70%PC

Unlike most roguelikes you can keep playing without feeling defeated when you lose. Very addictive and fun.

100%PC

I am addicted.

90%Nintendo Switch

A very-very-very addictive game! It's a real “easy to learn, hard to master” game, spiced with a cistern of random and constant “knowledge check”

60%PC

lost interest in it quicker than others, i think slay the spire has ruined any other card game roguelikes for me. potentially come back to this later.

100%PC

以德州扑克为原型的卡牌roguelike，真的是及其上头，最纯粹的数值快乐在这游戏中体现得淋漓尽致。然而高难度过于依赖运气也体现了这个游戏在平衡性上的缺点，但是瑕不掩瑜，小丑牌真的是我玩过最快乐的rougelike游戏了。

85%PC

Jugado en steam deck tambien

100%PC

Great game to play casually! It becomes a game like Tetris very easily in terms of replayability.

100%Nintendo Switch

I love this game

85%PC

Honestly, I’m kind of surprised by how much I liked this game. It starts off as a bland poker game with some light deck-building mechanics, but the rush of discovering insane new jokers and experimenting with different strategies is incredibly well done.

It’s a refreshing twist on a formula that’s been done many times, yet it still manages to be more engaging and replayable than most other deck builders. However, after 70 hours, I no longer feel the urge to keep playing. I’ve seen what the game has to offer, and any extra grinding from this point on feels pointless—most runs play out similarly, especially at higher stakes.

Still, I definitely got my money’s worth and would recommend it without hesitation.

100%Mobile

Astoundingly fun game. Second only to Slay the Spire in terms of enjoyment. Each run was unique and is just so satisfying finding new synergies to randomly.

85%Mobile

Fun card game . Was addicting for the first two days but got a little boring later.Still a great game with lots of crazy stuff.

90%PC

what if we took poker and made it actually good ? we would have balatro

100%PC

phenomenal game that equally pisses me off and hypes me up like crazy

95%iOS

MAN! What a game! So good I bought it twice - Steam and iOS

I kinda no-lifed this over the span of a day & a half, and will continue to pick up and play some antes anywhere I have a smidge of downtime. It's the first game I've actually played on my phone in YEARS. It's dangerous, though, because hours fly by!

I heavily dig the music, I listen to the main theme on repeat while working, theory crafting in my head... Man this game is addicting. I've never played Poker before, but it's not really a "poker game". I know that was a slight turn off for me (and probably others) when it released, but when WOFF covered this on their podcast, it kinda threw me over the edge and I knew I had to pick it up. ...Super glad I did! It's definitely what it sets out to be, a rogue-like card game. The only resemblance to Poker is the theming, and that you play Poker hands.Luckily, there is a cheat sheet you can pull up in the corner to see exactly what each hand plays, and hell, now I know Poker hands! I see this as an ultimate win. It's definitely way more focused on the joker cards you obtain that modify your run, and the way you build your deck throughout. The game is it's own thing.

It's been a semi-slow year, and I was trying to determine my personal runner-up for GOTY, but this game takes the cake! I'd really recommend this to legitimately anyone. I think fun can be found by all ages and gaming demographics. It's seriously a good time.

90%PC

Excellent little card game. I appreciate the dedication from the developer, would be a staple in Dave & Busters' globally if localthunk let it.

70%Nintendo Switch

É um rogue. Está polido e é fácil de começar a jogar em sessões pequenas. Mas isso faz dele viciante, dá para "encaixar" em qualquer parte do dia. Para além disso estava com as expetativas muito altas, depois de ouvir tantas boas críticas.
Sobretudo, não é o jogo que estava à procura neste momento.
Mas gostei, talvez volte mais tarde.

100%PC

Um jogo excelente, inacreditavelmente polido por apenas uma pessoa, muitas coisas me cativaram nesse jogo, mas os principais pontos foram a abrangência de cultura e referências espalhadas por todo o jogo, a gameplay e a arte.

