Played Pinball Spire
Charming little game. Fun to see pinball applied to an action-adventure format, especially given how much classic pinball it carries over. I've played plenty of pinball games that blend genres before and usually they use the form as a jumping off point for the rest of the game. Yoku’s Island Express, for example, mixed pinball with the level design of a metroidvania. It was great! But it was definitely more adaptation of pinball, if memory serves, than a very close adherence to the pinball form like Pinball Spire. Making almost every screen effectively be a proper board is a level of commitment I respect.
I half expected it to lean more into exploration given the "pinballvania" moniker the game wears, but it's actually very brisk and linear. There’s only one time you revisit previous areas and that’s because you’re forced to ascend again before the finale. Not a bad thing! Constant forward momentum is better for this game. Suits it perfectly. Trying to move back and forth regularly would become annoying pretty quick.
Some of the rooms are a pain due to how hard it can be to get the ball to cooperate and go where you need it to, even with the focus ability giving you a chance to properly aim the ball somewhat, but that's just par for the course. A couple rooms in the Arcane Engine area really are annoying, though.