Balatro Review After 100 Hours
For some context, I’ve beaten Gold Stake (the highest difficulty) with one deck so far. I look forward to beating Gold Stake with more decks in the future.
The Theme of Balatro
Balatro is themed around a retro digital Poker aesthetic. You feel like you’re playing on an old television screen. The visuals and the sounds are amazing, and I find myself drawn in and trapped by this game’s aesthetic. I can’t understate how great the soundtrack is.
The Jokers in Balatro are the stars of the show. They are themed around events from the designer’s life, wacky ideas, and items/food that are some of the designer’s favorite things (from what I’ve read online). I find this a nice touch to the game, giving it personality. It inspires me to search online for the hidden lore behind the inclusion and meaning of some of these things.
The influence of classic slapstick comedy, clowns, gags, and court jesters is on full display here. Combined with the core gameplay loop, the game weaves an intoxicating environment that will keep you playing for hours on end. Even as it crushes your hopes and dreams.
Balatro Is A Rogue Like Deck Building Game
“Rogue-Like” games as a genre pit you against ever increasing challenges until you eventually just lose to the sheer strength of the opposing numbers. Your loss is inevitable, but the items and abilities you’ve unlocked along the way give you better tools for your next run.
In Balatro, those items and abilities come in the form of Jokers and Vouchers, each of which modify the way you play each hand. You can also unlock new decks, which act as the various different “characters” you play as. Each deck has its own unique set of qualities that will shape your gameplay as you combat the game’s eight levels of difficulty (called Stakes).
Performing certain actions and achieving certain goals will unlock the ability to see new Jokers and Vouchers in shops. You can then “discover” them by buying them. “Discovering” something new will unlock it in your Catalog, which is a cool way to look at everything you’ve encountered during your runs. The Catalog also shows you the locked spaces of the Jokers you haven’t discovered and what you need to do to unlock them, which I find helpful.
The deck building element of this game is also something I greatly enjoy. I’m a big fan of deck-building games as a genre, so Balatro is right up my alley. Crafting your deck toward a specific ability or effect that emerges during gameplay is very satisfying. Its very fun exploring the different interactions between jokers, seals, vouchers, tarot cards, and other card enhancements.
Balatro Does Not Involve Gambling
I just wanted to throw this statement in here because it seems there has been some confusion in various markets regarding what actually happens in a game of Balatro. There isn’t any real gambling for real money in this game. There are no micro transactions, and the game does not ask you for money after your initial purchase.
While doing research for this review, I discovered that Balatro’s creator (who goes by the moniker LocalThunk) has actually written it into his will that “the Balatro IP may never be sold or licensed to any gambling company/Casino.” That’s a pretty definitive stance to take, and it should send a clear message to anyone who questions Balatro’s integrity as a game.
The Flow Of The Game
As with other Rogue-Likes and Deck-Builders, you start off relatively weak. Each hand pits you against ever increasing hurdles you must overcome called Blinds (a poker term). Blinds are the amount of chips you must reach in order to win the round. You will play different combinations of poker hands in order to score chips. If you meet or exceed the Blind, you’ve won the hand.
Boss Blinds have powerful, detrimental effects that will immediately end your run if you haven’t prepared properly. At the start of each “stage”, called an Ante, you will be able to see what the boss blind is. This gives you some time to prepare for the increased challenge.
Blind values scale higher with each ante, so the clock is ticking. Your deck will need to be modified to produce more Chips (points) and Mult (multiplier) in order to beat the blinds. Jokers, Seals, Tarot Cards, Planet Cards, and Spectral Cards will all provide you with ways to modify the cards in your deck and your ability to score chips. Ante 8 brings the final boss blind and can often have an exceedingly punishing ability that sometimes feels hand picked to counter your current strategy.
Beating Ante 8 will reward you with a victory. This will unlock a new deck (character) and the next Stake for you to challenge. It will also present you with the option to play Endless Mode, which allows you to continue your current run against ridiculously large blinds. This will give you the opportunity to continue toward various achievements and unlocks while exploring the crazy top-end potential of your cards.
Skip The Skip Button
Skipping a blind will provide you with various bonuses called Tags. Honestly, you should almost never skip a blind in my opinion. Beating each blind will allow you to earn more money, and each shop you see afterward will often provide you with much more value than any skip tag will be able to. Holding onto your money in order to earn interest is also another strategic consideration, and interest will only accrue once you’ve beaten a Blind.
I found myself hung up on Blue Stake difficulty for quite a while. I kept losing, and it was getting frustrating. I started to really think about what I was doing that might be impeding my progress. I came to the conclusion that I may be skipping blinds too much. Once I stopped being enticed by the bonuses offered by Tags, I noticed a dramatic increase in my win rate. Shortly thereafter, I went on to beat Gold Stake for the first time, which is the game’s highest difficulty level.
Now I basically never skip. I think the skipping mechanic needs a rework, honestly. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s a trap for new players. There will be some hyper-niche scenarios where it’s beneficial to skip a Blind, but those instances will be exceedingly rare. The “Skip Metagame,” for lack of a better term, feels broken, and its inclusion feels nearly pointless. I hope this is something that can be remedied in a future update.
The Cost Of Balatro
Balatro is priced at $14.99 US on Steam. This is an amazing price for the countless hours of entertainment you can get out of this game.
Frequent Steam users will know that sales come around often. I’m not sure how often or to what degree Balatro has been on sale in the past, but any type of sale would be a tremendous deal for such a great game. I paid full price for Balatro, and I don’t regret it.
Balatro Review: Final Thoughts
Sometimes, Balatro will just hand you a loss, and that can be a hard pill to swallow. I’ll close the game with a sour taste in my mouth, but within 15 minutes, I’m back and loading the game for another round. This game can abruptly crush your fun, but the addictive gameplay, the sights, and the sounds bring you back for more in short order. This must be how fans of “Souls-Like” games feel.
I think Balatro is one of the best games ever made. It won many game awards in 2024, and it’s easy to see why. It’s incredible that it was made by a single person. Online chatter indicates there will be a major gameplay update in 2025, and it will be free, which is pretty incredible in today’s gaming environment.
The value proposition of this game is off the charts. It’s a “forever game” that will always be there when you’re ready for another round. You may put it down for a couple months, but one day, Jimbo’s siren song will call you back for more clowning around.
If you enjoy card games of any type, Balatro deserves your consideration. It is a modern day classic that has legs to break into the mainstream and become a true juggernaut in the gaming industry.
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