A rogue-lite game is a style of video game that is traditionally characterized by a dungeon crawl through generated levels with randomly generated opponents and weapons to help make it to the end and beat the final boss. If the player loses at any point during the run, it will result in a perma-death and the character must restart from the beginning.
“Balatro” is a rogue-lite game that derives from poker and a deck of cards, trying to build strong hands and play them for points to defeat each blind or level. There are three blinds in a stage, with each blind having a small level, a large level, and a boss that gradually gets harder and harder over the full eight stages to win. I discovered this game a few months ago and have managed to spend over 200 hours playing and learning strategies to win each run. I can definitively say that I love this new, inventive card game, and it deserves all of the praise it has received.
“Balatro” is a revolutionary game involving scoring high hands and getting tons of points. The game calculates the number of chips scored times the amount of multiplier, which can vary based on the type of hand played. The player is dealt eight cards and can select up to five to either discard to get new cards or play them to score whatever the highest combination was in the hand played. To increase either chip count or multipliers, the player can buy randomly generated joker, celestial, tarot, spectral, and standard cards in the shop with money earned each round.
The jokers are where the game gets most interesting. I love the joker system because there are 150 jokers that you randomly find and can buy, with each joker having a specific property. It’s fun, intuitive, and gives this game a unique feel that no other game has come close to accomplishing to the extent that Balatro has.
“Balatro” has a total of five different types of card packs to purchase in the shop. Each pack gives multiple cards to choose from and the player may only pick one or two based on the kind of pack: celestial card packs give a planet card that upgrades individual hands, Arcana packs give tarot cards that give a minor buffs to the overall deck and cards, Buffoon packs give joker cards that give permanent buffs as long as you have it equipped in one of the five available slots, Standard packs give cards with a randomized suit, number, and potentially a buff to choose from (this is where normally impossible hands become real, like a flush five), and finally you can purchase a Spectral pack which contains cards that give playing cards and decks major buffs.
This sounds like a lot to consider and remember, however, if the player hovers their cursor over the specific pack, a description pops up of what may be inside. Each specific card has a summary, in fact, every single card in the game, including the 106 buff cards, has a description to view at any given time from either hovering the mouse or viewing the collection page in the menu.
As someone who has never played poker before, I was extremely hesitant to buy this game at all, especially when considering all of the intricacies of the game. Luckily, there is no need for any previous experience in poker to enjoy “Balatro” or understand how it works. The only real relation to poker is the hands that can be played, including a high card, pair, two pair, three of a kind, straight, flush, four of a kind, straight flush, royal flush, five of a kind, flush house, and flush five. All of these hands can be viewed with the click of a button that brings up all of the hands possible so far, making this friendly for people new to cards and poker.
I absolutely love the variety of cards that can greatly affect the way a run goes. If you enter the shop for the first time in a run and see a celestial pack, you may want to prioritize a certain hand for the rest of the run, or if you find a joker you like, you may need to orient the run based on the properties of that joker.
“Balatro” has so many buffs and perks that can be added to each and every run and it makes every single time feel fresh and unique. I have never played a game for so many hours on end for so long and not gotten bored. I still play the game every day I can and try to defeat each boss as it comes. I am so happy this game has received the praise it has, as it is one of a kind. “Balatro” is an outstanding game that is absolutely worthy of the game of the year and has a special place in my heart.
