Cover artwork I generate from the game data. I do not use publisher artwork.
Game profile
Balatro
Poker hands get cranked up into absurd scores with crazy jokers, in a deckbuilder that hooks you fast. Every round takes just a few minutes, yet optimizing your combos can easily eat up whole evenings.
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What kind of game this is
At its core this is Deckbuilder / Roguelike, set in an abstract, non-literal space. Visually it is deliberately stylised rather than photorealistic, and the overall tone stays light and upbeat. The structure is guided rather than open, so you are moved along instead of dropped into a map. It is built around short sessions, which makes it easy to pick up for half an hour.
The difficulty is moderate and fair, demanding attention without punishing you for it. There is no story to speak of, the systems carry everything. It is a single player experience from start to finish. It is available broadly, on 5 platforms. It sits in the budget bracket.
What stands out
- Poker meets deckbuilding
- Extremely snappy rounds
- Huge addictive potential
This fits you if
- you enjoy being made to think
- levelling, looting and optimising a build is your kind of loop
- you usually have thirty to sixty minutes and want that to be enough
- cutscenes annoy you and you just want to play
- you play alone and want a complete experience without other people
- you are watching your budget
Look elsewhere if
- you play mainly for narrative
- repetition wears you down instead of drawing you in
- you want to play it side by side with someone
- you want something with real weight to it
What it costs you in time
About 30 hours in total. At three evenings a week and two hours each, you will be busy for roughly 5 weeks, or 15 sessions.
How the rating ranks
Critics settled on 91 out of 100, which puts it above 90 percent of the 1206 games here and at rank 89 overall. That is a strong score, comfortably above what most releases manage.
For comparison, Deckbuilder averages 83 points across the database, so this one sits 8 points above its own genre. The figure rests on 379 collected ratings.
Released in 2024 and 2 years old. Recent enough to look and run modern, old enough to be patched and often discounted.
The facts
- Release year
- 2024
- Genres
- Deckbuilder, Roguelike, Puzzle
- Playtime
- approx. 30 hrs.
- Difficulty
- Moderate, fair
- Story weight
- None, pure gameplay
- Play with
- Solo
- Setting
- Abstract
- Visual style
- Stylised
- Price bracket
- Budget
- Platforms
- PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, Mobile
- Critic rating
- 91 / 100
Direct comparison
| Genres | Release year | Playtime | Critic rating | Price bracket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balatro | 2024 | approx. 30 hrs. | 91 | Budget |
| World of Horror | 2023 | approx. 20 hrs. | 82 | Budget |
| Slay the Spire II | 2026 | approx. 60 hrs. | 85 | Mid price |
| Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors | 2026 | approx. 15 hrs. | 63 | Budget |
If you liked this, try these
- World of Horror Shared: Roguelike, Puzzle, Abstract, shorter
- Slay the Spire II Shared: Deckbuilder, Roguelike, Abstract, longer
- Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors Shared: Deckbuilder, Roguelike, shorter
- Luck be a Landlord Shared: Roguelike, Puzzle, Abstract, shorter
- Raccoin: Coin Pusher Roguelike Shared: Deckbuilder, Roguelike, Abstract, longer
- Blue Prince Shared: Roguelike, Puzzle, Abstract