"It's been a long time coming, but here's Peglin 2.0!" announced Red Nexus Games in a surprise Steam update, revealing that the long-awaited Act 4 and the final boss battle have been added to the game. The pachinko roguelike, which released into Steam early access in 2022 and hit 1.0 two years later, has received a substantial expansion that extends the game significantly beyond its original scope.
The game combines the ball-bouncing, peg-busting fundamentals of Peggle with a fantasy roguelike where a cute goblin batters enemies based on pachinko performance. Since its 1.0 launch, Peglin has garnered 'Very Positive' Steam reviews, making the developer's decision to add major new content a natural extension of the work rather than an obvious obligation.
The expansion reshapes how players progress through the game in meaningful ways. Red Nexus Games has added a second path for unlocking new playable classes; alongside unlocking a class instantly via specific achievements, players can work toward new classes over time, with the aim being to make progression more consistent overall. This change acknowledges a legitimate friction point in the original design where progression could feel gated for newer players.
The update includes a substantial number of balance changes intended to mix up the experience and make older orbs and relics useful in a wider range of builds. Gaming communities often value breadth in viable strategies, and this balancing work signals the developer's commitment to keeping the game's ecosystem fresh rather than allowing a few optimal builds to dominate.
Beyond the core content additions, Act 4 unlocks a new type of item that leads to optional challenges available only in that act; players who take them on "might just find their way to greater depths than ever before". The deliberate vagueness around these challenges suggests Red Nexus Games wants players to discover them organically rather than follow a walkthrough.
Red Nexus Games, a Canadian indie studio founded in 2015, created Peglin during the COVID-19 pandemic; designer Dylan Gedig called it a "pandemic-built game", hoping to give something lighthearted for testing. The willingness to invest additional development resources 18 months after shipping a completed product reflects confidence in the game's community and a desire to repay player loyalty with substantial content rather than cosmetic updates.
To coincide with the update, Peglin is on a 40% discount bringing the price down to $12 (£10), with the discount ending March 26. The game will launch on Xbox and PlayStation consoles on May 1st, expanding its reach beyond the PC, mobile, and Nintendo Switch platforms where it already has an established audience.