Wikipedia

Balatro (video game)

Balatro (/ˈbɑːlɑːtroʊ/ BAH-lah-troh[1]) is a poker-themed roguelike deck-building video game developed by LocalThunk and published by Playstack. It was released on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch on February 20, 2024, with a port to macOS on March 1. Ports for Android and iOS are planned. In the game, players play poker hands to score points and defeat "blinds", while improving their deck and purchasing joker cards with passive effects.

Balatro
Developer(s)LocalThunk
Publisher(s)Playstack
Composer(s)LouisF
EngineLöve
Platform(s)
ReleasePlayStation, Switch, Windows, Xbox
  • WW: February 20, 2024
macOS
  • WW: March 1, 2024
Genre(s)Roguelike deck-building
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay edit

Balatro is a poker-themed roguelike deck-building video game, with the aim being to beat all rounds, known as "Antes", by scoring enough points and improving their deck with various joker cards, each with their own passive effects. Each Ante has three rounds, called "Blinds": a "Small Blind", a "Big Blind" and a "Boss Blind"; each blind has a target score to beat, which the player must reach by playing poker hands from a deck, having a set amount of hands and discards at their disposal. While the Small and Big Blinds can be skipped, which in turn can lead to various effects, the Boss Blind cannot, meaning that beating the Boss Blind is mandatory to advance to the next Ante. Each Boss Blind has its own unique challenge: for example, the Verdant Leaf, the demo's final Boss Blind, prevents all cards from being counted in scoring until the player removes a joker from their inventory, while The Eye disallows the use of a hand played previously during its Blind. Each of the Boss Blinds (excluding the final Boss Blind) is based on a letter of the Phoenician alphabet.

Once a Blind has been defeated, the player gets income depending on how many hands they have left as well as interest before being able to access the shop, where they may purchase various types of cards: Jokers grant unique bonuses which activate under specific conditions, often increasing the score of the player's hand or generating more money and cards; Arcanas, themed around the major arcana of a standard tarot deck, are consumable cards which modify the cards in the player's deck and can be stored for later use and used during a Blind; Planets are consumables which increase the scoring value of a certain hand; Vouchers, which are one-time purchases and restock after defeating a Boss Blind, permanently affect various aspects of the game, like the player's available hands and discards or the price of items in the shop. The amount of these special cards the player can carry at the same time is limited to 5 Jokers and 2 consumables by default; players can sell special cards at any time to recover some money and free up their slots. Also available in the shop are 'booster packs' for each card type, which offer a random selection of that card type for the player to choose one or two of. The last special card type, Spectral cards, can only be accessed through these booster packs and grant large scale modifications to the player's cards, often with a downside attached. All cards in Balatro can also be enhanced through various Jokers and Arcana cards, granting them bonuses such as additional score when played or extra money when kept in hand. Jokers can be enhanced to increase the score of all hands played while the Joker is held, or grant additional slots for Jokers.

Development and release edit

The one-person developer LocalThunk is based in Canada.[2] LocalThunk had developed Balatro over the two-and-a-half years prior to release, one of several small games he had developed over the previous ten years and shared with friends.[3]

Balatro had started based on an idea of the Cantonese card game Big Two, which has players playing a number of cards to create poker-like hands, while adding elements to play it online. He then saw the number of roguelike deckbuilders on Steam, and while he didn't play, he looked at videos of Luck Be a Landlord, a roguelike built around a slot machine concept in which the player has limited spins to reach a target value on each round.[3] He was inspired to transition his Big Two approach to be a single-player roguelike deckbuilder, removing the online play, and consciously avoiding playing any of the other deckbuilders to avoid taking ideas from these games. He had only played Slay the Spire near the end of development to understand how that game implemented its control scheme.[3]

About a year prior to release, LocalThunk quit his day job to focus on finishing Balatro "to put on a resume." He uploaded an early build to Steam, which eventually led to major streamers playing the game and providing pre-release publicity. As a result of this publicity, LocalThunk incorporated some player feedback into the final version of the game, such as adding boss battles, though he also rejected many ideas.[3]

Shortly after the game's release, Balatro's PEGI rating was changed from 3+ to 18+ for "prominent gambling imagery" due to PEGI's strict rules on portraying gambling, causing the game to be removed from sale in certain territories. Publisher Playstack stated that they had discussed the game's content with PEGI prior to release (causing its initial 18+ rating to be lowered to 3+) and that, while being based on poker, the game does not portray any form of gambling, and intended to appeal the re-rating.[4]

LocalThunk and Playstack have confirmed plans for ports to Android and iOS mobile devices.[5]

Reception edit

Balatro has received "universal acclaim", according to Metacritic.[6][7][8][9]

Alex Orona from Nintendo World Report called it "a smart game" with "deep mechanics" and "fast paced".[14] Jordan Helm from Hardcore Gamer called it "addictive" and "expertly-crafted".[13]

Within eight hours of release, the game had made over $1 million in gross revenue according to publisher Playstack, their fastest-selling game to date. Over 250,000 copies were sold in the first three days,[18] 500,000 copies in the first ten days.[19] and one million within the first month.[20]

References edit

  1. ^ Carpenter, Nicole (February 29, 2024). "How do you pronounce Balatro? We asked the developer". Polygon. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
  2. ^ "Playstack Goes All In on Developer LocalThunk's 'Balatro' in Latest Publishing Deal". Games Press (Press release). Playstack. September 22, 2023. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d Machkovech, Sam (February 22, 2024). "Exploring Balatro's hype, its ingenious twists on poker, and its mysterious creator". GamesRadar+. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
  4. ^ Wales, Matt (March 1, 2024). "Rogue-like poker hit Balatro pulled from sale in some countries due to unexpected ratings change". Eurogamer. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  5. ^ Hollister, Sean (March 15, 2024). "Smash hit Balatro is coming to iPhone and Android". The Verge. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  6. ^ a b "Balatro for PC Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
  7. ^ a b "Balatro for Xbox Series X Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
  8. ^ a b "Balatro for PlayStation 5 Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
  9. ^ a b "Balatro for Switch Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
  10. ^ "Balatro Reviews". OpenCritic. OpenCritic Inc. February 25, 2024. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  11. ^ Donlan, Christian (February 29, 2024). "Balatro review - near-infinite poker possibilities". Eurogamer. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
  12. ^ Stewart, Jordan (February 28, 2024). "Balatro Review". Game Informer. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  13. ^ a b Helm, Jordan (February 19, 2024). "Review: Balatro". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
  14. ^ a b Orona, Alex (February 19, 2024). "Balatro (Switch) Review". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
  15. ^ Stone, Abbie (February 19, 2024). "Balatro review". PC Gamer. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
  16. ^ Morley, Grayson (February 27, 2024). "Balatro cast a magic spell that made me like math". Polygon. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  17. ^ Tailby, Stephen (February 19, 2024). "Mini Review: Balatro (PS5) - Roguelike Poker Ain't No Joker". Push Square. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
  18. ^ Batchelor, James (February 27, 2024). "Balatro grossed $1m in eight hours". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved February 27, 2024.
  19. ^ @PlaystackGames (March 6, 2024). "🎉 Incredible news! 🥳 Balatro has hit the 500,000 copies mark in just 10 days across all platforms! Thank you for your amazing support - we're beyond grateful! 🙏" (Tweet). Retrieved March 11, 2024 – via Twitter.
  20. ^ Robinson, Andy (March 18, 2024). "Indie hit Balatro clears 1 million copies". Video Games Chronicle. Retrieved March 18, 2024.

External links edit

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