Balatro is a Good Game everyone should play [GG #7] - Plus, GG is rebooting...
Balatro is a Good Game everyone should play [GG #7] - Plus, GG is rebooting...
Switching it off, turning it back on again
The GG series highlights Good Games everyone should play at least once, with links to the cheapest deals and fantastic writing. Scroll down to the bottom for a list of previous GG posts — and if you enjoy these, considering sharing them with a friend. You can subscribe here.
To put it lightly: It’s been a while.
Between a new job and other boring bits, I just haven’t had the time to send these regularly. But that changes, starting today.
Hopefully.
I’ll be writing these posts shorter, tighter, and with fewer elements.
I’ll highlight a single game, explain (briefly) why it’s good, link out to some excellent writing, and tell you how to buy it cheap.
Sound good?
I’m aiming for at least two of these posts per week. Before long, this site will be flush with game recommendations.
Now let’s get straight on with it.
(sorry…)
Balatro (2024, PC, PS5, Xbox, Switch) is a poker game that’s not really about poker.
It’s about building absurd card combos and amassing so many points that the score counter literally breaks.
Poker is the skeleton — you score points for royal flushes, pairs, and so on — but the cards that really matter are the jokers (back in Ancient Rome a Balatro was a professional jester or buffoon, so says Wikipedia).
Each “run” of Balatro — for it is a game you play over and over again — throws up different jokers.
These jokers transform how you play. One multiplies your score when you play a club; one reduces the number of cards you need in a straight from 5 to 4; one retriggers every face card you play (King, Queen, Jack, etc); another gives you a bonus for playing the same poker hand repeatedly.
Winning Balatro is about spotting ways to combine jokers early, tailoring your deck to that strategy, and then savouring the satisfaction of watching big numbers get bigger as your screen explodes with colour.
I repeat: this is really really not about poker, so if you don’t know your straights from your full house, fear not. Balatro is accessible, addictive, enormous fun and a must-play if you like deck-builders.
I’d be surprised if it misses many game of the year shortlists come December.
Is it your game of the year so far? Leave a comment.
It’s cheap, too:: £12.80/$15 on all platforms.
At time of writing, it’s 20% off in the Playstation Store and 10% off at Green Man Gaming.
Don’t just take my word for it…
Read Katharine Castle’s review for Rock, Paper, Shotgun (“only fools would sleep on this moreish poker roguelike”)
And then read this rather astonishing PC Gamer interview with the creator: 'Balatro is the first deckbuilder I ever played,' says developer who singlehandedly made Balatro
Cheers — and subscribe for more!
Previous GG posts
GG #1: Hades (2020, PC, Switch)
GG #2: Dishonored 2 (2016, PC, Xbox One, PS4)
GG #3: The Witness (2016, PS4, Xbox One, PC, mobiles)
GG #4: Amnesia: The Dark Descent (2010, PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch)
GG #5: Disco Elysium (2019, PC, Switch)
GG #6: Into the Breach (2018, PC, Switch, mobiles)