Playstack | $10/£10 or free with Apple Arcade
- Classic poker with compelling tactical variations
- Strips out a lot of the ‘gamey’ complexity
- A port that works brilliantly on mobile
The maker of Balatro seems to have read the first page of the Dicey Dungeons and Void Tyrant playbook – “roguelite” RPGs with battle mechanics based on familiar dice and card games – and decided to go even more abstract. In doing so, they may have an even bigger hit on their hands.
Poker is the game at the core of Balatro, but unlike its roguelite rivals, most of the visual embellishment and traditional gamey conventions have been stripped away. You appear to be playing a game of solo Poker in a kind of 16-bit void, complete with gentle CRT screen effect and a woozy abstract ditty that will bounce around your head while you’re loading the dish washer.
When the multiplier catches fire, your current move is enough to win the round
You’re playing said poker game not against any human or CPU player, but against the bank, essentially. If you don’t accumulate a score equal to the stated amount within a few hands, it’s game over. Beat the blind – or rather, three blinds, including a boss battle with more exacting stipulations – and the ante will be upped, bringing with it greater risk and reward.
All the familiar hand types are attributed a value at the outset along classic poker lines. From your first between-level shop, however, you’ll have the opportunity to tilt things in your favor in a series of delightful ways.
Various modifier cards enhance and mutate your deck
Pretty soon you’ll be spending your winnings on joker cards that add score multipliers for certain suits, hands, and cards. Or you might choose to invest in tarot cards and bolster the cards in your existing deck with score-enhancing abilities. Maybe you’ll buy new cards to add to your deck, or increase the number of hands and discard opportunities at your disposal.
The tactical permutations really are numerous here, and the synergistic potential only expands as you play and unlock fresh decks and jokers.
Big blind rounds give you bigger cash rewards
Despite the freedom to mould your deck as you see fit, Balatro doesn’t quite have the majesty or endless replayavility of Slay the Spire, to pluck another card-based roguelite out of the air. There isn’t anything like the same tactical scope, and there’s just a little too much luck involved. This is still poker, after all, even if you can do a lot to tilt the odds in your favor.
But those inherent limitations also make Balatro a more pliable game that will fit into your life in more ways. Whether you’re tired or sharp, ill or well, drunk or sober, it never seems to be a bad time to play another round.
The interface has been smartly adapted for mobile
I’ve had that feeling about Balatro ever since it launched on PC and console back in February, but it’s only truly crystallized now that it’s become playable on my iPhone. This was always likely to be a relatively simple port, given the stripped back nature of the game, but developer Playstack has done a sterling job regardless. The immediacy of button shortcuts has been replaced by a tactile system of drags and taps. It’s neither better nor worse, just slightly different, and the game has lost none of its vital meditative tone in the conversion process.
Balatro is the first reason we’ve had to renew our Apple Arcade subscription in quite some time. We may not need another for the rest of the year.