BenTheCoug Balatro Review

Pros + Very, very satisfying gameplay loop. Easy to get caught up playing dozens of runs over hours at a time. + Good variety of Jokers and other enhancement cards to power up your hands. + Huge number of different challenges and difficulty “stakes” to make each run different and enhance replayability. + The game is challenging in a really balanced and satisfying way. Beating the final ante is not simple and it takes a lot of focus and care to arrive there. It makes for an extremely cathartic victory when you do suceed. Cons - I think Balatro would benefit from a bit more hand-holding or guardrails at times, at least for players like me who enjoy the game but aren’t necessarily experts at it. There’s really not much in the way of assists in the game and I think more casual players could benefit from such mechanics. - It’s inherently a part of gambling, but the RNG/luck-based nature of Baltro can lead to some runs failing to get off the ground before they start if your Jokers and other cards suck. Some runs end up feeling like wasted time, which is not a good feeling. VERDICT: Balatro is a fast-paced, addictive rogue-like with a deep pool of challenges to keep you occupied. It suffers a bit from being a game reliant on RNG/luck, but overall it’s one of the most fun and quirky gaming experiences in recent memory.