Hello ladies, gentlemen and those of a non-binary nature, my name is Daibhi and this is the Gamerhub community. Balatro is one of those games that was slept on by the general public, but did amazingly well with the gaming community. So much so that it won the 2024 Golden Joystick Awards for both the Best Indie Game and the Best Mobile Games, and there’s a lot of reasons why. Developed by LocalThunk, an anonymous Canadian developer, this roguelike took the gaming scene by storm. I have to admit that between my workload and health issues, this game got sadly overlooked until recently by myself. So, armed with too much time stuck in bed and my trusty Nintendo Switch, I sunk nearly 48 hours into it.
Development
LocalThunk is an anonymous solo developer based in Saskatchewan, Canada. According to an interview with Rogueliker, he plays a lot of games online competitively and “ponders more on roguelike games” than he does playing them. By his account in the same interview, he doesn’t play poker and doesn’t like casinos, which is a bit ironic when you consider that this game is a roguelike poker game. He started developing Balatro in 2021, and was initially supposed to be a roguelike based on Big Two, a poker-style game commonly played in Hong Kong. After seeing the surge in popularity for deckbuilder roguelikes on the gaming scene, he changed the concept to what we have today with one caveat- no online play.
The game was initially released in demo form in 2023, but was quickly pulled, modified and released as a full game in 2024, with it being able to played on the Xbox family consoles, PlayStations 4 and 5, Windows, MacOS and the Nintendo Switch. A few months later, mobile gamers got to have a go too, and this addictive roguelike became a household name for indie gamers worldwide.
The last thing I’ll say about the development of this game is that Fangamer, an American gaming merch maker and publisher, are making a physical version of this game to be released at some point in 2025, and with the help of The Thistle in Aberdeen, I will of course review this with plenty of pictures so you all can have a look yourselves and see whether this would suit you more.
Gameplay
Unlike real-life games of Poker, I’m actually pretty danged good at this game, albeit that came through many hours of trial, errors and turning the air cerulean at points. A game has to be phenomenally good to keep me entertained long after the allotted time for review. Just like Flea by Lowtek Games, this game caught my attention from hour one and never let up, and this is due to the spectacular gameplay. Let me explain.
This game requires you to create poker hands to create points, and then each round, the points target increases. Every three rounds, there is a boss round with a debuff, and if you beat that, the ante increases. So far, so reasonable. Where this gameplay really works is when it comes to the modifications to your run. You have multiple additions which can either help or hinder your run.
Firstly, there’s the shop. Every successful round earns you dollars, which you can spend on different items. You can choose not to spend any in order to risk getting better items in the next shop, but this isn’t a given, and it really depends on how much of a risk taker you are. To paraphrase the Kenny Rogers song, you’ve got to know when to hold your dollars.
Then there are the vouchers. They might seem like they cost a lot (and they do) but these can genuinely help your run. Be it missing out on a boss round to aid your run, or increasing the amount of discards (and we’ll get to that) or simply making your money stretch further, there is a lot of use for these, if you’re the sort who thinks tactically. In my first few attempts at a successful run, I ignored these things. It was admittedly a very big mistake. A few hours later, I’d learned to use these properly, and completed my first run with the first four colours of decks.
There are Tarot cards to contend with. Tarot Cards (and their bigger brothers called Spectral cards) change your deck or circumstances. Whilst Tarot cards almost always are positive changes for your deck and run, Spectral cards in Balatro are a bit of a monkey’s paw. What that means is that the Spectral card might give you a real advantage, but it comes at a cost, one which you might not be so thankful that you paid for. I’d advise any new Balatro player to use these wisely, and really think about how to use these.
Planet cards are possibly my favourite thing in this game. Well, apart from the last element I’ll mention in this section. Each type of hand, from High Card to Royal Flush has a different score and multiplier. Each planet card allows you to upgrade one of those hands, so if you’re a player who prefers to discard cards until you get a flush, you’ll want the associated planet card. If you’re like me, and you aim for getting straight after straight to make your runs, you’ll want to buy up as many Saturn planet cards as available.
Finally, there are the titular Jokers. For the monoglots among us, Balatro is a word used in Spain to mean Joker. These Joker cards really do change you gameplay. From adding credits to certain hands, to increasing your multipliers, to even allowing you to go $20 in debt in order to obtain more jokers. You can only have 5 on the regular, so please be mindful of how and when you use them, but this really does help you steam roll your way through the earlier rounds, and they become vital as you head towards the final round.
Graphics
This game isn’t going to win awards in regards to graphics, but it doesn’t need to. The art style is perfectly suited for what it is. Not everything needs to be in 4k and photorealistic. The artwork here is brilliant for what it is, and I adore it. The retro feel for it matches the soundtrack, and seeing tributes to other games with card designs is just the tip of the iceberg. Once you’ve unlocked all the jokers and the vouchers, take a moment to admire the artwork involved in this game. Considering the game’s design, the level of detail included here is amazing. I really loved the most recent update (Feb 24th 2025) which added Vault Boy from the Fallout franchise, as this is what got my significant other interested.
Final thoughts
This game is seriously addictive if, like me, you just want to complete the game and unlock everything. I will warn you though, this game will take over your life in ways you won’t expect. You might have something in the cooker and 20 minutes to kill, and find yourself getting lost in the world of Balatro. This happened to me more frequently than I’d like to admit. A good example of this one was that I found myself starting to play this game at 11pm, shortly before bed, and I ended up putting the game down at half past 3am. Even when you have successfully disconnected from it, as you’ve moved onto another game (like me), you’ll find yourself going back for what will only seem like 15 minutes. You’ll then check your watch or your phone and have a shock when you realise it’s suddenly 2 hours later.
One more thing…
Also, this game review would not have been possible without the help of a pub nearby to where I reside. It bears mentioning because the guys at The Bobbin in Aberdeen made me feel really welcome and serve amazing food. But more that that, they’ve created a safe place for Gamers to chill, play old GameCube Games and allowed yours truly to work his arse off whilst providing amazing food at a great price. For their help and also their food and drink, they deserve a huge thanks from me. So, if you’re in Aberdeen and you fancy some good, reasonably priced food and gaming in a fun and safe environment, head to their venue on King Street. From the bottom of my controller-shaped heart, folks, thank you.
I give this game a Joystick Rating of 4.7 /5 Joysticks
For the Gamerhub, I’ve been Daibhi and you are all legends.
If you’re gonna play the game, Gotta learn how to play it right.
