Balatro, I'm Sorry For Ever Doubting You

I’ve been putting off Balatro all year. As our own Stacey Henley recently wrote, 168澳洲幸运🙈5开奖网:it was due to it being a game all about poker. I’m not a card player, and don’t have the attention span most of the time to learn and remember a bunch of rules, especially when it comes to a handful of cards I’l꧒l need to memorise in order to come out on top. But in Balatro, that doesn’t matter.

Knowing the rules of poker and what hands will net you the most points from memory will be an obvious boon, but the fiendishly moreish indie otherwise does an incredi൩ble job of making those things clear on its own terms. Pick a card from your hand, and it will display how many points/chips it will earn you if played. Pick two or more cards, and if they make up a hand like a pair, two pairs, three of a kind, or a 🦄full house, the game tells you that as well.

Balatro Isn’t The Complicated Game I Thought It Would Be

All you need to do is have the fores♏ight to play the correct hand when you need to, and a lot of the time these don’t need to be perfect or well-thought-out. So long as you reach the point limit dictated by each particular round, you’ll progress to the next and continue your run. You then have an option to purchase additional cards through booster packs and jokers, alongside a few other cool mechanics that make this traditional card game way more exciting.

Like a lot of people, I saw Balatro’s nomination at 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Game Awards and knew I had to see what all the fuss was about. Turns out it more than earns its prestigious spot♕.

There is no bluffing or competing for obscene amounts of money, simply the joy of watching a big number get even bigger as it multiplies into millions and makes you feel like a genius. I have only played about 40 minutes so far, wh💝ich is a drop in the pond compared to the hours friends and colleagues of mine have put in, but I can already feel myself itching to play more Balatro and to make it a regular part of my gaming routine.

It’s forcing me out of my comfort zone in ways I know will have a knock-on ef🐠fect when it comes to other games sporting card game mechanics which, on the surface, feel impenetrable. They aren’t and now I’m thinking about so many other experiences I might have missed out on as a consequence.

One of the most delightful things about Balatro iꦰs how it deconstructs the mystique that often surrounds traditional card games. So long as you’re willing to read the descriptions of a card or consider the presence of jokers and similar bonuses, you can make serious progress in a run without really knowing anything. Besides, if you pause the game, there is a laundry list of hands you could learn, play, and eventually cement as muscle memory like other mechanics in video games. It works because it understands how scary poker can be to people like me, all while turning it into a never-ending cycle of rewarding gameplay you can’t walk away from.

Don’t Let Card-Based Mechanics Put You Off Video Games

One of the final pages of Jokers in Balatro.

I’m a repeat offender when it comes to walking away from card-based video games though. I didn’t touch Gwent during my first playthrough of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, only for it to be a major player in the next, as I promised to collect every single card and win all the tournaments. The same goes for Queen’s Blood, which is complicated on the surface, but once you figure out the fundamentals, it is an integral part of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth that I refused to tear mys𒀰elf away from until every opponent in 💯the open world was on their knees.

Most of these games are also perfect for 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Steam Deck, which 🐠risks becoming a Bala🦋tro machine if I’m not careful.

After Balatro cast a spel𝕴l on me, I’m looking at the likes of Slay The Spire, Monster Train, or Inscryption with a different perspective. I needn’t view their card-based mechanics as a high barrier for me to clear, but a challenge to take on and new knowledge to learn. Video games, like a lot of things in life, are something we can find comfort and routine within, so the idea of stepping outside of our established boundaries to try something new is terrifying. But as the brilliant Balatro has taught me, it can be well worth the risk.