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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nSteam store<\/a> \u2013 Official website<\/a> \u2013 Wikipedia page<\/a><\/p>\n Sometimes, it\u2019s the simple games that entertain me for hours. Who thought that a new spin on playing Poker could be so refreshing? It even wins several awards at the game awards 2024<\/a>. Now, my good streaming buddy Klamath bought me this game for my birthday. I decided to give it a go, and I was surprised. In this article, I want to share my honest first impression. I will also discuss what I like about this game. Additionally, I will mention what I don\u2019t like about the game. I have played Balatro on my PC. But, if this game looks interesting to you, feel free to discover it on other platforms like mobile and consoles. Before I dive into this card game, please leave a comment with your thoughts. Share your opinions on this game or the content of this article.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The good<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The visual presentation and style of this game is something that blew me away. Visually, this game looks amazing. The subtle animations of the cards, the way the UI hints pop up, the little hints on the planet cards\u2026<\/p>\n The UI offers something nice during boss fights. It gives you hints when a hand isn\u2019t going to score. But there are other little things in this game that are just fun. Like, you can click and drag the bind chip while you are thinking of a next move.<\/p>\n The gist of this game is quite simple. You have to play poker hands from the cards that you are given. You don\u2019t always have to play 5 cards, in case you want to keep a certain card. Each ante has 3 rounds. A small and big blind and a boss fight. Each time, the goal of chips you need to earn raises. In between each blind, you earn money. This money, you can use to buy from a shop where a few joker or other special cards are offered. <\/p>\n These cards add multipliers to certain hands. This is a list of examples:<\/p>\n Some of these Joker cards can be a lifesaver. Especially the free chips ones. Others, force you into a certain playstyle. Each time you hit the shop, it\u2019s a difficult decision. Should I continue with this set of Jokers, or should I replace one? You only have 5 slots. Changing one out might increase your points just enough to survive another round.<\/p>\n This game is the perfect blend of strategy and luck. You need to get lucky with the cards and not use up all your discards quickly. Since, you don\u2019t get them back easily. The rougelite elements in this game give the usual poker game should a fresh spin. How far do you get with all the jokers and how high will you score? Since, it doesn\u2019t matter if you survive a round just barely. Survival is survival, and maybe then you can buy a new joker card that elevates your run.<\/p>\n You restart with zero points and new hand and full deck each round anyway. Or you can gamble it all and skip a round for an interesting bonus. And if you loose, you reset to the start of the game for a whole clean run. Once this game clicked, it became the perfect \u201cone more run\u201d game. Betting with myself how far I would get this time.<\/p>\n This game is quite responsive. In terms of controls, this game is quite easy to control. The UI is perfect as well. I\u2019m also glad that there are various accessibility options in the game. Things like reduced motion and high contrast cards are important. The more people can play the game, the better.<\/p>\n The save system is easy to use. You can just exit the game and restart from where you left off with ease. Also, there are three player profiles. You can also name the profiles, so you easily know which profile is which. Not to mention, you can unlock everything, but then you won\u2019t be able to go for those sweet Steam achievements.<\/p>\n The bad<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n If you are unfamiliar with the rules of poker, you might be in trouble. Thankfully, the valid poker hands don\u2019t take a long time to learn. You also have the \u201crun info\u201d button to help you. In game, you don\u2019t get too many lessons on making valid poker hands, so keep that in mind. <\/p>\n Now, this is a difficult one to write. While the music in this game is amazing, the track variety is something of a mixed bag. Some of the tracks use the same sound font and melody. Sometimes, I don\u2019t recognize that the pitch and instruments had changed. Don\u2019t get me wrong, the soundtrack in this game is pretty good, but more variety would have been welcome. A few more ambient tracks would do the trick. Now, this is a major nitpick. To be honest, it only bothered me when I started to pay attention to it.<\/p>\n The small tutorial at the start of your first game is extremely helpful at explaining things. Yet, some information will be only told once in that tutorial. So, if you put the game down for a while and don\u2019t remember everything\u2026 You have no real way to re-read the rules. Thankfully, most (if not all) concepts in this game aren\u2019t hard to grasp. But a small refresher like having the option to replay the tutorial wouldn\u2019t hurt.<\/p>\n If I may give an extreme nitpick, I think it will be this. In this game, you can modify the picture cards with references to different games. Now, this is per suit and each suit has a different set of games. I wish this was a fleshed out a bit further. Like, I love the art for Cult of the Lamb<\/a> and Slay the Princess. But only having those face cards in one suit be changed, it didn\u2019t scratch the itch enough for me. Maybe using smaller images on the number cards of the suit would make it even more enjoyable. Then again, how could you do this? It would require massive development time and designing a whole card deck per reference. So, I can totally see why the developers made this choice.<\/p>\n The conclusion<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n In the end, Balatro<\/em> is a fantastic blend of strategy. It has elements of luck and engaging roguelite mechanics. These features keep me coming back for \u201cjust one more run.\u201d Its polished visuals, clever gameplay twists, and thoughtful accessibility options make it a standout experience. The game has a few minor drawbacks. These include the limited tutorial recall, the music\u2019s slight repetitiveness, and the poker learning curve. Despite these, the issues don\u2019t overshadow the sheer enjoyment this game offers. If you want a new take on poker, try Balatro. It challenges your planning skills and keeps the stakes high.<\/p>\n I\u2019m happy that Klamath gave me this game for my birthday. It took me quite the while to actually give this game a shot, but I\u2019m happy that I did. I can easily play this game during short downtimes. It\u2019s easy to pick up and play. I also think that this game might be even more fun on a tablet or on the go. During long play times, it can become repetitive. However, this is oh, so fun in short bursts. It\u2019s also exciting if you are able to string together a long combo or run.<\/p>\n I want to congratulate the team behind this game. LocalThunk and Playstack, you made an awesome card game. It has a unique spin that makes me come back for more. The praise and awards are totally deserved. I am eager to delve deeper into the game. I am excited to discover what else some jokers I haven\u2019t discovered yet may have in store for me.<\/p>\n And with that, I want to thank you all for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to welcome you in a future article. Until then, have a great rest of your day and take care.<\/p>\n Score: 95\/100<\/p>\n \t\t\t<\/div>\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/arpegi.wordpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250302154228_1.jpg?w=1024\")
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