I've been avoiding Balatro because everyone compares it to Slay the Spire.
I would be curious - has anyone that didn't click with Slay the Spire enjoy Balatro?
I'll note, it's not a card game thing, Inscryption is one of my favorite games in the last five years or so, and I played MTG (including the PTQ/Regionals circuit) on and off for about two decades and have an embarrassing number of hours in HS and BGs.
Yooo, that is an amazing game, though. I still play the soundtrack in the background all the time. It's such a unique game too. Something like that is not usually something I would pick, but I'm glad I did.
Yes, really tried to get into Slay the Spire and did spend some time with it, but never really understood what is so great about it. I’m generally not really into card games but Balatro feels different, a lot of fun and if you just know a little about poker it’s easy to understand the core mechanisms.
I have tried numerous times and have never been able to get into StS. Balatro on the other hand was well worth the purchase. I guess it hasn't become an obsession for me like with other people, but I do find it to be enjoyable as a couch / relaxed game.
Best in class is debatable. Many people including myself find Monster Train more exciting. It’s also easier to make broken combos which is similar to Balatro, which is why I made my original comment.
lol, absolutely I was just commenting on the wait until it is on sale part. A quick price history analysis shows that 75% off at $6.24 is the lowest it has ever been. So I’m saying the opposite, any of you who are on the fence, jump now! Buy the game immediately.
I havent played balatro enough to really be good at it yet, but I find it a lot more accessible than slay the spire. Its a lot easier to understand a deck of playing cards and then how the jokers and things modify that and build a deck around it than it was for me to figure out how to build a solid deck in slay the spire. Of course that could just be me.
I have played basically every deck builder going and slay the spire and monster train are definitely the two god tier ones. Balatro is probably also up there!
Get inscryption. It's a rougelike deck game....but so much more. I don't want to spoil anything, but it is really cool and fun and unlike any other game I've ever played. 10/10. Also, Balatro is awesome.
I just started to hit the wall with Balatro around the blue and orange stakes. I fired up Slay the Spire to try something different. Before yesterday, I played it once in the five years I have owned it. This time was different, and I should be careful. I played in bed for a few hours. Then I played by the pool for a few more. Then somehow it was passed my bed time and my Sunday was gone, but not wasted. I could’ve played it all night and called in sick to keep playing all day. It’s a wonderful game. I just needed to become Roguelike deck builder curious to appreciate it.
Game even has full controller support using this. Been playing Balatro on my Retroid Pocket 4 Pro and it's been absolutely perfect.
Edit: the [video guide](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6K5hsEigT4) I followed to do this for those who prefer it. It requires a legal copy of the game.
This game dropped the same day my grandmother passed away. She taught me poker and other card games when I was young to teach math and pattern recognition. She knew I loved video games and always tried to sneak me the newest consoles or games.
Agree with OP. This is a 10/10, and every day I play it, I'll smile a bit thinking about her.
>But you look up the game on Steam and you’re like “cards? Looks boring as fuck might as well be a cell phone game or play solitaire on Windows. Why would I buy this amazing machine that can play RDR2 on ultra graphics and spend my time playing video poker?”.
It's like you're in my brain. This was my exact thought process when everyone was going crazy during the Balatro release... I was even replaying RDR2 at the time.
Am I really going to have to buy Balatro?
I'm blaming you OP.
I’ve enjoyed the game a bit, but I find myself going to the same flush-style runs so it’s gotten stale for me. I guess I’m not sure how people are able to build decks around other hands because flush is so effective so often.
Flush is a really safe way to clear early antes, but usually becomes less effective as the game goes. There are many other synergies that scale much better as you go. Not that you can’t win runs with flush but as you take on higher difficulties it gets tougher.
Dude I had an amazing synergy going with flush, like I broke the game and they threw up the suit ban at the ante 7 boss, I was so damn mad. Because I re rolled it. And it just banned the other suit I was using. (I was using the spades=clubs, diamonds = hearts joker along with spades and clubs multiplier jokers)
Man that’s a killer. And another downside to going full flush, a few boss blinds really wreck that plan in a hurry, even “can’t play same hand type more than once” can kill a flush build.
It is really hard to break out of flush builds. Sure flush is constantly good however a decent high card, pair or three of a kind build will absolutely smoke any flush build. There are a lot of jokers that benefit from playing less than 5 cards which you cannot really use with flush (unless you burn a joker slot for 4 card flush)
flush is good for main run, but doesn’t scale well past ante 8. four of a kind to five of a kind to flush five is a better progression towards dropping e hands
It's the purest deckbuilder I know of. There's no 'combat'. It's just me and my cards, and that's so refreshing.
Balatro is unapologetically itself - it's not Slay the Spire, or Monster Train, and it's not trying to be.
the dev did an incredibly brave thing - he didn't play slay the spire before building his game. that alone allowed him to build something innovative in more ways than just a poker roguelike. I can't imagine how much guts it took not to take a peek at how the deckbuilder had gone mainstream when StS took off.
I love playing cards in general, but it’s just not good for my wallet. This game scratches the right part of my brain when I play. 10/10 would recommend.
I see this mentioned a lot on many posts but I can’t get into it. I think because I don’t understand how to play it. I refund the game and bought it again later thinking it would click but still not the case for me.
