"Good thing I didn't bet against you!"

There are video games that I consider to be the greatest of all time. Games like Tetris that brilliantly execute a falling puzzle arcade experience simply with 4-block configurations. It is the job of the game designer to craft mechanics and systems as flawlessly as possible, often attempting to evolve upon a formula that came before it.
The standard 52-card deck is no stranger to this; its centuries-old design still being used to this day, with most notably games like Solitaire and Poker, among others. Balatro manages to build upon the latter, in a way that I genuinely was not expecting.

I went into Balatro knowing only what I've heard, not what I've seen. I hear it's like Poker, one of my all-time classics that I'm familiar with, and I'm on board. I hear it's a roguelike and deck-builder, I hesitate because I don't see myself a big fan of those two genres. Now, I can gush all day about the pixel-art/CRT-filtered presentation (as I always do), but that's not even this game's big strength. Games of this type utilizing an RNG system can have a tough time finding difficulty balance for the player, but I think Balatro simply using the standard deck of 52 cards genuinely helps a lot in adapting to the randomness of the boss blinds and shop spawns. You begin with the same cards every time, to which you are then allowed to adjust to your liking, based on the tarots and Joker cards you find in your run, most of which that can either lead to the fired-up chips of a massive win or a simple fumble by a boss blind's "attacks". Finishing your first run will depend on both the RNG and your own strategy of aiming for the Poker hands that will reach you to the blind, and each failure will lead you closer to victory with more cards unlocking as you go.

To its design though, I personally think the only thing a bit lacking with Balatro is the simplicity of its nature. I wasn't going into this expecting some wild meta-narrative like Inscryption or anything, but I do kind of wish there was a bit more here. There are tons of cards to unlock and challenges to check out, but in the end, it's just the single experience with multiple handicaps to try out. Perhaps that adds to its brilliance though; I can easily see a game like this show up in an arcade or even (god forbid) a gambling casino.

Balatro, a modern evolution of Poker, deserves its place among classics like Tetris and Solitaire. It may not be addicting to everybody, especially those unfamiliar with standard Poker hands, but its execution of design absolutely can't be understated.
I write this review, as I've been currently struggling to be hooked by most video games I've played so far this year. (Seriously, check out my Backloggd journal, if you don't believe me.) Clearly, this game did its job for me. I even refused to even look at my playtime clock until I finished my first run, and by that time, I ended up around the 13-hour mark... which is at least twice as long as my experience felt; averaging 26 minutes per day for the single month that I played this. (I only really have time to play these games on my lunch breaks at work, and I felt like I've been playing this for months.)

This is a video game that will, surely, stand the test of time, and it is definitely one that I am willing to buy for all of my devices, just to have it with me whenever and wherever. It's a powerful drug, and in a shocking surprise, I am now the dealer.

Play Balatro.