Must Play
Balatro is a deck-building roguelite where you must play poker hands and earn chips to defeat enemy blinds. Enhance your deck of playing cards, buy Jokers to modify each hand you play, and discover new and wild synergies to win!
Platforms
Android iOS Mac Switch PC PS4 PS5 XONE Series X|SGenres
Card & Board Game Indie StrategyLanguages: English and 11 more
| Interface | Audio | Subtitles | |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | |||
| French | |||
| Japanese | |||
| Portuguese (Brazil) | |||
| Chinese (Simplified) | |||
| Chinese (Traditional) | |||
| Italian | |||
| Spanish (Spain) | |||
| Dutch | |||
| Polish | |||
| Spanish (Mexico) | |||
| Korean |
Critic Reviews
By Darren Andrew
Balatro’s biggest problem is that it doesn’t have an overarching plot as to why you are playing cards, which doesn’t seem like a requirement for traditional card games, but for a roguelike deck builder, a little story seems like a necessity. The good news is that this is an easy enough deficit to look past due to how addictive and satisfying the gameplay loop is. Developed by only one person, Balatro is about 15 bucks and works around your schedule. If you have 20 minutes, you can play a few hands. If you have a free day and lots to do, Balatro can also ruin that for you. At the end of the year, Balatro might turn out to be the best deck-building game of 2024, but no matter what, it’s definitely going to be the best use 64mb of hard drive space
- 19 Nov, 2024
By Jonathan Leo
Balatro is a triumph in simple-yet-airtight game design, combining the old-schoolness of poker & card shark mechanics with the new roguelike and deck-building-to-perfection loop that leads to an addictive time.
- 26 Sep, 2024
By Cody Medellin
Balatro 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.
- 01 Jul, 2024
By Moiz Banoori
The constantly challenging nature of Balatro makes it an unforgettable experience and a delight for Poker enthusiasts.
- 16 Apr, 2024
By Kieron Verbrugge
Balatro is one of those deceptively-approachable ideas that will absolutely consume you the more you start to puzzle out its secrets and intricacies. It somehow makes playing the same game over and over feel completely fresh in possibility each time, and doles out just enough new ideas and just the right amount of intoxicating feedback to keep you thinking "one more game" well into the AM.
- 17 Mar, 2024
