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Balatro |OT| You Wanna Know How I Got These Cards?

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Messofanego

Messofanego

Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,510
UK
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View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2379780/Balatro/​

Platform(s): PC (Steam), Nintendo Switch, Playstation, Xbox
Demo: Yes
Release Date: February 20th 2024
Steam release countdown:
Feb 20, 2024 at 10:00 AM
Console release countdown:
Feb 20, 2024 at 11:00 AM
Genre: Deck-building, roguelike
Price: CDN$ 17.09, $14.99 / €13.99 / £12.79
Player(s): 1
Format: Digital
Developer: LocalThunk (1)
Publisher: Playstack
Location: Canada
Size: 50MB
Game length: 7+ hours


(94 top critic average on Opencritic, 100% of critics recommend)

Meatfist said:
Oh man, if this ever gets a mobile version I may never see my wife again
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Synopsis

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Balatro is a poker-inspired roguelike deck builder all about creating powerful synergies and winning big.

Combine valid poker hands with unique Joker cards in order to create varied synergies and builds. Earn enough chips to beat devious blinds, all while uncovering hidden bonus hands and decks as you progress. You're going to need every edge you can get in order to reach the boss blind, beat the final ante and secure victory.

Features

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  • The definitive poker roguelike experience.​
  • Endless possibilities - every pick-up, discard and joker can dramatically alter the course of your run.​
  • In-depth campaign mode complete with 8 difficulties, as well as challenge, daily and seeded runs.​
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Deftly deploy an array of potent tools: different Decks, Jokers, Tarot cards, Planet cards, Spectral cards, and Vouchers. Use these versatile instruments to ignite a combo frenzy and turbocharge your poker hands, crafting electrifying, adrenaline-fueled synergies.

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  • 150 Jokers, each with their own unique abilities​
  • 15 Decks with distinct modifiers to choose from for each run​
  • 5 potential variants of each Joker which add further abilities​
  • 22 Tarot cards variants that can enhance your regular playing cards​
  • 11 Planet cards that help level up your possible poker hands​
  • 32 Voucher cards to help provide permanent buffs for your current run​
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Immerse yourself in Balatro's distinctive psychedelic world. Let the synthwave soundtrack wash over you - wind down, escape the daily grind and prepare to enter the ultimate roguelike flow state.

Improve your collection and discover new cards and secrets with every single run.
Make use of the in-depth stats screen to study your best hands, most used Jokers, and more!
Immerse yourself in the CRT fuzz and enjoy detailed, hand-crafted pixel art.

Media


View: https://youtu.be/US3EeHQTLkc?si=4r2hRttb9A_2EuAI

View: https://youtu.be/9agt18c_V1U?si=rOWvJKv65hLW1o0v
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Kadzork

Kadzork

Has got mad skills!!
Member
Oct 27, 2017
17,221
I am afraid after reading impressions of the demo.

Can't wait - going PS5 for trophies and a nice big screen.
 
zulux21

zulux21

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,424
just 8 more hours.... so I guess I sleep now :P

edit: wait... 5 hours...

I seem to have miscalculated. that's an odd time for a steam release. usually it's 11 or 12 central :P

actually looking at the clock I wonder if it's about to become 4 hours :P
 
demu

demu

AVALANCHE
Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,731
Germany
It plays great on PC, but I gotta go for the Platinum. Looking at the trophy list, it's probably going to be pretty tough.
 
Uzzy

Uzzy

Gabe’s little helper
Member
Oct 25, 2017
27,644
Hull, UK
Tried out the demo last night. Two hours disappeared.

It's hecking good.

time to put my

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on
 
Titantodd

Titantodd

Member
May 3, 2023
2,109
Great OT!

I'm impatiently waiting for this to go live on my last day off work like an actual poker addict. Come on, baby, papa needs a new pair of shoes.
 
toythatkills

toythatkills

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,850
London, UK
Releases bang in the middle of a shift at work, and I have enough time to go home and sleep before leaving for work the next day. This is not ideal.
 
kortvarsel

kortvarsel

Avenger
Dec 11, 2017
517
Damn, I was planning on leaving early today to get started on this, but it's not releasing until I've finished for the day.
 