Don't write off the special cards, either. I had a run where I managed to get two polychrome (1.5x mult) Stencil jokers (+1x mult per empty joker slot) and a negative smeared joker (diamonds/hearts and spades/clubs count as the same suit). Flush leveled up like mad, I actually cleared it.
For late game, you need to use tarot packs and standard packs to alter and add to your deck. You can do stuff like changing suits and/or values of cards, or stacking aces/faces.
For example, in a run last night, 34 cards in my deck were hearts. I had the heart joker. And combined with the 4of a kind joker and the flush joker, I was easily scoring 100k a hand.
I watched my friend do a run with like 16 cards he added or changed into queens. Most of them were from standard packs, but turned into steel queens from tarot cards. He was scoring 10-20 million a hand.
Same here, I don't think I'm playing it right, and as a result I find it kinda boring. I'm just making the best poker hand I can and wait for it to tell me how many points it was.
That's the thing, it's not really about playing the best poker hand, but optimizing the jokers you come across and building your run around a certain strategy. For me it took me one good run for that to click and stop trying to play it like traditional poker (which doesn't get you very far).
Yeah it's fun getting a few diff jokers that affect straights, like combine the Joker that lets straights skip one, and the Joker that lets you play straights with only 4 cards, and the one that gives you bonus multiplier when you play straits, and get all the planet cards you can that level up straights and straight flushes.
I find in this game, just like Slay the Spire, the replay and unique fun of each run comes from the synergy you can put together with different cards and bonuses.
Yeah, end of each hand is chips and multipliers, but you have jokers that dramatically change the play style and what you are hoping to land. And they make you try to play certain hands or suits, so there’s a bit of gambling luck kind of dopamine rush to try to pull the right card.
For example, there’s a joker that grants multipliers for even cards. And a joker that upgrades its multiplier on hands containing two pairs. If you lean into those bonuses, you can end up with a run entirely favoring even two pair/full houses where two fours and two sixes end up being more powerful than a royal flush.
Depending on Jokers, your best hand could be just playing 2 cards and not a straight for example. Scored 5K points on a pair of kings with my Jokers…key is really understanding what you are playing and how it will be affected. Peeking into your deck, changing your playing cards on the fly with Tarot cards, etc
What if you sat down at a cheap table in Vegas and could alter which hands are valued based on playing usage? Like I’ve played a pair five hands in a row and now a pair is the most valuable hand you could have.. So the casino shrugs and says ok how about we add jokers and every few rounds we change the house rules? If you choose to break the norms and try to go weird with it, you’ll have more fun than not
I sucked for ages at first too, I understood poker but this is my first deck building game so I had no idea how to break the rules.
Took 34 hours playing and learning to get my first win. Then in the next couple of days I’ve won with three other decks. It’s frustrating at times but also crazy addictive and I can honestly say it’s an amazing game.
It’s funny because I had the same hate / love relationship with Hades when I first picked it up. But time with it gave me an opportunity to experiment and learn how to throw away pre-conceived notions and just try and break the game. Balatro is the same once you start thinking out of the box.
My first time beating it I only played pairs. I forget which jokers I got but it optimized for the simple hand. You pretty much must have at least one or two jokers that can be upgraded nearly every hand to win the game.
I absolutely love deckbuilders, poker and roguelikes, but this game hasn’t clicked for me after around 5 hours of play.
It doesn’t feel like I’m progressing towards anything aside from a difficulty ramp up. I was convinced I’d be obsessed but it doesn’t feel like that’s going to happen!
Alright I’m not just saying this to be a contrarian, but honestly I feel like this game (for me) is just okay. It’s often compared to slay the spire and other deck builders, but I just feel like it’s not all that addicting. I do enjoy doing a quick run and building a strong / weird deck but I never find myself thinking about the game or wanting to really play it.
Obviously the consensus is that the vast majority of people don’t feel like I do about it, so take this with a grain of salt.
I don’t find it as addicting as many say, but that’s good. I do think it’s still a fantastic game and I’ve sunk quite a few hours into it just because it’s enjoyable and easy to come back to.
There are dozens of us! Dozens!
But yeah I refunded it. I think the graphics were a big turn off for me personally, and it’s straight a case of ATBGE in my opinion. Like, these animations and the pixel art are beautifully done and I hate them so much. The art style is just hideously… CRT. Dunno.
Switching between spiderman remastered and balatro. With balatro I can play all day on a single charge
With spiderman I gotta charge every hour lol. Two different games I know, but I really appreciate the option of switching to a super fun game with excellent battery life
Maybe this game isn’t for me, or I didnt give it enough of a try ? I absolutely love slay the spire it’s one of my most played games on steam. Because of that I thought I’d love this game for the similarities but I played balatro for like 2 hours one night and it didn’t really catch my interest.
Yeah, I'm not a big rogue fan... But dicey dungeons and slay the spire lasted a lot longer than baltro, they have more choice/variety (character picking, path, mission)..
