Pinball Wizards And Warriors: Rollers Of The Realm

I spent most of the weekend lying in bed with a maelstrom in my innards, feeling sorry for myself and occasionally checking the news on a laptop, which made me feel sorry for everyone else in the world instead. To bring the misery back home, I'd occasionally rewatch the trailer for Rollers Of The Realm, a fantasy RPG in the guise of a pinball game. It's like a modern Devil's Crush, a more fleshed out Epic Quest (Zen Pinball 2) or a less demanding take on Odama's battleballs. The reason Rollers brought about bouts of despair is that I thought it was a Playstation exclusive. Clearly I was too weary to spy the Steam logo in the corner of the screen, which leapt out at me this morning. Trailer below.

Due out This Holiday Season (I even type that phrase in an American accent)It's flippers and balls, with added loot drops, varied enemy types, a party of playable characters and a host of special abilities. Developers Phantom Compass fired the announcement plunger a couple of months ago and Rollers was an Indiecade finalist back in 2013, but Atlus have stepped in with a big ol' publisher's press barrage, which is handy because the game had entirely escaped my attention until now.

I like gaming mash-ups and pinball is among my favourite things, so Rollers of the Realm has managed to create a spark of excitement. The video isn't particularly inspiring, with its bare and simple playfields, but I live in hope. At least until I turn on the news, glance in the direction of a newspaper or spot an interesting game that happens to be console-exclusive.