Balatro

 

Release: 2024

Developer: LocalThunk

Publisher: Playstack

Gameplay Stats: Completion 26%, 14 games won

Oh wow, I don't really know what to say here. It's a Poker rogue-lite. Your hand is 8 and you can play/discard several times per round to make whatever poker hands will score the most chips. Sounds simple until you can upgrade poker hands to be worth more than others and you introduce game changing jokers that change how scoring works and how much money you earn between rounds.

This game seems really simple on the face but it is very deep. And very fun! I have been playing on my phone instead of on a computer and having it available to me at all times may have been a mistake. It's really dang good! I thought the game was overhyped when I first heard about it earlier in the year, but I absolutely see the appeal after playing around with it for a dozen or so hours.

I'd recommend this game to anyone with almost no reservations. It's Poker so the basic rules are quite simple but the game itself is very deep and complicated. It's relatively expensive as a mobile game, but I think it's worth the $10.