The Ball
Skip · Shooter · 2010
Steam Deck PlayableThe verdict
SKIP IT.
It scores 35, under the fair line, at $9.99.
- Cost per hour▼
- $1.72/hr
- Reviews▼
- 74% of 1,161
- Critics
- 68 players 6 higher
- Genre rank
- Top 57% Shooter
Holding it back: Reviews, Cost per hour
Why
Watch this gameOne alert at a price you pick.
Time and effort
- Main story
- 5.8h
- To 100%
- 13.9h 2.4x the story
- Finish
- 9% reach the ending
- Achievements
- 17
Price and sales
- Sales
- 78 on record
- Typical cut
- 75% off
- Steam low
- $1.49 November 2013
- Sale every
- 46d last October 2026
Players and genre
- Online
- 1 now
- Cheaper than
- 46% of its genre
- Better reviewed
- 38% of its genre
Price and player charts
The drop-off
54% start to 9% finishSteam counts fewer than one in ten of its players at the ending achievement. Steam global achievements
The value story
The value story
It has been discounted 78 times in the 14 years tracked here. The median cut across all of them is 75 percent, about 7 weeks apart. Today it is at full price, and its last discount ended about 4 weeks ago.
It is less well reviewed than 62 percent of its genre. Among the games that feel like it, Red Trigger ($6.99, scores 60) beats it on value, while it beats Kiki ($4.99, scores 0).
More about The Ball
Steam's global achievement data puts about 9 percent of players at this game's ending achievement. On a 5.8-hour game, the hours short of it still count in its price per hour. None of the 218 Steam-purchase reviews sampled here come from buyers who refunded the game, sampled from reviews written March 2020 to October 2026. Inside the two-hour refund window, 57 percent of the 279 reviews written there were positive, against 74 percent overall, and those are 33 percent of everything written about it.
The main story runs 5.8 hours. Doing everything runs 14, 2.4 times as long.
Buy now or wait
Buy now or wait
Discounted in each of its last 8 seasonal sales. Last discount ended 31 days ago.
- Next sale
- Winter Sale, Dec 17 to Jan 4
Sources: IsThereAnyDeal, Valve.
What drives the score
Grades: S best, D weakest
S is the best grade and D the weakest, judged as a buyer. ▲ raises the score, ▼ lowers it, ? is an input we do not have, • is a fact this genre's score does not use. How the grades work
What players say
I took a gamble on The Ball, as I do not have the reflexes or hand-eye coordination for most fast paced shooting/dodging games. But there was something about its appearance and story which intrigued me, and because some reviews described it as not hard (for them a criticism, for me a ray of hope), I decided to take a chance. And, of course, I struggled, but with overall enjoyment and satisfaction as I slowly...
2 more reviews
The Ball developed by Teotl Studios and published by Tripwire Interactive is a first-person action-puzzle adventure built around a single, striking concept: controlling a massive, mysterious metallic sphere deep within ancient ruins. Originally evolving from an award-winning Unreal Tournament 3 mod into a full standalone release, the game leans heavily into physics-based interaction, environmental puzzles, and...
Unique ball mechanic and beautiful visuals. Occasional bugs but fun achievements and extra stuff.
Steam reviews, mixed to its ratio and rotated daily. Opinions are theirs.
About the game
As a swashbuckling archaeologist, unlock the mystery of the ancient ruins that have been hidden for centuries and discover a mysterious artifact, a gold and metal shelled Ball.
Minimum specs
Minimum on the Steam store: 1 GB of memory, SM3 Compatible video card (GF6800 minimum - GF8800 or higher recommended), 1.5 GB of storage. Windows only.
Cite this score
The Ball scores 35/100 on the BANG Score (a skip) as of Nov 8, 2026. The BANG Score rates what a game is worth for the money. Via Steam BANGERS. https://steambangers.com/game/35460/the-ballReviews set the ceiling, and price against real length moves the BANG Score inside it. How it works, and where it is weak → Steam reviews as of Nov 1, price as of Nov 7. A number here look wrong? Tell me and I will check the inputs.