When it comes to a game like Balatro, it’s difficult to determine a time in which you’re sufficiently capable of compiling your thoughts in a succinct manner. The Rogue-Like genre as a whole is prone to this nebulous sense of completion. Have you beaten the game only after completing a single run? Do you need to have unlocked everything to satisfy the urge of completion? Or perhaps it’s a matter of overcoming the game’s most brutal difficulty, surmounting that most unrelenting of challenges, scraping just over the edge and breathing a hard-earned sigh of relief now that there are no more worlds left to conquer. Ultimately, I suppose, the end point is just whenever you’ve felt the experience has been sufficiently exhausted, and you feel good walking away from the game more than satisfied with the time you’ve put in. I guess that’s primarily been the reason why I’ve delayed in chronicling my thoughts on Balatro—I simply cannot stop playing this game. Is it ironic or appropriate that the best word I can find to describe this poker-inspired deck-builder is “addicting?” Both I suppose, but the immaculate design behind its inspiration is even more pronounced when you consider how it utilizes the aesthetics and familiarity of the casino favorite, all while eschewing the pretense of gambling in favor of strategy and chance.
The lightning-in-a-bottle conceit of adapting the well-worn rules of poker as a baseline for your exponentially-evolving game is the simplistic sort of genius that rarely comes around, and makes everyone else immediately question why they didn’t think of it first. There’s a cool coziness the atmosphere of the game hones in on, invoking a kind of ethereal setting somewhere between time and space. The endlessly droning soundtrack and hypnotically psychedelic backdrops, obfuscated by the omnipresent filter of the game’s aesthetic CRT scan lines, pair well with the overt lack of objective the game possesses, compelling you to continue playing Blind after Blind in what can only be compared to the seductive prison the Eagles first imagined in Hotel California. Likewise, the intricate pixel art of the playing cards (as well as the score-manipulating Tarot, Joker, and Planet Cards central to the game’s overriding mechanics) are equally bewitching in their appeal. They very conscientiously capitalize on the compulsive nature of collectable trading cards, appearing primarily in packs you buy from the shop visited between each Blind, and purchased with the winnings you earn from successfully overcoming these ever-increasing challenges.
Those unfamiliar or otherwise intimidated by the poker proxy premise of Balatro should fear not, though, as the intuitive simplicity of the base mechanics are picked up easily, most especially thanks to the informative UI which remains ever-present while playing. The developer of the game was so kind as to include a succinct explanation accompanying every card in the game, detailing precisely how it affects cards played in easy to understand, and even color-coded, language. Additionally, the base point value for all the various hand types you can play are laid out and constantly available for reference, as is the remaining number of cards in your deck, conveniently displayed with the corresponding ranks and suits to boot. At all times, all the information you need to strategically assemble your highest scoring hand is made available to you, excepting the actual projected total score your hand will play. That information is reserved until you commit to playing the hand itself, building up a glorious sense of anticipation as to whether your napkin calculations were good enough to see you through to the next round. Each card played fires off one at a time, crescendoing their escalation into the same stratospheric projections each Blind balks at you with. The various jokers synergize with one another, each picked for their particular effectiveness at boosting the specific hand type you’ve chosen to play. The more stacked in your favor, the better your odds at matching the house.
The challenge doesn’t cease with just the increasing score requirements either. Each level (or “ante,” as the game flavors it) culminates with a required Boss Blind to defeat, each applying some unique handicap you need to keep in mind when shaping your deck. If you’re relying primarily on high value face cards to attain your high scores, alongside synergistic jokers to further boost those cards, you’re going to struggle against The Plant, who debuffs every face card in your deck for that round. If you’re relying solely on one hand type to accrue all your points you’ll need a plan in case you encounter The Eye, which won’t score the same hand type twice. Sometimes all it takes is an exceedingly large Blind to block your progress, operating as a check if you’re not scaling your deck proficiently between Blinds. The grind of the game therefore becomes one of self improvement, provoking you to learn the game better as you go along, recognizing more and more which jokers and card enhancements are going to push you towards a win, and which are likely to disrupt the strategy you’ve been cultivating so far. As with other games of the genre, no two runs are the same, and even though certain builds are clearly stronger than others, you need to be flexible in your play and willing to lean into whatever strategies the cards you’re given are most pliable to.
All this effusive prose may still be insufficient in communicating the miraculous allure of Balatro’s conception. Broad genre descriptions and colorful portrayals of aesthetic and atmosphere only go so far in conveying the intoxicating success of this seemingly simple title’s concoction. The simple presentation is an ingenious veil for a richly complex gameplay matrix, which returns on investment the engagement you want to put in. It’s equally rewarding for those looking to maximize their scoring efficiency through an ideal roster of multiplicative Jokers as it is for a casual player looking to throw out some hands as they melt into the transcendental ethos of the game’s immaculate vibe. Balatro takes on the addictive properties of poker and transforms them into a force for good. It strips away all the predatory elements of gambling and risk, and instead introduces agency and reward for the player, empowering them to capitalize on their earned knowledge of the game, while still supplying the euphoria that comes when all the stars align and luck be a lady. The thrill may eventually dissipate, but unlike other, similar games, I expect the relative quickness to start and proven mechanics of Balatro will make it appealing to pick up for just another quick run every now and then. That’s what I keep telling myself anyway, as another quarter of the clock falls away from the wall and into the endless vortex of green felt and shuffling cards—a veritable cosmos of casino iconography, from which I am unable to pull away.
