Where it Shines:
Gameplay Loop - 9/10
Addictive - 9/10

The Good:
Balatro was obviously a super popular game this year, and for the most part, it lived up to the hype. The gameplay loop is satisfying, addictive, and it's the "just one more run..." game, most definitely. There's tons to unlock, from modifiers, to decks, to cards, etc. There's a lot of cool synergies and combos you can go for.

The Bad:
Well, the game can just be flat out way too RNG heavy at times. I've often restarted opening runs 5 or 6 times just because the blind skips at the beginning sucked. If the game is gonna be so heavily reliant on how you make your deck, and the opening choices are gonna matter that much, you should just let us choose some modifiers to start the run like Neow in StS.
There are also just so many cards and jokers and other junk in the game that are just flat out garbage and are run killers. Essentially, if you don't get the most broken cards in the game, or aren't lucky enough to get the right cards for your deck, runs are just a waste. It can be incredibly frustrating when the run doesn't click.

Summary:
The game is still a good game, I do recommend it for rogue like lovers, deckbuilder lovers, and poker lovers. Since the last update, some of the difficulty has been reduced and the game feels a lot better. However, it still suffers from the stuff I mentioned above, and could really use a sandbox mode.


Note on my ratings:

Treat my stars like Michelin Stars - just having one means the game is worth playing in some way.

1/2 ⭐: hot trash garbage, since you can't do zero stars here
⭐: below average, needs work
⭐⭐: average
⭐⭐⭐: pretty good
⭐⭐⭐⭐: excellent
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: all time favourite