5 Reasons You Should Play Balatro Now

2024 is already a spectacular year for games, with high-profile titles like Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Helldivers 2 receiving praise from fans and critics alike. However, 2024’s secret best title is Balatro, a deckbuilding roguelike from developer LocalThunk ($14.99 on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, Mac, and PC). If you’re not hip to Balatro, we’re here to show you why it’s already one of our favorite games of the year.

(Credit: LocalThunk)

1. It Hooks You In With Poker

At its core, Balatro is about playing poker. You start with a standard deck, get dealt seven cards, and make a hand. Of course, some hands are better than others. A straight nets more points (or “chips,” as the game calls them) than a pair. Each round tasks you with playing hands good enough to pass a chip threshold.

However, antes are different, consisting of three rounds: a Small Blind, a Big Blind, and a Boss. The Boss round not only has a higher chip threshold, but also a special rule. Some don’t let you score points from a specific suit, and others restrict you to only playing one hand. Overall, Balatro has just enough poker to make it an easy-to-pick-up title. But then it gets wild.

(Credit: LocalThunk)

2. It Lets You Break Poker’s Mechanics

You’d quickly tire of Balatro if it were just about playing poker. However, it cleverly introduces layers upon layers of complexity as you go. The biggest addition? Between rounds, you use earned, in-game money to buy new cards.

Jokers are the most noticeable change to the familiar formula. You can have up to five of them, and each one has a special effect. For example, Odd Todd gives you 30 extra chips for every odd-numbered card you play. Ride The Bus multiplies your score until you play a face card (then resetting to nothing). Then there are tarot cards, single-use consumables with effects that include changing a card’s suit or increasing your money. Some jokers interact with tarot cards, increasing in power as they’re played.

Finally, you can add and change cards in your deck, creating what would normally be impossible hands. Shuffle an extra king into your deck and suddenly you can play a five-of-a-kind. Change those kings’ suits to diamonds and you can play a “five flush.” You can modify cards in various ways, too. For example, you can turn a regular card into a foil card that rewards you with extra chips. Combining these many options lets you create powerful hands that devastate your opponent.

(Credit: LocalThunk)

3. It Makes You Think More Than the Average Roguelike

One issue with many roguelike games is that they rely on randomness to make them replayable. The result? Each run feels the same. Although Balatro randomly draws cards, it gives you enough strategic control using the jokers, deck manipulation, and other options to make each session feel fresh.

Plus, Balatro has exponential escalation, so you can’t stick with the same strategy from the early game to the end game. That forced adaptation makes you take risks, creating inflection points where each choice truly affects whether you win or lose.

A successful Balatro run writes its own story in the interactions between the cards you play, without a drop of lore or a single cutscene. It’s a magical experience.

(Credit: LocalThunk)

4. It Has Undeniable Mainstream Appeal

Aesthetically, many deckbuilding games appeal to a hard-core audience. I love the lore-filled fantasy world that Slay the Spire evokes with its goofy encounters and mysterious characters, but it could be easily confused with Magic: The Gathering and other stereotypical nerd entertainment. It’s a hurdle to overcome if you’re not already a fantasy or sci-fi fan.

Balatro’s poker-based gameplay leverages the cards, suits, and terminology associated with Las Vegas high rollers, bringing them into the digital space (while creating something unique and new). By sticking close to elements that people know, like the near-universal visual language of playing cards, Balatro crosses over into a broader audience in a way that the typical deckbuilding video game cannot.

Why You Should Game on a PC

5. It’s Only Going to Get Better

Balatro is a highly playable and finished product, one that offers hours of engaging playtime as you conquer its multiple decks, stakes, and challenges. Still, like other successful deckbuilding titles, Balatro will see content drops to keep you engaged.

In an interview with XboxEra, developer LocalThunk stated that “there is a lot more design to explore within Balatro,” and that it’s experimenting with new cards and ideas. One thing’s for certain: LocalThunk tested Uno-style Reverse and Skip cards, but trademark issues stifled that. Hopefully, some form of that works its way into a future build.

The next few months will see the release of many excellent video games worthy of Game of the Year discussion. Don’t be shocked if Balatro has the winning hand when awards season comes around.