If The Binding of Isaac and Slay the Spire had a baby that spoke only in poker terms, it would be Balatro. This roguelike card game brings a fresh take on poker by mixing traditional hands with chaotic card combinations, creating an experience that’s unpredictable, challenging, and endlessly creative.

A two pair of jacks and aces being played in balatro

All In on Gameplay

At its core, Balatro sticks to traditional poker hands, pairs, straights, flushes, and full houses, to rack up points. But where it gets interesting is with the joker cards, which can dramatically alter how you approach the game. Jokers in Balatro act like wild cards that bend or break the rules of poker, allowing you to form hands in unique ways, adjust scoring, and even synergise with other cards in your deck.

For instance, one joker might let you form a straight with just four cards instead of five, while another allows you to skip a card in a straight. With over 150 different jokers, each run can be wildly different depending on the combinations you choose. This flexibility allows you to experiment, turning each hand into a new puzzle and keeping you on your toes.

Deckbuilding Madness

Building your deck in Balatro feels like cooking with a pantry full of strange ingredients. You can add cards that modify how you score or provide powerful multipliers for specific hands. Special rarer cards, such as holographic jokers, foil cards, and glass cards, can have massive effects, like doubling your score for certain hands or adding extra points for rare combinations. These cards are hard to come by, but they can change the tide of a run.

However, you can only have five jokers in your deck at any given time, so you’ll constantly be faced with tough decisions about which ones to keep and which ones to sell. This adds a balancing act to deck-building, as you weigh the potential benefits of each joker while managing space in your deck.

5 active joker cards in a deck

Along with the jokers, you’ll encounter Planet and Tarot cards which you find in packs, each offering unique bonuses. Planet cards increase your multiplier based on suits, while Tarot cards provide game-changing powers such as changing base cards into more powerful card types. These special cards add an additional layer of complexity to your deck-building strategy, giving you even more ways to experiment and customise your playstyle.

A Puzzle with High Stakes

Each run in Balatro is a challenge where your goal is to pass a point threshold for each round by forming poker hands. You’ll play through two rounds and face a boss round. The point threshold for each round is based on the hands you build, and once you clear the rounds, you move on to face a boss, which throw curveballs that can force you to completely rethink your strategy, such as preventing you from playing straights for the duration of the fight or disabling a random joker in your deck each hand. Boss fights add an extra layer of chaos and unpredictability, making each victory feel earned and hard-fought.

After defeating a boss, you enter the next ante, where the stakes are raised, and the rules become even more twisted. Each ante is progressively more difficult, adding to the challenge and complexity of the game. Once you clear the 8th ante, you’ve won the run, but getting there is no easy feat.

Relentless Challenges and Progression

Progression in Balatro is deeply tied to unlocking new jokers, special cards, and decks, each introducing new strategies and gameplay mechanics. Some jokers are unlocked through specific actions or milestones. For example, completing a hand with only gold cards might unlock a unique joker, while discarding a Royal Flush could unlock another. These unlocks give you new tools to experiment with as you progress through the game.

Decks also introduce unique challenges. Some decks, for example, might only contain two suits, making flushes easier to achieve but creating new strategic hurdles. These decks are unlocked through missions tied to specific conditions, and each one offers a different way to approach the game.

The ability to reroll shop options adds yet another layer of strategy, allowing you to experiment with different jokers and cards mid-run. The game encourages both long-term progression and short-term adaptation, making every run feel fresh and engaging.

A Visual and Auditory Delight

The user interface in Balatro is clean and efficient, with a design that avoids clutter and makes it easy to navigate. This is especially important for mobile play, where simplicity and clarity are key. The sound design complements this by providing satisfying audio cues and progressively intensifying effects that match the growing tension of each run. The visual and auditory elements work together to create an immersive experience that keeps you engaged.

Accessibility Features

Balatro for mobile is designed with accessibility in mind, Vibration and screen shake can be toggled off for those who may experience discomfort with these effects, ensuring a smoother, more comfortable gameplay experience. Game speed and reduced motion options offer additional flexibility, allowing players to adjust the pace of gameplay and minimise visual distractions that could otherwise cause discomfort, especially for those sensitive to rapid movements or flashing visuals.

For players with visual impairments or those who prefer a more accessible visual presentation, high contrast cards make it easier to distinguish between different suits and card types, while display stake stickers provide clear visual markers of the current stakes during a run. The pixel art smoothing option helps to refine the visual quality, and the CRT filter provides a nostalgic effect that can make the visuals more aesthetically pleasing.

Final Thoughts: A Winning Hand

Balatro is a roguelike card game that expertly blends strategy and chaos. The combination of traditional poker hands with the unpredictability of joker cards keeps each run exciting and fresh. The challenge of unlocking new jokers, progressing through ante levels, and adapting to bosses ensures that there’s always something new to discover.

While the game can be frustrating at times, especially when your carefully crafted strategy is undone by an unpredictable boss fight, the progression and discovery keep you coming back for more. Whether you’re in it for the puzzle-like challenge of crafting the perfect deck or just to see how wild you can make your joker combos, Balatro delivers a rewarding and dynamic experience.

Verdict: 4/5 jokers – A wild ride full of strategy, chaos, and endless possibilities.