100%PC

I love this addiction.. uuhh. game i mean.. game

85%Nintendo Switch

Balatro is so addicting and im excited to play even more of it ^_^

90%PC

very addicting, very good deckbuilding roguelike, i learned poker that way
100% would have asked to complete the highest difficulty with every deck and joker and i aint got time for this shit
did the rest of the achievements and got the full collection tho

100%Nintendo Switch

Played this for a while earlier in 2024 until i got a win or two. Returned at the end of the year and I have become addicted, send help. 10/10

100%Nintendo Switch

An amazing game. It won't have any story and it's not going to wow you with some amazing 4K graphics with ray tracing or whatever. Balatro is just pure fun. It's simple and yet complex. It's fun.

100%Nintendo Switch

Dicey Dungeons and Slay the Spire were fun, but this strips away the superfluous "Fighting Monsters" context and gives the most refined, pure and engaging deck builder experience.

70%PC

属于玩着停不下来，停下来不想玩的那种，大概这就是肉鸽吧，这种类型玩的少，上次这种感觉还是不久前的哈迪斯
2025-1-6 说不上好玩，但是有点上头，太杀时间了，封盘

90%iOS

Went from "pffff how does this even get a Game of the Year nomination? Although I do have it free with Apple Arcade..." to "oh my god somebody please help me, this is free unlimited cocaine in my pocket" in literally two hours.

I don't really have a stellar record with rogue-likes. The last one I played was Hades, and I just completely forgot it existed. However, there is an insane amount of synergy that you can make with the cards that makes it so, so addictive. Whenever I pull a sick combo dopamine goes crazy in my brain just by the sound effects alone.

I don't think this game is good for my brain, or my productivity, at all; but my god I cannot stop.

85%PlayStation 5

All the little details are amazing. The shuffle sound effects, the animation feedback. Maybe less of a sense of wonder than the very best card games.

90%Nintendo Switch

one of the better deck-builders out there. it is deceptively simple on the surface, but the depth and replayability feels endless. tons of unlocks and unique challenges. the music surprisingly never gets old.

95%PC

Did one run with the black deck.

75%PlayStation 5

Finished a run after 6 hours, so kinda beat the game. No real draw for me to play it anymore.

95%Mobile

Time taken to beat my first run with PC and Mobile time combined.

90%PC

The perfect crossover between poker, solitarie games and rogue/rpg elements. Delicious!

80%PC

Balatro is deceptive in it's simplicity and utterly additive, therefore I'm calling it now so I can tackle the rest of an unending backlog lol.

Balatro is a card based rogue-like, where the base concept is using Poker hands to score chips to beat the the increasing score threshold of each round (blind), ending on a boss with a certain debuff every third round (ante). Between blinds you can use prize money earned to upgrade your deck in various ways in a randomized shop. There are 150 Joker's with various passive effects that will define your run strategy (max of 5 with exceptions). But also consumable cards (max of 2 held with exceptions) from the Planet/Tarot/Spectral decks to modify your cards with bonus chips or chip multipliers (among other effects), or increase the bonus for specific poker hands played. There are also TCG packs which can add extra copies of buffed cards to your deck (or simply extra Joker/Tarot/Planet/Spectral cards to choose from), and vouchers which are one per ante for an additional passive effect. Then layer in rarity modifiers for bonus chips or multipliers. Make sure to arrange your Joker's efficiently! Once you win ante 8, you can continue in endless mode to see just how far that broken build went lol.

The collectathon aspect of Balatro is fun, as you unlock more Joker's to play with as you meet their unlock requirements. It will denote cards you have no used yet. You also unlock more decks with bonus effects like an extra hand, an extra discard, extra prize money, and so forth. Winning ante 8 with a deck will unlock additional difficulty levels for that deck.

Very fun and incredibly replayable. Brain loves big number. Beware, you won't realize how much time has passed.