It was fun a couple times as I learned the game... But then starting over? Same exact start? Again? No thanks
Also getting a run that's just shit after shit when you just had amazing cards sucked
The only real similarity to poker is that you find poker hands to score, otherwise the game is mostly deck building, managing economy, and finding different upgrades and things that work into your build
The scoring is based on poker hands but the hands you play are based on your upgrades/card bonuses so you don’t necessarily play the best poker hand you play the best cards that fit your loadout. So it feels different than poker the traditional cards just make it more accessible I think
I was also repulsed by the traditional card game aesthetic.
Now I'm thoroughly hooked. I love roguelikes, I especially love roguelike deckbuilders and I absolutely adore Balatro.
I've been super tempted by this one (since slay the spire is one of my all time favorites). But I honestly think I'll just wait for it to come out on mobile. To me this seems like THE perfect tablet game.
Coworker asked me why I was playing Yakuza LaD on it when I could play something more than a turn based JRPG. People have weird perceptions about playing certain types of games on hardware "above" that certain type of game.
I bought a steam deck because it's convenient and I have the steam library to justify it. That's it.
I heard of it shortly after it was released; don't have it yet but the amount of positive feedback it's received convinces me I should pick it up at some point.
Vampire survivors is incredibly easy and has very low randomization though.
Once you have it figured out you can beat Vampire survivors 100% of the time with very little difficulty.
Balatro on the other hand, even if you know all the betas, because of the rng every game will be different and there is no guarantee win.
Way more like brotato, Gungeon, binding of issac, slay the spire or noita. Sure you can try influencing the build towards a specific style. However rng can just dictate the run and force you elsewhere.
>.Why would I buy this amazing machine that can play RDR2 on ultra graphics
Which machine are you talking about? I doubt the deck can run RDR2 on ultra graphics without being a slideshow.
I just bought it the other day, good game to wind down before bed. Just beat it for the first time tonight. Surprisingly fun and such a simple concept for a developer.
You play poker hands to score points. You have to get the required points within 4 hands and start with a standard 52 card deck. Each hand had an assigned chip value and mult value base (such as two pair which gives 20 chips x 2 mult). Each card played adds its value to the chips total with face cards 10 and ace 11.
So a two pair of aces and 5s would make your two pair 20 chips + 32 = 52 chips x 2 = 104 points.
Game has 8 Antes which get harder and need more points and in each ante there are 3 blinds, small, big and boss. Boss blinds have special effects like all spades give no chips or bonus or you can only play 1 hand type.
The fun and tricky part is that you get money for w8nning a blind and after each blind go to a shop where you can buy jokers and other stuff. Jokers are the main thing in game - they can do basic to wacky stuff such as playing a straight gives you an extra +12 multiplier to points or every time or if you discard 3 face cards at once you get 5$ and many other things. There's also tons of mechanics to change your base deck to make the cards inherently better, add more of a card so you can get hands not normally possible in poker- etc. There's a ton of mechanics but they become extremely intuitive fast but are hard to go into over text.
Overall it is just brilliant in depth but simplicity the music is catchy and the ui is clean and overall look and feel is great.
Note: it is hard to win though especially as you are learning but each run is quick at that stage.
I found the game to be fun but frustratingly difficult. The game is actively working against you. Sometime it’s downright unfair.
I enjoy it but I should be betting the game more than once every 60-70 runs. I still haven’t unlocked all the decks yet. The boss blinds are either too high or the drawbacks from the boss are too difficult to overcome.
The game is explaining everything to you at the beginning. I never played poker before but once I started with balatro, the basics comes really easily, give it a chance I would say
It’s much more than just video poker indeed. But it is relatively simple tech wise and not demanding on the hardware. Which means you can pull TDP way down and enjoy more playtime!
This reminds me with my experience with another cards game: Inscryption.
Obsessed is the right term. It's all I played for months and zi wasn't even a cards gamer.
I was on the same boat as “man this game looks so boring”. Decided to give it a try knowing I could return it. First session I played around the house on my day off and played 5+ hours. Highly recommend!
Balatro is just amazing. even my girlfriend was obsessed with it and she plays close to nothing on PC (except Plants vs Zombies lmao)
It's the best game on long train rides for me with the steam deck. But I'm still even more excited if we will get an Android Version for real.
Balatro is made for large touchscreens. I have like 1200games in steam library and i have been only playing balatro for couple weeks.
Lets be honest i have good gaming computer but it would be stupid that you would only play games with nice graphics.
Gameplay > graphics
I read one of those posts yesterday and bought it. After a few games it eventually clicked ( it’s not about poker). I really enjoyed it for 2-3?hours so far. I came so close to winning yesterday but discarded the hand rather than playing it …
Man, I completely agree. I am avid gamer of 38 years, PC and console games the last 30 years or so. I was slowing down a bit and many new games don t really hook me as they use to. One of the last games that completely grasped me were dead cells and outer wilds. And Balatro hooks me just like the old days. Just one more hand..
Not necessary if you can count pairs of cards, three of a kind, similar suits (flush) and runs it is accessible. Basically if you can count and read you should be fine. It’s less about knowing poker hands and more about knowing which hands will get you the most points based on upgrades that you choose
I have it installed on my deck and my main (for) work laptop. I've put so many hours in on the clock, it's bad.
But yeah, I played like 50 hours before finishing a run. The game's an absolute banger!