Jonnykong

Jonnykong

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,969
I'm watching the trailer and thinking, I don't really understand what looks so good here. But those review scores, hot damn. Must be something I need to play to grasp how great it is.
 

Pikalas Cage

Member
Oct 28, 2017
88
I just started Dave the Diver the other day but I can tell from the demo this is going to take its place as "comfy, numbers go up game to play while watching TV".
 
shenden

shenden

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,336
i'm shit at poker and probably don't know all the rules, but I'm thinking it shouldn't stop me from playing and enjoying this? I will give it a try no matter.
 
ara

ara

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,045
Might have to grab this, I need something to play when I'm in the mood for something easier to pick up than Yakuza. Anyone try the demo on the Deck, does it work fine? Have to decide between the Deck and the Switch and I'd rather get it on the former.
 
Launchpad

Launchpad

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,188
I never tried this on the Steam deck, I assume the controller support is decent since it's on consoles?
 
N64Controller

N64Controller

Member
Nov 2, 2017
8,416
shenden said:
i'm shit at poker and probably don't know all the rules, but I'm thinking it shouldn't stop me from playing and enjoying this? I will give it a try no matter.
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It absolutely shouldn't stop you from enjoying this. Poker is pretty much a theme and the concept of the hands is explained in the game. Plus the whole concept of the game is to play around the idea of poker, depending on your build you might end up with crazy multipliers from Clubs or Hearts, for example, and build yourself a HIGH CARD build or have pairs of 2s that end up paying a ton more than Straight or a Flush.

The jokers pretty much put the rules of the game upside down along with the rest of the crazy cards you can get!
 
Titantodd

Titantodd

Member
May 3, 2023
2,109
ara said:
Might have to grab this, I need something to play when I'm in the mood for something easier to pick up than Yakuza. Anyone try the demo on the Deck, does it work fine? Have to decide between the Deck and the Switch and I'd rather get it on the former.
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Put 8 hours (!) into the demo on the Steam Deck. Runs as brilliantly as you imagine it would. It's not a resource intensive game at all.
 
Danielsan

Danielsan

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,759
The Netherlands
Grabbing this first thing once I'm back from work.
Tried the demo this weekend and it instantly consumed me.

And yes, it works amazingly well on the Steam Deck. The controller controls are good, and it's such a light game that you can easily squeeze out 6+ hours of battery life on the deck.
 
ara

ara

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,045
Titantodd said:
Put 8 hours (!) into the demo on the Steam Deck. Runs as brilliantly as you imagine it would. It's not a resource intensive game at all.
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I figured that's likely the case, but I'm a new Deck owner so I had to make sure. Thanks for confirming! Definitely grabbing this tonight
 
Siri

Siri

Member
Nov 7, 2017
824
Launchpad said:
I never tried this on the Steam deck, I assume the controller support is decent since it's on consoles?
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I've exclusively played the game using the Steam Deck controls. I don't recommend playing on the Steam Deck because it's weapons grade narcotics

I'm all in after the first demo a while back - I've only just tried the second demo, and some of the new cards and features only makes it better. It's going to be a massive help that it's out just after I have dental surgery.
 
ekim

ekim

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,411
This doesn't have cross saves across systems, right? The demo runs without a hitch on my M1 Mac with Whisky/GPT. Switch has touch screen controls, which is nice but playing with mouse/trackpad is nicer. It would get the most playtime on Xbox though but only while streaming to my phone and I suspect that the readability of text won't be good here and playing with a controller is probably also not the best. Decisions…
 
StraySheep

StraySheep

It's Pronounced "Aerith"
Member
Oct 26, 2017
8,326
Think I'm getting this on PS5 and not Switch for trophies and Portal play. This is the sickness the Portal has enabled.
 
Megasoum

Megasoum

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,649
ekim said:
This doesn't have cross saves across systems, right? The demo runs without a hitch on my M1 Mac with Whisky/GPT. Switch has touch screen controls, which is nice but playing with mouse/trackpad is nicer. It would get the most playtime on Xbox though but only while streaming to my phone and I suspect that the readability of text won't be good here and playing with a controller is probably also not the best. Decisions…
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FWIW I've played a lot of the demo on Steam Deck and the controller controls are really great.
 