100%PC

SCREAM IF YOU LOVE BALATRO 🃏🃏🃏🃏

As any other Roguelike game, I've fallen out of love within a reasonable timeframe. But I'll be honest, Balatro is by far one of the most engaging and most addicting games I've ever played, I CRAVED, I NEEDED it.

But after some time playing poker hands non stop, the progress became slow and too hard, winning on the increased difficulties depended more and more on RNG from too many different areas, Great Cards, Great Packs, Great Jokers, Great Blinds and a gameplan that works.

Obviously if I spent the dozens of hours I'd be able to adapt into any strategy, but, I just wanted to play """real""" games again.

A strong 10/10, not game of the year, but still surreally good.

100%PC

Lit game

95%PC

I dont know how this game is so good, but it is completelly good. The buffons mechanics and the blinds incresing dificult made the RogueLike poker one of the best games i've played in 2024

80%PC

Fun game, I could see my self getting really addicted but I have managed to escape that fate for now.

90%Nintendo Switch

Un roguelike infinito y super adictivo. Aunque parece sencillo al principio no puedes parar una vez vas aprendiendo sus sinergias jugable. Un diseño de juego excelente. Una joya Indie

100%Mobile

Eieieiei, Poker als Roguelike: Pokerhände geben pauschal Punkte und Multiplikatoren. Punkte werden durch gespielte Karten erhöht und Multiplikatoren durch Joker, die "immer aktiv" sind.
+ Joker sind cool, weil Combos
+ 2 Blinds & 1 Boss > Blinds skipbar mit Bonus, aber dann halt kein Shop
+ Punktesystem eh super cool
+ "Eine Runde geht noch!" > annoyingly addictive 😄
+ erstmal googlen was es überhaupt alles gibt lol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_poker_hands

100%Mobile

I am highkey addicted...

100%Mobile

Number go up

100%PC

this game is so addicting they werent lying when they said this wa sthe game of the year

100%Mobile

I play balatro + on apple tv and really is just MOUAH

100%Nintendo Switch

crack cocaine

80%iOS

A simple yet addicting card game, if you've played the Poker Mini-game from Mario DS then this is a full fledge version with perks

75%PC

卡牌类的rouglike游戏，游戏的机制挺有意思的，挺容易让人上瘾，但本人时间有限，浅尝了一下，打过一次通关之后就停止了

85%Mobile

Jogo com mecânica simples mas com profundidade pra quem quer algo a mais.
Muito viciante, gerando muita rejogabilidade.

100%Mobile

Another reminder that to create an original, fun and popular game, you don't need Hollywood budgets, hundres of people and years of work. As there are other roguelike deckbuilders, creating one based on poker looks obvious - as it is with all great ideas. All key components (stylised grahics, sounds, soundtrack, card mechanics, even "lore" behind Jokers) are executed at a very high level. Unlocks come at a steady pace and offer significant variety in gameplay. Challenge decks made me re-evaluate certain card/Joker combinations and improved my play.
Overall, I have only a few gripes. RNG can often make or break your run, especially on higher difficulties (but I understand this is a feature of the genre), it does get repetitive after you get a few decks past the gold stake, and I would appreciate a "rewind hand" button (once per round or play), as I have lost a few runs to misplay.
But overall, an outstanding addition to my library this year. 10/10.
If you have an apple arcade trial, don't miss it there!

Playthough statistics: 68% overall completion (100% collection, 19/20 challenges), 3.5 decks with gold stickers. About 100hrs (maybe more, as not possible to see hours on ios).

100%PC

OMG - addicted

90%PlayStation 5

I thought there was no way I would like this. I was wrong its pretty amazing.

90%PC

idk how many hours i played but at least 30h more or less its just a mindblowing game ididnt expect nothing from it at first ive never played poker idk its basic rules until i played this game and oh man what a game the builds with diffirent jokers are amazing cant wait for more content