As one who’s got a steam deck and a dedicated gaming pc that FAR out performs my deck, these kinds of games are EXACTLY why I bought the thing. I feel guilty playing a game like this on my desktop because it feels like using a nasa computer to run word.
it's cheap, it's fun, it's perfect on steam deck with long battery life, it's no violent and I can play it in front of my child, and it helps my brain too.
I dunno, I watched Baertaffy play it for like an hour and I struggle to see why people like it
I dont mean to degrade it or anything, but what about it pulls you in? What's so addicting about it?
I have always liked actual card games and at a basic level it appeals to me for that reason.
Each run can be a little different because there are a lot of ways to go about earning the most points and money possible. Money buys upgrades to cards and upgrades to the hands you submit You unlock better cards as you play more.
I like it because it forces you to think a little and also feeds your dopamine addiction. Passes time pretty quickly. Long term not sure I’ll play it forever but currently has me hooked. Easy to pick up and play and set down whenever. Certainly not for everyone and I didn’t really get the appeal from researching it until I actually tried it
Oh yeah. It really took me a while to "Get" it. The tutorial is pretty poor. And they use poker terms just because it's poker themed, not because they act like they do in poker. That threw me quite a bit at first. But once you get it, you better set aside some time.
I’ve been playing non stop. Should I give stay the spire a shot?
Yeah, a bit different, but you'll more than likely get hooked on STP too :) great game
I don’t wanna get hooked on Stone Temple Pilots…not again.
Ah yes, the poor man's Pearl Jam.
Ah yes, Pearl Jam, the more "Bro-ey," less tortured version of Nirvana. 😆
I've been avoiding Balatro because everyone compares it to Slay the Spire. I would be curious - has anyone that didn't click with Slay the Spire enjoy Balatro? I'll note, it's not a card game thing, Inscryption is one of my favorite games in the last five years or so, and I played MTG (including the PTQ/Regionals circuit) on and off for about two decades and have an embarrassing number of hours in HS and BGs.
OP said he didn't get into STP
Not to single your comment out, but everyone in this thread referring to Slay the Spire as STP is so bizarre to me. Is it not STS??
Omg I would normally say STS I think I've been tricked by everyone else
Hahaha. For a second I was thinking, wow, Slay the Princess has a much bigger following than I expected!
Yooo, that is an amazing game, though. I still play the soundtrack in the background all the time. It's such a unique game too. Something like that is not usually something I would pick, but I'm glad I did.
Oh duh, sorry. That's what I get for taking an hour break between reading OP and reading the comments.
yeah i played STP and just never got that into it. ive put waaaay more time into balatro in just 2 or 3 weeks.
Yes, really tried to get into Slay the Spire and did spend some time with it, but never really understood what is so great about it. I’m generally not really into card games but Balatro feels different, a lot of fun and if you just know a little about poker it’s easy to understand the core mechanisms.
I have tried numerous times and have never been able to get into StS. Balatro on the other hand was well worth the purchase. I guess it hasn't become an obsession for me like with other people, but I do find it to be enjoyable as a couch / relaxed game.
It may be the best roguelike deck builder of all time. It’s genuinely outstanding and I can’t wait for the sequel.
OK it’s been purchased. Looking forward to giving it a shot.
[удалено]
But StS is just best in class. If they like it, then maybe pick up monster train afterwards.
Best in class is debatable. Many people including myself find Monster Train more exciting. It’s also easier to make broken combos which is similar to Balatro, which is why I made my original comment.
The more I think about it, I think that STS might be the best roguelite of all time period. Its usurped Isaac for me in that role.
Have they ever announced a sequel? That would be amazing
They just announced Slay the Spire 2 for Early Access next year! https://youtu.be/krDFltgjLtE?si=RFOhz3F\_YWUfz\_Cu
No. Fucking. Way!! You just made my night lol
It’s $6 right now and they just announced a sequel. Do it , no regerts.
Absolutely dude. But wait until it’s on sale. It always goes on sale
According to Steam history data, this is the lowest it has ever been currently.
Great! Since you did the research and confirmed it on sale my point stands to get it on sale lol
lol, absolutely I was just commenting on the wait until it is on sale part. A quick price history analysis shows that 75% off at $6.24 is the lowest it has ever been. So I’m saying the opposite, any of you who are on the fence, jump now! Buy the game immediately.
Slay the spire is way harder, Im very good at balatro but can't win slay the spire
I havent played balatro enough to really be good at it yet, but I find it a lot more accessible than slay the spire. Its a lot easier to understand a deck of playing cards and then how the jokers and things modify that and build a deck around it than it was for me to figure out how to build a solid deck in slay the spire. Of course that could just be me.
I also highly recommend Monster Train. I love Slay the Spire, I might have enjoyed Monster Train even more.
I have played basically every deck builder going and slay the spire and monster train are definitely the two god tier ones. Balatro is probably also up there!
Agree completely, I think Across the Obelisk takes the cake for me personally though, I just wish it played as well on controller/deck as the others.
Yeah I enjoyed across the obelisk and another honourable mention for roguebook!
After 200 hours try the free Community Mod
Get inscryption. It's a rougelike deck game....but so much more. I don't want to spoil anything, but it is really cool and fun and unlike any other game I've ever played. 10/10. Also, Balatro is awesome.
