Balls. The video game legacy is built on them. In 1972 Atari released Pong for the Atari 2600; a basic simulation of the game tennis, where you controlled a bat that could only move up and down the screen, to make contact of a pixelated ball, opposite another bat, all taking place in a black and white screen.

This was followed in 1976 by another Atari game, Breakout, that had you control a paddle at the bottom of the screen, hitting a ball upwards to break rows of bricks above.

This latest game certainly plays homage to that classic, whilst combining with a number of other familiar games, such as Space Invaders. And yes, it has balls.

And yes, i sure play a mean pinball.

The world has taken quite a blow when a meteor destroyed the city of Ballbyon, creating a deep pit next to it. It’s down to you, to make your way down the pit, and kill all the monsters you will face.

You play as a regular Joe, to start off with at least, with no special powers. You have weapons – balls – that you then aim at descending monsters, making their way at you from the top of the screen, with the only mission to wipe you out.

As your balls kill them, they leave gems behind - collect enough of them and you are offered a wide variety of upgrades; like a ball with spikes, for example, or poison. So the deeper you get in this level, the more powerful you become. However, if you find yourself replaying a level – which you will – you start over from the beginning, with you back at a basic level. If you can complete a level, which has a formula of a mid boss battle, and an end of level boss battle, they roughly last 15 minutes for the run every time. And for doing so, you will be rewarded, with one of the most special ones being a cog towards making the lift in the pit go to the next level.

There are other lucrative awards to be had, like blueprints for buildings, such as for other characters to choose from, with 15 others unlockable. And with each one unlocked, they come with their own powers from the off, such as two of them playing side by side, or having a fire ball as standard.

Then next year we'll be able to start growing marijuana.

You will have to play levels beaten a number of times, but because of the randomness of the upgrades available, it’s just enough to make a fairly similar run have a unique twist every time.

Graphically it’s hardly next-gen, borrowing a similar graphical look for the game Vampire Survivors as well as its gameplay.

But then there’s another element to the game after you’ve finished every run.

You are then taken to the top of the pit, and have a farm sim game to now play. You have specific sized area to work within, as well as upgrade it for a price for a piece of land at a time, as more property etc are opened to you.

Initially you can buy farm land, trees to grow, as well as rocks. Harvest enough of them and you can use them to buy other buildings, as well as upgrade them. For instance, you get the blueprints for buildings, such as a university, that will help the lower your stats, thus improving you skills, such as running speed, how powerful you are etc.

It’s very addictive, and of course the more the play, the more you can improve your player. It’s also a nice little rest from the ball shooting element, which is very absorbing while you play it.

It is a remarkable achievement, made more so by the fact that it was developed by one person, Kenny Sun. Yes, it’s a little on the lo-fi side, but you’re unlikely to come across a game that is so disturbingly addictive as this one is.

With all the triple A major studio games that can be both time and money sinkholes, Ball x Pit is refreshingly accessible and affordable, that will soon find you obsessed for going into that pit time and time again.

Quite simply, this game is literally a load of balls, and a stunning, modern twist on a classic at that.