but I eventually came to see it as the game’s event. You’re encouraged to lay out your buildings strategically, to take advantage of synergistic placement. One building will help trees grow faster, another will trigger more rapid conversion of those trees into lumber.
The town is also a Breakout-style level, of sorts. You “harvest” resources by firing off our townsfolk as if they too are little balls, having them ricochet off of fields and forests to gather resources. You also bounce people off of the scaffoldings of new buildings to complete their construction.
Here’s a clip of a harvest in my Ball x Pit town, pretty late into the game:
All of the above may appeal to anyone who likes to play a game to see the numbers go up. Ball x Pit appeals to the same appetites as Vampire Survivors, a similarly mindless game of increasingly extravagant displays of enemy-slaying powers. But it has more than a dash of Universal Paperclips, a numbers-go-up game designed to make you question your obsession and comfort with those numbers going up.
What’s extra special is the cast of increasingly bizarre characters you unlock as you build homes with the blueprints.
A Sheriff’s Office unlocks The Itchy Finger, a lawman who shoots fireballs.
A Single Family Home unlocks the childless Empty Nester, who shoots out no baby balls but shoots multiples special ghost balls.
The Villa introduces the Cogitator, who makes mid-run upgrade decisions for you.
That last one really sealed it for me: This game was having some fun with me.
I’d been spending so much time thinking carefully about my upgrades each run, trying so hard to be strategic, and they’re now giving me a character who just does it for me?
Many of Ball x Pit’s characters (and even some unlockable buildings) are like this. They change the game’s rules and opportunities so significantly that I eventually just figured that the Ball x Pit’s developers—”Kenny Sun and friends”—were simply having a laugh at me for even playing their game.
But Ball x Pit lets you feel like you’re in on the joke.
Does it seem like this new building will break the game? Sure, let’s add it.
Does this character seem to undermine how this game was designed? Let’s play as them!
Let’s enjoy the mounting chaos around us, at least in a game where it’s safe not to take any of it very seriously.
Item 2: Assassin’s Creed ex-chief counters Ubisoft’s description of his exit
Marc-Alexis Côté, the Ubisoft veteran who had been the head of the company’s Assassin’s Creed franchise for the last several years, wrote on LinkedIn yesterday that he “did not walk away. I stayed at my post until Ubisoft asked me to step aside.”
That casts a different light on the message sent to studio workers earlier this week from Christophe Derennes, the co-CEO of Vantage Studios, Ubisoft’s new subsidiary overseeing AC. In his note, Derennes described Côté as having chosen to leave despite being offered multiple leadership roles.
On LinkedIn yesterday, Côté said he was grateful for his run at the company but wanted to address confusion from peers about the idea he’d have chosen to leave Assassin’s creed.
He wrote:
“Ubisoft decided to transfer the leadership of the Assassin’s Creed franchise to someone closer to its new organizational structure. A different position was mentioned, but it did not carry the same scope, mandate, or continuity with the work I had been entrusted with in recent years.”
In an earlier post on LinkedIn this week, Côté had celebrated his 15-year run on the franchise:
Assassin’s Creed has given me everything: unforgettable projects, extraordinary colleagues, and the chance to grow alongside a studio that earned its wings through this franchise. I’ve also been humbled by fans around the world who shared how our games made them feel seen, inspired, or curious about the past. Those moments reminded me of the true power of what we create together.
One hint of how things around the role of AC franchise director have changed is the job’s location.
The new Vantage subsidiary consists of studios that are focused on Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry and Rainbow Six. Those studios are located in Canada (where Côté is based), Spain and Bulgaria.
But a job listing for the new head of the Assassin’s Creed franchise that was posted over the summer nevertheless listed the job as being based in Paris, France, where Ubisoft is headquartered, according to Game File sources familiar with the description.
When contacted about Côté’s newer post, a Ubisoft rep referred me back to the company’s statement from earlier in the week. In that one, the company said, in part:
“Following the organizational restructuring announced in March 2025, Marc-Alexis Côté has chosen to pursue a new path elsewhere outside of Ubisoft. While we are saddened to see him go, we’re confident that our talented teams will carry forward the strong foundation he helped build.”
Item 3: In brief…
🎮 Quantic Dream (still owned by NetEase; I checked!) is making a competitive multiplayer game, after decades of being known for story-driven single-player games such as Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls, according to a company announcement.
The studio says it is also still developing Star Wars Eclipse, which it’s been quiet about since the game’s 2021 reveal trailer.
🔎 Best story I read all week: It’s not about video games, but about a 35-year-old long-unsolved code/puzzle that’s part of a sculpture at CIA headquarters… and about the sculptor who was about to auction off the solution for six figures to, in part, pay for medical bills… and about a journalist and his friend who just figured out the solution… and how the sculptor asked the journalist if he could keep quiet… and about the moral quandaries…and about an auction thrown into disarray. (Someone is surely going to make a movie about this!)
PS: Credit to the New York Times commenter who wrote: “A CIA operation didn’t turn out as planned. Wow, what are the odds?”
Item 4: The week ahead
Tuesday, Oct 21, 2025
Jurassic World Evolution 3 (PC, PlayStation, Xbox), Ninja Gaiden 4 (PC, PlayStation, Xbox), Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 (PC, PlayStation, Xbox) and Spooky Express (PC, mobile)
Thursday, October 23, 2025
Bounty Star: The Morose Tale of Graveyard Clem (PC, PlayStation, Xbox), PowerWash Simulator 2 (PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch 2) and Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted (PC, console) are released.
Friday, October 24
Once Upon a Katamari (PC, console) is released.
Another competitive multiplayer game? Has no studio learned of all the failed ones of the recent and not so recent past, even when big money (Sony, Bethesda etc.) was behind it? Anecdotally, for sure, yet I have friends that are still playing Overwatch 2. Good luck pulling those away.