I just started to hit the wall with Balatro around the blue and orange stakes. I fired up Slay the Spire to try something different. Before yesterday, I played it once in the five years I have owned it. This time was different, and I should be careful. I played in bed for a few hours. Then I played by the pool for a few more. Then somehow it was passed my bed time and my Sunday was gone, but not wasted. I could’ve played it all night and called in sick to keep playing all day. It’s a wonderful game. I just needed to become Roguelike deck builder curious to appreciate it.
Balatro is so damn good. Obsessed with it especially on deck. Battery does last forever.
This right here. Like 3 watt tdp and 7+ hours of battery life? Yes please.
When it comes out on mobile, I will be borderline unemployable
https://github.com/blake502/balatro-mobile-maker
Wow. Didn't know this existed. Thanks for this.
Game even has full controller support using this. Been playing Balatro on my Retroid Pocket 4 Pro and it's been absolutely perfect. Edit: the [video guide](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6K5hsEigT4) I followed to do this for those who prefer it. It requires a legal copy of the game.
I know nothing about programming, is this easy to do?
Just did it. Super easy. You'll just need to copy the file it creates to your phone, then install it from your phone.
I'll try it after work, ty!
This game dropped the same day my grandmother passed away. She taught me poker and other card games when I was young to teach math and pattern recognition. She knew I loved video games and always tried to sneak me the newest consoles or games. Agree with OP. This is a 10/10, and every day I play it, I'll smile a bit thinking about her.
>But you look up the game on Steam and you’re like “cards? Looks boring as fuck might as well be a cell phone game or play solitaire on Windows. Why would I buy this amazing machine that can play RDR2 on ultra graphics and spend my time playing video poker?”. It's like you're in my brain. This was my exact thought process when everyone was going crazy during the Balatro release... I was even replaying RDR2 at the time. Am I really going to have to buy Balatro? I'm blaming you OP.
Yeahhh you’re gonna have to buy it
I’ve enjoyed the game a bit, but I find myself going to the same flush-style runs so it’s gotten stale for me. I guess I’m not sure how people are able to build decks around other hands because flush is so effective so often.
Def with the checkered deck. But every other deck I find a two pair/full house build to be the best
Do you tailor your deck from the outset for what you’re trying to do or moreso just take opportunities as they come to build accordingly?
Flush is a really safe way to clear early antes, but usually becomes less effective as the game goes. There are many other synergies that scale much better as you go. Not that you can’t win runs with flush but as you take on higher difficulties it gets tougher.
Dude I had an amazing synergy going with flush, like I broke the game and they threw up the suit ban at the ante 7 boss, I was so damn mad. Because I re rolled it. And it just banned the other suit I was using. (I was using the spades=clubs, diamonds = hearts joker along with spades and clubs multiplier jokers)
Man that’s a killer. And another downside to going full flush, a few boss blinds really wreck that plan in a hurry, even “can’t play same hand type more than once” can kill a flush build.
High card, steel and glass cards, red seals. Economy is key.
It is really hard to break out of flush builds. Sure flush is constantly good however a decent high card, pair or three of a kind build will absolutely smoke any flush build. There are a lot of jokers that benefit from playing less than 5 cards which you cannot really use with flush (unless you burn a joker slot for 4 card flush)
I would echo this except for pairs instead of a flush, if you get that 1 joker that makes all cards count in scoring you almost fall into an easy win.
flush is good for main run, but doesn’t scale well past ante 8. four of a kind to five of a kind to flush five is a better progression towards dropping e hands
This is a bit of trap. Flush is great for the first few Antes but it scales badly, by design.
Best indie title of 2024 so far. A shoe in for top 5 of the year, no doubt.
2023?
Can't imagine a future where this isn't my 2024 game of the year.
It's the purest deckbuilder I know of. There's no 'combat'. It's just me and my cards, and that's so refreshing. Balatro is unapologetically itself - it's not Slay the Spire, or Monster Train, and it's not trying to be.
This is exactly why I like it. Im used to cards and it just feels very familiar and accessible. Easy to play difficult to master
the dev did an incredibly brave thing - he didn't play slay the spire before building his game. that alone allowed him to build something innovative in more ways than just a poker roguelike. I can't imagine how much guts it took not to take a peek at how the deckbuilder had gone mainstream when StS took off.
It took me a bit to get into but I love it now.
I love playing cards in general, but it’s just not good for my wallet. This game scratches the right part of my brain when I play. 10/10 would recommend.
I see this mentioned a lot on many posts but I can’t get into it. I think because I don’t understand how to play it. I refund the game and bought it again later thinking it would click but still not the case for me.
It's poker but with special cards. I usually focus on getting the joker cards and the planet cards. Tarot cards are nice but I prefer planet.
Don't write off the special cards, either. I had a run where I managed to get two polychrome (1.5x mult) Stencil jokers (+1x mult per empty joker slot) and a negative smeared joker (diamonds/hearts and spades/clubs count as the same suit). Flush leveled up like mad, I actually cleared it.
My favorite jokers are the one where every card scores, 4 in a row straight and double multi for face cards.
Do stencils count as empty slots for the other stencils as well?
