Balatro review

pcgamer.com:

What is it? A roguelike deckbuilder where you cheat outrageously at poker.
Release date Feb 20, 2024
Expect to pay TBA
Developer LocalThunk
Publisher PlayStack
Reviewed on Asus ROG Ally
Steam Deck TBA
Link Official site

Imagine the rush of winning at a high-stakes poker table. Now imagine you’re winning because you’re cheating so blatantly that you might as well be drawing your own numbers on the cards. You put down a 2, then another 2, then three more 2’s, to make everyone’s favourite poker hand, 5 of a kind. This is a constant joy in Balatro, a roguelike deckbuilder that successfully scratches an itch to cheat in a casino that I never even knew I had.

You start off with a deck of 52 traditional playing cards. Each round, you draw eight cards and can play four hands to try to score enough chips to beat the dealer’s score. Each playable hand has a set score and multiplier—e.g. a pair gives 10 points and a x 2 multiplier. The value of the cards you played to make that hand is also applied. So a pair of 10’s would be 20 x 2 = 40 chips. Nice!

Deciding whether to settle for a weaker hand or burn through one of your precious discards is the first of many mini-gambles Balatro constantly forces you to make.

Hmmm, actually, considering the first dealer you face requires 300 chips to beat, you’re going to have to learn to play more ambitious hands quickly. Hands like three of a kind (x3 multiplier), four of a kind (x7 multiplier) and Royal Flush (er, let's aim a little lower for now). You get three opportunities to discard up to five cards and redraw in the hopes of building a superior hand. Deciding whether to settle for a weaker hand or burn through one of your precious discards is the first of many mini-gambles Balatro constantly forces you to make. Good, solid, slightly maths-heavy stuff, but it’s the first visit to the shop where Balatro starts truly showing its hand.

You can buy cards that level hands up. A High Card, with its pathetic x1 multiplier, is easily the