Release Date: February 20, 2024
A roguelike card game loosely based on the poker rules. Balatro has us participate in solo card duels, gradually unlocking new card decks and joker cards with unique abilities and effects. The game offers a story campaign, as well as various single challenges.
Balatro is a card game with roguelike elements, loosely based on the poker rules. The game was developed by the independent studio LocalThunk, and its release was handled by Playstack.
The main attraction of Balatro are card games, during which we play cards and build an increasingly powerful deck, as well as collect tokens and use them to place bets before subsequent duels on the table.
Although the game was based on the rules of poker, the authors tried to introduce a number of their own changes, which significantly influence the course of the game. Allowed poker hands (card arrangements) can be combined with various jokers, each of which has unique properties and abilities. In addition to them, we have been given a variety of decks at our disposal, including standard cards, tarot cards (strengthening the former), planet cards (strengthening poker hands), astral cards, and coupon cards (which provide us with access to permanent upgrades).
By using them and relying on various moves, we create diverse, sometimes powerful card combinations that allow us to win subsequent duels. The game requires to build a deck in such a way that individual cards complement each other.
Throughout the course of the games, we unlock new elements of the deck, and also discover various secrets, which over time increase our chances of winning in each hand. An additional source of information about which hands and jokers we should use more often and which should be avoided are detailed statistics.
Balatro only allows you to play solo. The game offers a story campaign with eight levels of difficulty, as well as single, daily challenges and set approaches.
The graphic design of the Balatro game was made in the pixel art technique. The game is accompanied by a synthwave soundtrack.
Platforms:
PC Windows February 20, 2024
PlayStation 4 February 20, 2024
Xbox One February 20, 2024
Android September 26, 2024
Apple iOS September 26, 2024
Nintendo Switch February 20, 2024
PlayStation 5 February 20, 2024
Xbox Series X/S February 20, 2024
Developer: LocalThunk
Publisher: PlayStack
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System Requirements for Balatro Video Game:
PC / Windows
Minimum System Requirements:
Intel Core i3, 1 GB RAM, graphic card Intel HD or better, 50 MB HDD, Windows 7/8/10/11 64-bit.
Game Ratings for Balatro Video Game.
Game is Recomended by 100% of Critics. There are 57 Critic Reviews.
Screen Rant: 5 / 5 by Leo Faierman
With 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.
Shacknews: 9 / 10 by TJ Denzer
I 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?).
VGC: 5 / 5 by Jordan Middler
Balatro 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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