- Publisher: Playstack , LocalThunk
- Release Date: Feb 20, 2024
- Also On: iPhone/iPad, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
- Unscored
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Dec 12, 2024The result is a surprisingly layered and extremely addictive game, with pixelated retro graphics. Cleverly designed too, as all the bleeps and effects constantly provide little shots of dopamine, much like a jackpot, slot machine or coin toss from the luna park. The addition of jokers and bonus cards made available seemingly at random make each game different, and replayability almost endless.
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Jul 1, 2024Balatro is excellent all around. The concept is simple, and while the various card types seem overly complicated, the game remains easy to understand no matter how many rules there are. It's utterly enjoyable to the point where you'll keep coming back no matter how many times you lose to a boss with a ridiculous modifier. For anyone who likes card games, Balatro is a must-have.
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Apr 5, 2024A unique and damn addictive card-based roguelite that borrows basic rules from poker, only to effortlessly turn them on their head using jokers, tarot cards, and celestial bodies. Countless possibilities, synergies, and combinations ensure hours of fun that you won't want to tear yourself away from.
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Mar 19, 2024Balatro is seemingly simple, seemingly trivial, yet it’s impossible to tear yourself away from it. Each attempt goes a little differently, your strategy needs to evolve constantly and even after a couple of hours you’re still being surprised by new modifiers, ideas and the need to change your approach. It’s a great game that simply doesn’t get boring.
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Mar 12, 2024A smart and engaging re-implementation of the classic poker game, including hundreds of different cards and special effects.
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Mar 11, 2024Despite that, Balatro is an incredibly easy-to-learn deck builder with plenty of room for experimentation. Even after hundreds of runs, you’ll still encounter new options and combinations to twist your brain around. Even if roguelites and deck builders aren’t normally your favorite genres, Balatro is a game you need to check out.
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Mar 11, 2024A fabulous gateway for new players and something fresh for those of us already obsessed with digital cardboard rectangles, Balatro is an explosion of glee but it burns out fast.
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Mar 11, 2024Balatro is an astonishingly addictive take on Poker that's utterly impossible to put down. Occasional difficulty spikes aside, it's a piece of simplistic genius that we'll keep on our Steam Deck forever.
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Mar 8, 2024Balatro ticks all the boxes for a roguelite that creates a feedback loop that's difficult to draw yourself away from. Its fundamentals are incredibly easy to understand, even if you're unfamiliar with poker, but the ways in which it works within the game's boundaries (and often breaks free from them) injects a level of depth to each hand to play that's both challenging and rewarding to continually engage with. It's a game that will melt away time as you hit play on one run after the next, with each defeat never stinging long enough to dissuade the possibility of victory on the next. While a handful of boss antes annoyingly end runs prematurely, they're nowhere near detrimental enough to take away from the immensely satisfying balance that Balatro strikes in every other aspect.
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Mar 7, 2024Balatro ingeniously transforms the familiar concept of poker into a fresh and captivating experience, offering a plethora of strategies to explore through its innovative mechanics. Despite its minor flaws, such as occasional unfair boss encounters, the game's depth, accessibility, and addictiveness make it a standout title in the roguelike card game genre.
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Mar 6, 2024This is one of those games whose simple concept lends itself to almost limitless depth. Even after dozens of hours of play, this roguelite deckbuilder manages to surprise you with strategies you never knew were possible.
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Mar 5, 2024I never would have expected that a roguelike could work so well in a card game before I played Balatro. It’s simple and guides you in so well, but escalates quickly and is happy to crush your run at any moment with the smallest strokes of misfortune. That’s what makes the variety of jokers and bonus cards so fun to explore. Every new option provides an opportunity to buck the house advantage. It leads to an appealing gameplay loop that kept me wanting to try all sorts of new angles and strategies. Balatro is something far out of the ordinary, and heaven forbid it ever makes its way to mobile because my casual time will powerless against it (please?).
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Mar 4, 2024Balatro is a fantastic rogue-like deck-builder. Additionally, the random nature of each round keeps you on your toes. However, it is pretty unforgiving and the repetitive nature of the core concept may put some gamers off.
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Mar 4, 2024Balatro is addictive. I’m not much of a poker or deck builder player, but I find the combination of the two irresistible. If you have an interest in either, then this game is sure to entice you. Especially since the game is out on every platform and is available now.
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Mar 4, 2024Go play one of the most addicting Roguelite games in the last couple of years, and don't you dare say that the gaming industry lacks creativity and fun ideas. Much like in the beginning of 2023, the indie scene is outdoing itself.
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Mar 1, 2024Despite all of the playable cards being the standard 52-card pack, the extra systems surrounding it create a gameplay loop just as – if not more – complex, addictive, and downright joyous as Slay the Spire, and I don’t say that lightly.
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Feb 28, 2024Balatro is an ingenious and entertaining roguelike and one of my favorite games of the year. Playing it has become a near-obsession; everything feels perfectly designed to encourage you to keep trying because that next run could be the run of your life. Even after hours of play, I still can’t overcome Balatro’s biggest challenge: putting it down.
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Feb 28, 2024Balatro is as good as Slay the Spire was. It's a roguelike deckbuilder, but beginning from a poker deck. The concept is both original and fun. Its modifier cards offer almost unlimited possibilities, making each run unique in its own way. Balatro gives you hours and hours of entertaining and we can just wait for new content in the future. One of the best games of the year so far.
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Feb 28, 2024Balatro is easily one of the freshest roguelites to come out in some time. By loosely applying the rules of poker to a deckbuilding format, developer LocalThunk has managed to forge something special.
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Feb 26, 2024Balatro is a brilliant take on the rogue lite genre. Video poker fans will be grinning ear to ear playing this truly terrific card game that is hard to put down.
