Most video games now fall into a few different categories, whether they be role-playing games (RPGs), first-person shooters (FPS) or even 2D. But Balatro, a card game released on Feb. 20, 2024, takes a different approach by combining a lot of different ideas to create an interesting game. 

Balatro takes ideas from Poker, Inscryption and other card-based games. It expands on their ideas in a way that combines them flawlessly and has a great user experience despite the different ideas it combined. It takes poker’s different types of hands (for example Pair and High Card), and combines them with Inscryption’s interesting play style of different cards with different uses. 

The game is rouge-like, meaning that once you lose, you have to restart the game. The goal is to get as far as possible by beating bosses. The bosses are called “Blinds” similar to the big and small blinds played in Poker. 

When you start, you have 52 cards and are only able to make basic hands like pairs, straights and flushes. To beat the bosses, you need to get a high amount of chips using joker cards. Joker cards provide this game its intricacies as you create a deck that is specific to whatever playstyle you decide. For example, you can create a “flush deck” in which you have joker cards that multiply your chips based on the number of cards you have of the same suit to get high chip counts. 

As the game was made in 2024, it provides a fresh take on card games in general, enticing both new and old players alike. “SoloThunk” created Balatro to be a game someone could play for hours, seeing what the game engine would allow them to get away with.

Overall, Balatro is a great game due to its ability to provide for a wide variety of different playstyles, and the sheer creativity it allows you to express. If you see a specific joker card, you can create a deck surrounding that card making your own specific play styles, and with over 100 joker cards, there’s a load of deck combinations.

The gameplay feels fluid and easy to understand to anyone. The music and sound effects only heighten the experience of the game. In my opinion, it should be a must-have for anyone who enjoys video games in general. 

If you’re a fan of solo games, Balatro is a great game to play when you have some time to spare. Available on PC, Xbox, Playstation and Mobile, the game has a wide range of ways to play it.