Pinball FX

released on Mar 31, 2022

Discover brand new exclusive tables created for Pinball FX, or find your favorites among more than 40 unique and visually enhanced favorites from Zen's extensive digital pinball library. Relive the most iconic moments from entertainment powerhouses like Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Marvel, Universal Studios, and many more. Enjoy accurate re-creations of the most famous pinball machines of all time with Williams Pinball, or have fun with Zen’s original creations.


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Only played for the Godzilla tables. It's fine.

Got it only for the South Park DLC.

I've been playing this on the Steam Deck and having a good time. I never really got into the previous releases, but I can understand why people are annoyed at having to buy tables they already bought again. The free tables are alright, and I really like "Fish Tales". The customization of the arcade is decent but limited. The events seem okay, but I haven't completed any yet. I don't know if I'll pick up any additional tables, but I think it's worth a download.

This could have been an easy win. A new version with a ton of new tables, The fans of PInball FX 3 would have ushered in a new era of pinball and everyone would be happy to play PInball. Zen Studios are usually on the top of their game when it comes to pinball, while a little more arcade like physics that only enhances the experience, and produces a better game.

But this has been mishandled. First this was released first on Epic. That wouldn't be so bad, Epic helped make this, sure it gets first dibs on it. But for a year, PInball FX 3 has languished with almost no content outside of a few tables, while this got updated. Well eventually it would come to steam, great.

Now it arrives and people who have supported Zen since Pinball FX2, over ten years get.... a day of free pinball, and the ability to buy ALL the tables again. Literally every table you owned on Pinball FX3 is not honored here, and they want you to buy them again. The SAME table that you already owned need to be repurchased at the same price if you want to move it here.

But let's give Zen a chance to respond here. "But don't worry we'll give you those games for half price if you own them already" Ehh not great, but... sounds ok. WAit what's the asterisk there mean? "Well we can't just give you a deal on the tables, that's not fair." Sounds fair to me, but ok how does this work." "You get them at half price if there's a bundle offered, but not every game will have a bundle" Wait what? "And the bundles aren't on the main page but hey, it's half price." But that's still half as much as I already spent... and buying those tables at full price the first time was hefty, you have 380 dollars of DLC even at half price that's 190 dollars. "I know isn't it great!!!! You can pay us even more." Yeah, I don't know about that.

"Well don't worry we have a new pinball pass"... Ok, what's that? "It's a way to play all the tables for free
" ... what's that little asterisk there... "Oh well it's not all the tables... just some of the tables. But that's great".... Uhhhh ok, this doesn't sound great, but it says in game currency, so you can earn your way to play the tables? "Nope!" Well ok, how much is it? "15 bucks a month!" Wait what? that's a price of a brand new set of tables.. "Maybe you want to do a year long subscription." Maybe..... " 100 dollars..." That's too much "You're right! 99.99 dollars" Seriously you guys.... "Yup but this way you don't get to keep it..." That's not a good deal then . "What do you mean? OH and better news you can purchase in game currency in different amounts to help confuse you so you might spend more or feel the need to keep buying them." Wait that's ALSO not a good thing. "Of course it is.. it means you spend more money and own nothing. It's a great thing for us."

Ugh well tell me what else you have. "What do you think about... Events that don't feel like they have a strong purpose.." Well what's the point of them. "You can earn Collectibles from our season mode. You get progressive items over time." Uhhh that's just a battle pass. "YEah but you don't have to pay for it." Well that's good. "You just have to pay for the tables to earn the tokens." Ugh.. . "And since it's timed content, we get FOMO to keep you playing." Seriously... what.... "And FOMOmeans you pay more and play more, but not the modes you like the modes we select." Please stop talking. "Don't worry the collectables are cosmetic, they don't affect anything, they're just so you can decorate the starting room, you know the place you never really look." You're not helping yourself.

"Wait we got one more thing I'm sure you're going to love." I don't know why I'm doing this to myself, but sure, let's give it one more shot... "PREMIUM COLLECTIBLES ONLY PURCHASABLE BY IN-GAME CURRENCY!" .... "You there... you there buddy?"

Let's summarize this... You need to repurchase the tables you already own, the discount is only 50 percent off and that's ONLY if they choose to offer it, There's FOMO mechanics to keep you playing, if you don't own a table, you're just grinding the three free tables if they offer it. Same problem with tournaments if you don't own the table. A Pinball pass which is just pure greed, a premium collectibles, in game currency made to be confusing, and this game was released on Epic first for a year

And yet this STILL might have worked, but here's the sad truth, the tables feel almost exactly the same as they did on Pinball FX3, so there's no way I can recommend this game in good conscious. Even if you don't own Pinball FX 3, you might think you can just start collecting tables here...

But what happens when they decide to make another sequel and all your purchases go away yet again.

The bad news is the studio I respected and felt dealt with their fans honorably is now gone.
But the good news is I don't have to sit here and be reminded of how far they've fallen every time I boot up their game. I'm sorry Zen Studios there's too much here that makes me distrust you. Pinball pass, Season mode... I'm off to get my pinball fix elsewhere.