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Feb 26, 2024Balatro is a poker-inspired roguelite that we cannot but recommend to lovers of the genre. Dense with content and challenges to complete, it has a dynamic gameplay, more strategic than you might think for a game also based on luck, and an aesthetically pleasing, if somewhat repetitive. Occasionally bad luck gets the better of you and you have to accept that, but it will make you want to play one more game.
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Feb 25, 2024A captivating rogue-like thanks to its simple, yet elegant design that will keep you hooked for days on end.
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Feb 25, 2024Balatro ends up straight and with merit in the strokes of genius category. The recipe from which its sexy gameplay is born is simple and elaborate at the same time, and this is precisely the great strength of an original, charismatic, challenging but also deeply customizable roguelike deckbuilder.
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Feb 23, 2024Balatro is fast and addictive, a game that takes familiar ideas and adds enough twists and turns to keep players engaged. Take a look at the Collection to see how many potential jokers, booster packs, tags, and more can influence a run. Each run generates a sense of excitement and possibility, even if it ends quickly after a run of bad card draws. And I love it when a strategy comes together, getting just the right cards to activate the strong multiplier to defeat a boss on the last hand. The feeling of achievement, even if luck is a big element in every run, is something that many games struggle to deliver. Balatro has a great rogue-lite concept executed with care and I plan to play at least one run a day for the foreseeable future.
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Feb 22, 2024Balatro is a masterfully crafted Roguelike card game, that's easy to learn thanks to its poker mechanics but hard to master.
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Edge MagazineFeb 22, 2024As Sid Meier once said, games are a series of interesting decisions. Well, Balatro has those in spades - and hearts, clubs and diamonds besides. [Issue#395, p.120]
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Feb 21, 2024It's easy to get a kick out of seeing how high the scores can get, but the game is as much about the gambles you take and the planning along the way. There's a deceptive simplicity to Balatro due to its roots in poker, and it uses that to its advantage to reel you in while regularly finding new ways to surprise you.
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Feb 19, 2024With its unlockable deck types, tricky economy, advanced joker concepts, challenge runs, and ascension-like “stake” system, Balatro offers countless hours to engage its treacherous machine of diversion. If this was preinstalled with Windows in lieu of Microsoft’s mandatory, productivity-wrecking Solitaire back in the 90s, modern civilization as we know it could have very well ground to a halt. For fans of deckbuilders, Balatro is an addictively delicious, menacing creation which devours hours without mercy. It should be handled with great care.
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Feb 19, 2024A roguelike deckbuilder debut already worthy of joining Slay the Spire and Monster Train at the King’s table. Essential.
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Feb 19, 2024No two games of Balatro are ever the same, which is only one of the reasons why we love this poker roguelike so much. Sure, it’s annoying if your run doesn’t get off the ground — it’s easy to fail early on if you can’t get your hands on a good Joker. But when you’re in the swing of things, scoring tens of thousands with just one hand, you’ll feel like the most powerful card baron there ever was. Simple and devious, Balatro is, quite frankly, brilliant — and I’m going to be playing this for months to come.
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Feb 19, 2024The wonderful and terrible thing about Balatro is that, unlike with other roguelikes, I never got frustrated getting bounced back to the start. I almost always felt like I’d had the slate wiped clean of the web of synergistic collectables governing my ill-fated moves and this time, I was sure to succeed. Especially as my efforts in the game unlocked new perks or decks I could use when jumping back in. The combination of simple drag-and-drop controls and a continuous flow of numbers-go-up dopamine hits is irresistible. You’ve been warned.
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Feb 19, 2024Wielding nothing more than a deck of cards and a poker-themed twist on proceedings, developer LocalThunk has conjured something incredible and awe-inspiring with Balatro. What starts as a relatively-novel twist on the deckbuilding format quickly blossoms into an experience that's equal parts methodical, experimental, chaotic but satisfying all the same. A game that rewards clever thinking, mathematical meddling and having the courage to be just that bit braver in uncovering just how far one can push its systems at play. Wherein success and failure alike stand as equally memorable moments to build off. A paradigm for what roguelikes and deckbuilders should aspire towards, Balatro is addictive, expertly-crafted and the new front-runner for what is easily the best gaming experience of 2024.
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| This publication has not posted a final review score yet. | |
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Feb 28, 2024Balatro will make you a card counter in a game where every card counts. Before you know it, you’ll be all in. Fans of deck-builders can’t afford to sleep on this one. Ante up. [Polygon Recommends]
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Feb 19, 2024Ultimately, Balatro is a game that delights in the art of making numbers go up - big, fast and on fire - by whatever means necessary. It reels you back in not to exploit psychological weakness, but to celebrate the inherent joy of learning, mastering and beating a system gamed around impossible odds, all while being just a teeny bit naughty in the process. It not only invites you to sit at the table, but openly hands you all manner of scalpels to tear into it, make it bleed, and gut it for everything it's worth - and it will smile and applaud you for it every step of the way. Balatro is very generous, in that sense, even when victories are seemingly few and far between. Indeed, the only way I ever felt cheated by Balatro is when I had to stop playing and not spend more time playing Balatro. [RPS Bestest Bests]
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Feb 27, 2024A successful roguelike asks the player to balance strategy, risk and reward, and a bit of luck. It feels early to induct Balatro into the genre’s hall of fame, alongside the likes of Spire, Hades, Into the Breach, and Spelunky. (I would also add the very underrated Slice & Dice to that pantheon.) The gauge tends to be how long people play it and what depth that sustained repetition reveals over time. But if I had to make an early bet, I think Balatro goes the distance. Over the weekend, I finished my first run. Then I did it again — four more times.
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