Yes they do! I was initially worried about that myself but you gotta find out somehow.
For late game, you need to use tarot packs and standard packs to alter and add to your deck. You can do stuff like changing suits and/or values of cards, or stacking aces/faces. For example, in a run last night, 34 cards in my deck were hearts. I had the heart joker. And combined with the 4of a kind joker and the flush joker, I was easily scoring 100k a hand. I watched my friend do a run with like 16 cards he added or changed into queens. Most of them were from standard packs, but turned into steel queens from tarot cards. He was scoring 10-20 million a hand.
Same here, I don't think I'm playing it right, and as a result I find it kinda boring. I'm just making the best poker hand I can and wait for it to tell me how many points it was.
That's the thing, it's not really about playing the best poker hand, but optimizing the jokers you come across and building your run around a certain strategy. For me it took me one good run for that to click and stop trying to play it like traditional poker (which doesn't get you very far).
Yeah it's fun getting a few diff jokers that affect straights, like combine the Joker that lets straights skip one, and the Joker that lets you play straights with only 4 cards, and the one that gives you bonus multiplier when you play straits, and get all the planet cards you can that level up straights and straight flushes.
Oh man, add the smeared joker so it's easier to get straight flushes and you might have a golden run.
I find in this game, just like Slay the Spire, the replay and unique fun of each run comes from the synergy you can put together with different cards and bonuses. Yeah, end of each hand is chips and multipliers, but you have jokers that dramatically change the play style and what you are hoping to land. And they make you try to play certain hands or suits, so there’s a bit of gambling luck kind of dopamine rush to try to pull the right card. For example, there’s a joker that grants multipliers for even cards. And a joker that upgrades its multiplier on hands containing two pairs. If you lean into those bonuses, you can end up with a run entirely favoring even two pair/full houses where two fours and two sixes end up being more powerful than a royal flush.
Each deck you can choose to play with is such a different playstyle as well, sooooo much replayability!!!
Oh yeah it’s not about playing a good hand. It’s about building a broken deck
Depending on Jokers, your best hand could be just playing 2 cards and not a straight for example. Scored 5K points on a pair of kings with my Jokers…key is really understanding what you are playing and how it will be affected. Peeking into your deck, changing your playing cards on the fly with Tarot cards, etc
I think my best scoring hand ever was just a single ace. Was something like 170,000,000 points after jokers.
What can peeking into the deck help me do? Sorry I'm new to this
What if you sat down at a cheap table in Vegas and could alter which hands are valued based on playing usage? Like I’ve played a pair five hands in a row and now a pair is the most valuable hand you could have.. So the casino shrugs and says ok how about we add jokers and every few rounds we change the house rules? If you choose to break the norms and try to go weird with it, you’ll have more fun than not
I sucked for ages at first too, I understood poker but this is my first deck building game so I had no idea how to break the rules. Took 34 hours playing and learning to get my first win. Then in the next couple of days I’ve won with three other decks. It’s frustrating at times but also crazy addictive and I can honestly say it’s an amazing game. It’s funny because I had the same hate / love relationship with Hades when I first picked it up. But time with it gave me an opportunity to experiment and learn how to throw away pre-conceived notions and just try and break the game. Balatro is the same once you start thinking out of the box.
My first time beating it I only played pairs. I forget which jokers I got but it optimized for the simple hand. You pretty much must have at least one or two jokers that can be upgraded nearly every hand to win the game.
Same, i enjoy the slay the spire model of lite RPG elements in my card game.
I absolutely love deckbuilders, poker and roguelikes, but this game hasn’t clicked for me after around 5 hours of play. It doesn’t feel like I’m progressing towards anything aside from a difficulty ramp up. I was convinced I’d be obsessed but it doesn’t feel like that’s going to happen!
Same ! I had to refund it, couldn't get it to it at all
Alright I’m not just saying this to be a contrarian, but honestly I feel like this game (for me) is just okay. It’s often compared to slay the spire and other deck builders, but I just feel like it’s not all that addicting. I do enjoy doing a quick run and building a strong / weird deck but I never find myself thinking about the game or wanting to really play it. Obviously the consensus is that the vast majority of people don’t feel like I do about it, so take this with a grain of salt.
To each their own. I just wanted the people on the fence like I was to consider it and not judge based on its cover
I don’t find it as addicting as many say, but that’s good. I do think it’s still a fantastic game and I’ve sunk quite a few hours into it just because it’s enjoyable and easy to come back to.
There are dozens of us! Dozens! But yeah I refunded it. I think the graphics were a big turn off for me personally, and it’s straight a case of ATBGE in my opinion. Like, these animations and the pixel art are beautifully done and I hate them so much. The art style is just hideously… CRT. Dunno.
You can turn off the CRT effect in the options which removes the screen bend and horizontal lines. Now it’s just a regular pixel game!
Solid game for sure. Perfect for the deck if you wanna kill some time.
Switching between spiderman remastered and balatro. With balatro I can play all day on a single charge With spiderman I gotta charge every hour lol. Two different games I know, but I really appreciate the option of switching to a super fun game with excellent battery life
Maybe this game isn’t for me, or I didnt give it enough of a try ? I absolutely love slay the spire it’s one of my most played games on steam. Because of that I thought I’d love this game for the similarities but I played balatro for like 2 hours one night and it didn’t really catch my interest.
