I’ve really been enjoying roguelikes over the past few years. I’m even writing a piece on why I think Dead Cells is still the best in the genre! However, Balatro is something else entirely……
The amount of card-based roguelites I’ve been playing recently can’t be ignored (Fights in Tight Spaces, Slay the Spire, Monster Train and Knock on the Coffin Lid, to name a few!). It’s given me a taste for card-based combat, for sure.
But……Balatro is not your typical deck-building roguelike. It forgoes the usual combat-focused gameplay and intricate storylines found in genre staples like Slay the Spire or Hades, opting instead for a unique experience centred entirely around the strategic manipulation of poker hands.
Yep, you read that right. Poker roguelike. It doesn’t sound great on paper, but I think it might be the best game released in 2024 (the same year as Shadow of the Erdtree!!).

Balatro Mechanics
At its core, Balatro is about building a deck of cards and using them to create the best possible poker hands across a series of rounds.
The twist lies in the roguelike elements: each run is unique, with randomized card offerings, challenges, and encounters. The game cleverly introduces “modifiers” that tweak the traditional poker rules, leading to unexpected combos and strategic depth.
Jokers, Celestial cards and Tarot cards are crucial. Upping the multipliers of hands, changing the core rules of poker to work in your favour. Being able to make a straight out of 4 cards, discarding your hand to earn money in between rounds. You name it, Balatro maintains the rules but bends them to breaking point.

The good
Balatro is a deck-builder of sorts, but an entire deck of playing cards, that you can chop and change and go well beyond 52 to play from. Add-in the depth of strategy, which has to be made on the fly, because you can’t guarantee anything once you start a new run.
You’re out there planning to play pairs and face cards, but nothing comes up early game to help that work. Strategy and quick thinking to create a plan and style on the go, is what makes Balatro so addictive. You think you’ve found the perfect set of Jokers and buffs, but you can’t replicate it with any kind of consistency on a run by run basis. When you make something new that works, you feel like e genius.
Add to the joys of this game with the pixel art style and the somehow-never-annoying background music and you’re very quickly swept-up into the world of Balatro. Charming and fun but deep and tactical.

The not-so-good
Honestly, picking fault in Balatro is tough. However, there are always areas to improve a little, right?!
The only real thing that I’d like to see more variety in, is the bosses. Yes, you have boss battles. The game goes small blind, big blind, boss. I like the regularity, because you can test your build up to that point. But the variety of bosses is lacking.
You can play run after run and never draw the same cards and buffs. But you can hit the same bosses frequently. It’s a shame, because it feels like the only area that isn’t quite so fleshed-out.
I’ve seen people complain that there’s no narrative to get stuck into. Who the hell needs narrative to play poker?! Get out of it.

Overall
I feel like I can’t accurately write about the nuance of a run in Balatro. That’s a shortcoming of mine, no doubt, but it’s arguably a mark of the unique experience every run in Balatro can be.
Balatro is a masterfully crafted roguelike that successfully blends familiar card game mechanics with innovative twists and strategic depth. Its addictive gameplay loop, high replayability, and accessible design make it a must-play for fans of the genre and anyone looking for a unique and engaging card game experience.
An exceptional gem in the genre that would have broader appeal than most due to being built on the core rules of Poker.
Balatro is special, yet at first glance, and perhaps on-paper isn’t exciting. Give it a go, I promise it’s one of the best games in 2024, by a long shot.