Fatoy

Fatoy

Member
Mar 13, 2019
7,285
I played an alarming amount of the Next Fest demo. Itching to press that purchase button later today!
 
NewDust

NewDust

Visited by Knack
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,684
After spending 35 hours with a free demo, only paying €14 for the full game feels like a steal.
 
Instant Vintage

Instant Vintage

Unshakable Resolve
Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,997
I'm double dipping and getting both the Steam and PS5 versions.

I have to support this because I dropped almost 70 hours into the free demo. Can't wait to drop more.
 
ekim

ekim

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,411
Played the demo some more:
What's the deal with the possibility to rearrange cards in the deck view?
And so far there is no mechanism to remove cards permanently from the deck right?
Also - it is generally wise to place the +-mult jokers in front of the x-mult jokers or does it depend if a joker is triggered by a single card or the played hand? Can't wrap my head around it right now. lol
 
Athleon

Athleon

Member
Oct 28, 2017
177
ekim said:
Played the demo some more:
What's the deal with the possibility to rearrange cards in the deck view?
And so far there is no mechanism to remove cards permanently from the deck right?
Also - it is generally wise to place the +-mult jokers in front of the x-mult jokers or does it depend if a joker is triggered by a single card or the played hand? Can't wrap my head around it right now. lol
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1. In the deck view it doesn't matter, in hand it actually affects the scoring order which can be relevant
2. There are multiple ways to permanently remove cards
3. Yes generally a good idea to do that. Things that trigger from cards being played will do so before any other jokers apply so placement doesn't matter there unless you're triggering multiple jokers with the same card.
 
Launchpad

Launchpad

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,188
ekim said:
Played the demo some more:
What's the deal with the possibility to rearrange cards in the deck view?
And so far there is no mechanism to remove cards permanently from the deck right?
Also - it is generally wise to place the +-mult jokers in front of the x-mult jokers or does it depend if a joker is triggered by a single card or the played hand? Can't wrap my head around it right now. lol
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I'm not sure what you mean by rearranging. You can just move the cards around as much as you want, both for easier readability and because certain cards function based on position of cards in the view.
There is a few ways to delete cards permanently, such as the trading card joker that deletes your first discard each round and there's a tarot that let's you delete a few cards.
I think the mult stuff is really dependant on what your build is but yes generally you want to x-mult jokers to be at the end because it multiplies the entire mult.
 

Pikalas Cage

Member
Oct 28, 2017
88
ekim said:
Played the demo some more:
What's the deal with the possibility to rearrange cards in the deck view?
And so far there is no mechanism to remove cards permanently from the deck right?
Also - it is generally wise to place the +-mult jokers in front of the x-mult jokers or does it depend if a joker is triggered by a single card or the played hand? Can't wrap my head around it right now. lol
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I've encountered some cards which remove other cards from the deck, although not too frequently.

Yes, I would always put the + multiplier jokers to the left of the x multiplier ones, unless you have a good reason not to. That way, when the x multiplier gets applied, you will also be multiplying the value of the + multiplier. You can always rearrange the joker cards at will though, if you find that something else works better.
 
ekim

ekim

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,411
Athleon said:
1. In the deck view it doesn't matter, in hand it actually affects the scoring order which can be relevant
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Oh never thought about that. That would've actually helped me with the Ante 6 Boss I think.
Thanks and also thanks to the other people answering my questions :)
 
J-Skee

J-Skee

The Wise Ones
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,160
Damn, should've brought my Steam Deck to work so I could play on my lunch break. The wait to get home will be brutal.
 
Dinjoralo

Dinjoralo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,301
I'm honestly not good enough to beat the demo. I don't get how people do it, I've always been trash at deckbuilding and this is no exception.

J-Skee said:
Damn, should've brought my Steam Deck to work so I could play on my lunch break. The wait to get home will be brutal.
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Would you even be able to download it? My work's WiFi blocks Steam, for obvious reasons.
 
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