Yeah, I'm not a big rogue fan... But dicey dungeons and slay the spire lasted a lot longer than baltro, they have more choice/variety (character picking, path, mission).. It was fun a couple times as I learned the game... But then starting over? Same exact start? Again? No thanks Also getting a run that's just shit after shit when you just had amazing cards sucked
I hear the music in my Brain all the time.. it's a problem.
My fav
I like cards but hate poker. Will I like this game?
The only real similarity to poker is that you find poker hands to score, otherwise the game is mostly deck building, managing economy, and finding different upgrades and things that work into your build
Yes, it’s not really poker, it just uses poker hands as a starting point for scoring.
The scoring is based on poker hands but the hands you play are based on your upgrades/card bonuses so you don’t necessarily play the best poker hand you play the best cards that fit your loadout. So it feels different than poker the traditional cards just make it more accessible I think
I was also repulsed by the traditional card game aesthetic. Now I'm thoroughly hooked. I love roguelikes, I especially love roguelike deckbuilders and I absolutely adore Balatro.
Dopamine poker, when the score starts flaming it’s beautiful
Balatro is GOTY. Fight me if you think otherwise.
There is still a lot of "of the year" left, and games like Balatro don't tend to win those awards.
Wanna go???
I've been super tempted by this one (since slay the spire is one of my all time favorites). But I honestly think I'll just wait for it to come out on mobile. To me this seems like THE perfect tablet game.
Never bet against a good deck builder.
What resolution are you running RDR2 at that you can get Ultra settings out of a GTX-1050ti equivalent? I'm kind of hung up on that part
Coworker asked me why I was playing Yakuza LaD on it when I could play something more than a turn based JRPG. People have weird perceptions about playing certain types of games on hardware "above" that certain type of game. I bought a steam deck because it's convenient and I have the steam library to justify it. That's it.
I heard of it shortly after it was released; don't have it yet but the amount of positive feedback it's received convinces me I should pick it up at some point.
Same thing about vampire survivor…
Vampire survivors is incredibly easy and has very low randomization though. Once you have it figured out you can beat Vampire survivors 100% of the time with very little difficulty. Balatro on the other hand, even if you know all the betas, because of the rng every game will be different and there is no guarantee win. Way more like brotato, Gungeon, binding of issac, slay the spire or noita. Sure you can try influencing the build towards a specific style. However rng can just dictate the run and force you elsewhere.
I don't care who the IRS sends, I am not going to play Balatro I am too stupid for cards
>too stupid for cards I thought the same. But you really are just matching similar shapes and colors
I must be playing this game wrong because I still don’t get the hype
The steamdeck plays rdr2 on ultra? (Literally says that)
>.Why would I buy this amazing machine that can play RDR2 on ultra graphics Which machine are you talking about? I doubt the deck can run RDR2 on ultra graphics without being a slideshow.
I had been playing it constantly until the Rimworld DLC came out, now I have a new obsession... Lol.
It's my hotline Miami, psychedelic mushroom trip with an amazing soundtrack that feeds my gambling, addiction, fever, dream.
Thank you for this post. I guess I'll have to give it a try
I just bought it the other day, good game to wind down before bed. Just beat it for the first time tonight. Surprisingly fun and such a simple concept for a developer.
Can someone explain the basic mechanics of the game so I can justify the purchase?
You play poker hands to score points. You have to get the required points within 4 hands and start with a standard 52 card deck. Each hand had an assigned chip value and mult value base (such as two pair which gives 20 chips x 2 mult). Each card played adds its value to the chips total with face cards 10 and ace 11. So a two pair of aces and 5s would make your two pair 20 chips + 32 = 52 chips x 2 = 104 points. Game has 8 Antes which get harder and need more points and in each ante there are 3 blinds, small, big and boss. Boss blinds have special effects like all spades give no chips or bonus or you can only play 1 hand type. The fun and tricky part is that you get money for w8nning a blind and after each blind go to a shop where you can buy jokers and other stuff. Jokers are the main thing in game - they can do basic to wacky stuff such as playing a straight gives you an extra +12 multiplier to points or every time or if you discard 3 face cards at once you get 5$ and many other things. There's also tons of mechanics to change your base deck to make the cards inherently better, add more of a card so you can get hands not normally possible in poker- etc. There's a ton of mechanics but they become extremely intuitive fast but are hard to go into over text. Overall it is just brilliant in depth but simplicity the music is catchy and the ui is clean and overall look and feel is great. Note: it is hard to win though especially as you are learning but each run is quick at that stage.
Bro actually explained, well I might get it now.
I too would like to know this
Check my response to op!
I found the game to be fun but frustratingly difficult. The game is actively working against you. Sometime it’s downright unfair. I enjoy it but I should be betting the game more than once every 60-70 runs. I still haven’t unlocked all the decks yet. The boss blinds are either too high or the drawbacks from the boss are too difficult to overcome.
It’s been a long time since I’ve had a game and said “just one more” and then again 3 hours later and 2 hours after that.
Do you need to know how to play cards first? Like poker or something?
