As you may be aware if you’ve seen enough of my reviews, one thing I firmly believe is that everything can be made better by adding roguelike elements. Well, at least in principle I think that every style of play could benefit from some roguelike sensibilities to spice things up. That absolutely isn’t to say that all things roguelike are inherently good. As with every other style of play, there are examples that range from great all the way down to awful. In the case of Rack and Slay I’d say it’s somewhere in the middle.

The concept isn’t necessarily a bad one, mixing things up with a classic video pool simulation and adding different types of balls, traps, and special skills you’ll get to choose between rounds. Your goal is to try to efficiently knock all enemy balls into the pockets, or knock them out through other means like impaling them on spikes that are sometimes positioned around the table. If you’re able to clear them all out before you run out of turns you’ll move on, and if any are left you’ll take a health penalty, then moving on if you’ve still got enough remaining health.

In general, this works well enough, and there’s enough variety in the different enhancement options you’ll be given that you could probably get runs that play out a bit differently. The issue is that the experience may be a bit too simplified for its own good. You’ll be able to use your command of geometry and different angles to try to ricochet balls into the pockets, hopefully avoiding them yourself, but there’s a lack of nuance here that’s disappointing. Unable to put any English on the ball for more refined control, you’re simply not able to pull off as impressive of shots as you could with it. In addition, the force and the weight of the balls doesn’t feel quite right, with balls getting knocked around in a way that feels a bit too artificial and arcade-style, further bringing down the feel, and pretty well dumbing down the play experience.

All of this isn’t to say the game is unplayable by any means or approaching terrible, it’s just a bit more on the shallow side. Then, considering that there are a small handful of pool titles on the Switch that have a better overall feel, even if they may lack the roguelike twist, that makes the deficiencies here tougher to ignore. If you’re a real fan of roguelikes, perhaps the more simplified simulation end of the experience won’t be as big a deal, but if you’re a billiards fan it just may not feel quite right.