You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.
The lightning-in-a-bottle conceit of adapting the well-worn rules of poker as a baseline for your exponentially-evolving game is the simplistic sort of genius that rarely comes around, and makes everyone else immediately question why they didn’t think of it first. There’s a cool coziness the atmosphere of the game hones in on, invoking a kind of ethereal setting somewhere between time and space. The endlessly droning soundtrack and hypnotically psychedelic backdrops, obfuscated by the omnipresent filter of the game’s aesthetic CRT scan lines, pair well with the overt lack of objective the game possesses, compelling you to continue playing Blind after Blind in what can only be compared to the seductive prison the Eagles first imagined in Hotel California. Likewise, the intricate pixel art of the playing cards (as well as the score-manipulating Tarot, Joker, and Planet Cards central to the game’s overriding mechanics) are equally bewitching in their appeal. They very conscientiously capitalize on the compulsive nature of collectable trading cards, appearing primarily in packs you buy from the shop visited between each Blind, and purchased with the winnings you earn from successfully overcoming these ever-increasing challenges.
Those unfamiliar or otherwise intimidated by the poker proxy premise of Balatro should fear not, though, as the intuitive simplicity of the base mechanics are picked up easily, most especially thanks to the informative UI which remains ever-present while playing. The developer of the game was so kind as to include a succinct explanation accompanying every card in the game, detailing precisely how it affects cards played in easy to understand, and even color-coded, language. Additionally, the base point value for all the various hand types you can play are laid out and constantly available for reference, as is the remaining number of cards in your deck, conveniently displayed with the corresponding ranks and suits to boot. At all times, all the information you need to strategically assemble your highest scoring hand is made available to you, excepting the actual projected total score your hand will play. That information is reserved until you commit to playing the hand itself, building up a glorious sense of anticipation as to whether your napkin calculations were good enough to see you through to the next round. Each card played fires off one at a time, crescendoing their escalation into the same stratospheric projections each Blind balks at you with. The various jokers synergize with one another, each picked for their particular effectiveness at boosting the specific hand type you’ve chosen to play. The more stacked in your favor, the better your odds at matching the house.
The challenge doesn’t cease with just the increasing score requirements either. Each level (or “ante,” as the game flavors it) culminates with a required Boss Blind to defeat, each applying some unique handicap you need to keep in mind when shaping your deck. If you’re relying primarily on high value face cards to attain your high scores, alongside synergistic jokers to further boost those cards, you’re going to struggle against The Plant, who debuffs every face card in your deck for that round. If you’re relying solely on one hand type to accrue all your points you’ll need a plan in case you encounter The Eye, which won’t score the same hand type twice. Sometimes all it takes is an exceedingly large Blind to block your progress, operating as a check if you’re not scaling your deck proficiently between Blinds. The grind of the game therefore becomes one of self improvement, provoking you to learn the game better as you go along, recognizing more and more which jokers and card enhancements are going to push you towards a win, and which are likely to disrupt the strategy you’ve been cultivating so far. As with other games of the genre, no two runs are the same, and even though certain builds are clearly stronger than others, you need to be flexible in your play and willing to lean into whatever strategies the cards you’re given are most pliable to.
All this effusive prose may still be insufficient in communicating the miraculous allure of Balatro’s conception. Broad genre descriptions and colorful portrayals of aesthetic and atmosphere only go so far in conveying the intoxicating success of this seemingly simple title’s concoction. The simple presentation is an ingenious veil for a richly complex gameplay matrix, which returns on investment the engagement you want to put in. It’s equally rewarding for those looking to maximize their scoring efficiency through an ideal roster of multiplicative Jokers as it is for a casual player looking to throw out some hands as they melt into the transcendental ethos of the game’s immaculate vibe. Balatro takes on the addictive properties of poker and transforms them into a force for good. It strips away all the predatory elements of gambling and risk, and instead introduces agency and reward for the player, empowering them to capitalize on their earned knowledge of the game, while still supplying the euphoria that comes when all the stars align and luck be a lady. The thrill may eventually dissipate, but unlike other, similar games, I expect the relative quickness to start and proven mechanics of Balatro will make it appealing to pick up for just another quick run every now and then. That’s what I keep telling myself anyway, as another quarter of the clock falls away from the wall and into the endless vortex of green felt and shuffling cards—a veritable cosmos of casino iconography, from which I am unable to pull away.
You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.