At a brief glance, Balatro doesn’t seem like the kind of game to warrant all the hubbub around it; it’s a pixelated, charming poker rogue-like, an idea that baffles as much as it intrigues. But in reality, this is one of the most addicting, and most accessible, games of 2024.
The genius of Balatro is that it doesn’t try to be anything it isn’t. It does what it sets out to do with a near-perfect, joyful, focus that elevates what, on paper, could have been a forgettable title into something special.
The Good:
- Balatro finds it niche and revels in it, a refreshingly focused project
- The gameplay is quick, addicting, and snowballs into deeper, strategically interesting, and engaging content
- It’s just plain fun
The Bad:
- Balatro lets players do one thing, play a wacky version of poker, and nothing else
Review Details:
- What Platform Did the Reviewer Play On?: PC
- Platforms Available: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PC, Mobile
- Official Release Date: February 20, 2024
Balatro does a lot with very little
Rogue-likes are all the hotness nowadays. The slowly unravelling complexity and replayability have been a hit with gamers for year. It feels like there’s a roguelike take on nearly everything, so how is a $15 poker roguelike demanding the attention of the entire industry?
The truth is that Balatro has struck pixelated, adorably scored, infectious gameplay gold.
Booting up Balatro, players are met with a neo-retro, psychedelic color scheme and charming visuals. The first run begins and it seems oddly simple; three-round levels with a steadily rising threshold of points required to pass. The player discards and draws to build poker hands that seem, to start, absolutely normal. However, as one moves through the levels, the game introduces an increasingly deep pool of mechanics and paths that all feed back into that simple initial premise; play poker hands, score points, rinse, and repeat.
Balatro takes the well-known poker hand scoring system, and uses that as an accessible start to understanding the gameplay. From there, it introduces its many wacky mechanics one by one. One of the simple pieces of design genius is that as cards get added and changed, it allows for hands that defy standard poker rules. The first time one plays a five-of-a-kind hand, the warm and goofy nature of Balatro’s seemingly grounded concept comes to life.
Jokers wild
The true magic of Balatro comes alive in jokers; permanent modifiers that can completely transform the way they’re played. From rewarding certain suits, or hands, to some truly random bonuses, Jokers quickly become the most fun submechanic of Balatro.
Discovering a Joker that completely changes a strategy, or perfectly feeds into it, is one of the game’s greatest pleasures. That great, roguelike moment of weighing whether the potentially enormous benefit outweighs the risk of mid-game strategic pivot hits hard.
As is the beauty of the roguelike, sometimes it rings in a cavalcade of points that carry the player well into the late levels. Other times, it doesn’t.
Balatro’s endless mode makes the game endlessly replayable
Another great touch to Balatro’s ever-expanding world is the addition of an endless mode. After the final round, players running a particularly ridiculous strategy can see just how far they can push an archetype. If the final score just scraped by, or even lost to the final boss blind, Balatro offers the eternally tempting option of a brand new run.
But there’s something there for the player who really wants to keep jamming a deck full of royal flushes. It’s this aspect in particular that leads to hours upon hours disappearing.
With 15 decks, multiple decks, and essentially endless run archetypes possible, it’s easy to be both intimidated and enticed by everything there is to accomplish in Balatro. However, on each individual run, that mind-boggling scope shrinks down. This presents a clear and engaging target for each run of Balatro, without letting the dazzling array of options cause analysis paralysis every time a new attempt is fired up.
Come the late game, the player has unlocked multiple decks, tons of Jokers, and other horizontal mechanics that allow one to branch off in all sorts of directions. In most cases, this doesn’t directly increase the difficulty. Those looking for tougher runs can always up the difficulty in addition to all of the other customization options.
Players can find their favorite deck and strategy and jam it over and over, or change strategies every run. Balatro makes very few decisions on how its players should tackle each round, leaving that strategic thinking up to the player on any given run.
The short and sweet of it is that Balatro likely shouldn’t be a game that players sink hundreds of hours into, but it is. There’s something especially impressive, engaging, and addictingly fun hidden in this simple approach. Balatro’s consumer-friendly price, model, and replayability make it one of the best values out there since Stardew Valley.
The Bottom Line: Balatro excels and shines as a focused, fun, and inspired new take on a well-explored genre by bringing video game trappings over to the poker table.
Score: 9/10