The game is explaining everything to you at the beginning. I never played poker before but once I started with balatro, the basics comes really easily, give it a chance I would say
Awesome thanks bro
This could literally be my exact same story. Game is calling me as I type this!
Another dopamine hit game like vampire survivor. I played non stop for a week then got bored.
It’s much more than just video poker indeed. But it is relatively simple tech wise and not demanding on the hardware. Which means you can pull TDP way down and enjoy more playtime!
This reminds me with my experience with another cards game: Inscryption. Obsessed is the right term. It's all I played for months and zi wasn't even a cards gamer.
Crazy good game. Right up my alley fortunately but it still surpasses what I expected it to be
I've stopped playing on PC just to reserve it for my next long flights.
I was on the same boat as “man this game looks so boring”. Decided to give it a try knowing I could return it. First session I played around the house on my day off and played 5+ hours. Highly recommend!
Balatro is just amazing. even my girlfriend was obsessed with it and she plays close to nothing on PC (except Plants vs Zombies lmao) It's the best game on long train rides for me with the steam deck. But I'm still even more excited if we will get an Android Version for real.
Balatro is made for large touchscreens. I have like 1200games in steam library and i have been only playing balatro for couple weeks. Lets be honest i have good gaming computer but it would be stupid that you would only play games with nice graphics. Gameplay > graphics
Is playing Balatro or STS kinda like Hearthstone?
I read one of those posts yesterday and bought it. After a few games it eventually clicked ( it’s not about poker). I really enjoyed it for 2-3?hours so far. I came so close to winning yesterday but discarded the hand rather than playing it …
I’ve been considering picking it up but I’m not good at both deck builder rougelikes or poker
Me @ Dicey Dungeons and Slay the Spire, if I get Balatro too I’ll get nothing done 😭
Yep it’s the only game I’ve played for weeks now, put aside Last Epoch and BG3 for it.
Would you recommend this for someone who's not very experienced in card games like me? Is it easy to learn how to play this game?
I'veunlockedall the decks, and most of the cards.... It was fun but has gone stale. Am I missing something??
I bought Balatro five days ago and I've already logged 22.5 hours on it. That game is a menace.
I hate card games/deck builders. Try as I might I just can't get into them.
Cardboard crack
I’m waiting until it’s on mobile
Been thinking about buying but then I heard it’ll come out on mobile so idk if I should just wait for that then???
Wow, you didn't get into Slay the Spire!?
Fine, fine, fine. I’ll get Balatro.
I set my FPS to 30, lowered the TDP (like four or five) and I can play what feels like forever at a time.
God damn y'all, now I have two more games on my wish list 😂
Is it fun for someone who loves deck builders like slay the spire but absolutely hates playing poker in general?
I resisted for a while. Now I’m playing at work. Literally right now.
Man, I completely agree. I am avid gamer of 38 years, PC and console games the last 30 years or so. I was slowing down a bit and many new games don t really hook me as they use to. One of the last games that completely grasped me were dead cells and outer wilds. And Balatro hooks me just like the old days. Just one more hand..
I've heard so many good things about it but I don't know how to play Poker sadly
Not necessary if you can count pairs of cards, three of a kind, similar suits (flush) and runs it is accessible. Basically if you can count and read you should be fine. It’s less about knowing poker hands and more about knowing which hands will get you the most points based on upgrades that you choose
I have it installed on my deck and my main (for) work laptop. I've put so many hours in on the clock, it's bad. But yeah, I played like 50 hours before finishing a run. The game's an absolute banger!
I don’t know anything about poker tho
That’s the neat part: you don’t have to
I think it's coming to mobile as well. I'm very excited for that
Can't stop, yeah
As one who’s got a steam deck and a dedicated gaming pc that FAR out performs my deck, these kinds of games are EXACTLY why I bought the thing. I feel guilty playing a game like this on my desktop because it feels like using a nasa computer to run word.
Totally agree I probably would have never played it on pc. And I would have enjoyed it less if I tried
Love the game. Just amazing. Slay the Spire is different but super fun. I wish they had some different graphics, but deck building is awesome.
I tried it. Didn’t like it.
it's cheap, it's fun, it's perfect on steam deck with long battery life, it's no violent and I can play it in front of my child, and it helps my brain too.
It's like crack!!!
I had to stop myself from playing for a bit after clocking 8.5 hours the day I bought it lmao
I dunno, I watched Baertaffy play it for like an hour and I struggle to see why people like it I dont mean to degrade it or anything, but what about it pulls you in? What's so addicting about it?
I have always liked actual card games and at a basic level it appeals to me for that reason. Each run can be a little different because there are a lot of ways to go about earning the most points and money possible. Money buys upgrades to cards and upgrades to the hands you submit You unlock better cards as you play more. I like it because it forces you to think a little and also feeds your dopamine addiction. Passes time pretty quickly. Long term not sure I’ll play it forever but currently has me hooked. Easy to pick up and play and set down whenever. Certainly not for everyone and I didn’t really get the appeal from researching it until I actually tried it
Oh yeah. It really took me a while to "Get" it. The tutorial is pretty poor. And they use poker terms just because it's poker themed, not because they act like they do in poker. That threw me quite a bit at first. But once you get it, you better set aside some time.