I've had to let this one stew for a bit, honestly.

I picked it up for myself as a late birthday present out of curiosity more than anything. I'd heard a lot of unflattering comparisons to Vampire Survivors (a game I very much despise) and clicker games (which I also despise! Wow, patterns!) which had put me on edge, so I was a little surprised to find out that none of those comparisons are apt.

I can understand being skeeved out by the direct usage of Poker iconography and terminology on display, but the truth that's apparent to me is that Balatro is ultimately another roguelike deckbuilder. You match symbols together, try to play to synergies, and pray for one of your random drops/powerups to be the one that enables a certain playstyle or tactics. If anything, despite my relative apathy towards deckbuilders (I play YGO, so slapping a roguelite aspect on just repels me) I admire this game for its honesty and relative lack of illusions.

Still, I find myself in an odd position.

Despite admiring it, I'm not really smitten with it.

One of those games where I can see why it's considered a mindmelting trap for people with ADHD, but I personally don't get much out of it. Would honestly rather play Suika Game. Incremental micro-unlocks and "pick one of 3" powerups and glorified slot machines in the form of card packs don't really enthuse me.

At a base level, the basest of all levels, I do think the mechanics are somewhat engaging despite the simplicity and comparison to blackjack more than poker. Compared to its contemporaries I also think it has infinitely more impactful decision making, especially with how finite money is and how little shops actually offer.
But Balatro - and indeed, nearly the entire roguelite genre - has an awful habit of playing their entire mechanical hand early on and then hoping it's enough to hook you. While it works for some games (Isaac, FTL, Dead Cells, Synthetik) I don't find it works so well for deckbuilders. There aren't enough interesting twists on the core mechanics for me to want to keep playing, and if anything its iconographical honesty might actually make it worse.

Sure, the game is addictive, but I'm older now dude. I creak when I wake up, I say "Mmm scrumptious" when I buy a pastry from Greggs, I tend a garden, I play Granblue Fantasy, I've got an inanimate object I collect.

'Addictive' is no longer enough to satisfy me. Life is addictive, pastries are addictive, math is addictive, the world I live in is addictive.

[Semi-related ramble that I was gonna post as a comment on someone else's Balatro review before remembering I don't like to barge into other people's posts and go "Nuh uh".]

I so direly wish higher profile indie games would have a design core that isn't just "addictive". Having seen roguelites come into existence over a decade ago, it feels like every other popular indie game is trying to make players chase the same kind of high that Binding of Isaac or FTL did all those years ago. In turn, they miss out on just being good games at their core.

Fucked up that Hitman: Freelancer is the best of these games I've played in years, and it was free DLC.

For the first time I'm glad IGDB is dated and behind the times because it means I can review every pack within this DLC collectively rather than individually.

Despite being a mere DLC pack, there was a lot riding on Thrones of Decay. Creative Assembly haven't had a very good run lately, with Total Warhammer 3 taking two years to become a competent product and TW Pharaoh launching to all the fanfare of accidentally-swallowed toothpaste. The last TWWH3 DLC drew a lot of ire - even if I ended up liking it - for having a relatively poor price:content ratio.
Further adding to TWWH3's first Giles Corey is that the three races involved in ToD - Nurgle, the Empire, and the Dwarfs - have been in need of a rework for ages now. The latter two especially are deeply beloved by the franchise, with the Empire being one of three factions the game nudges new players towards.
This isn't even getting into the legion of shit CA themselves have suffered, with Pharaoh being a financial bomb and their attempt at yet another competitive FPS game having been executed by SEGA - whether out of mercy or cruelty is up to the viewer's discretion. Mentioning the staff turnover and investigation by UK employment authorities is probably pushing it.

ToD, then, does not have the luxury of just merely being good like Champions Of Chaos or Forge of the Chaos Dwarfs. It had to be fucking phenomenal. Targeted at a fanbase who're a near-permanent state of "it's so over", ToD had to tick the counter up to "we're so back" or it's all over.

Did it succeed?

Well...

Truthfully this is rather hard to discuss, because we're in an age where developers have wisely realized that launching a substantial free update alongside paid content will make both of them look better.

Reviewing is, after all, the act of transcribing one's feelings into words. Feelings dominate the profession so much that the idea of any one review being "objective" is a deeply laughable concept. Even those who sincerely believe they're objective are being silently puppeted by a million biases, preferences, deep-rooted emotional reactions and all manner of influences.

This is a problem for me.

I loved my time spent with the ToD DLCs, I really did. Hell, the game is open on my other monitor at present while I write this - it, Library of Ruina and Granblue Fantasy are devouring my free time.
But it's deeply hard to disconnect my feelings for the associated free update and its myriad reworks/fixes from the actual content I paid for.

The Empire is somewhat notorious among TWWH fans for how misleading it is. All three games posit it as a noob-friendly and welcoming campaign, a suggestion which has simultaneously become more untrue as time goes on. TWWH3 really exposed all the cracks in their foundation; they're fun when you're used to them, but before the rework they were definitely a campaign for people used to the series - the High Elves and their tutorial island were to the West if newbie wanted a safe zone.
After the rework, they're now on par with and perhaps better than any TWWH3 faction not named the Chaos Dwarfs. Franz now has a bevy of unique summons, spells/declarations and mechanics that seem overwhelming at first but ultimately manage to both fulfill the fantasy of being PRINCE AND EMPEROR and also a good starting point for newbies. Also they gave him an extra starting settlement, which ultimately benefits the AI more than the player because it means AI Franz doesn't die super fast.
Gelt has taken a vacation to Grand Cathay, gaining access to the College of Wizards which really plays into the fantasy of being an arch wizard. Yeah, it's honestly kind of overpowered that you can just transmute lead into gold and get the TWWH2 cataclysm spells for a pittance of investment, but I don't think any Lord deserved it more than Gelt. Plus it's just refreshing to have new enemies to fight as the Empire without having to do an insane detour through 4-5 other factions.
Everyone in the Empire received a significant rework to buildings and unit recruitment, removing the need for an auxiliary building to get cavalry/artillery/handgunners and bumping most units down a tier. Elector State Troops are no longer something you get 100 turns into a campaign, but acquired via a researchable technology and also some special buildings. The end result is that they're now very useful army fillers that can be summoned on a whim, or in an emergency. Whoa, cool integration of lore and gameplay in a Warhammer game? That's a first.

The Dwarfs received much the same treatment. While each Lord didn't get quite as grand a rework as Franz and Gelt, the race as a whole got access to a cool new Age of Reckoning mechanic that adds some dynamics to their campaign play and also disincentivizes sitting in the mountains for 100 turns. Restoring the Karaz Ankor is now an actual thing one can do, and doing so unlocks fast travel points - helpful, for a race so fucking slow all the time.
Like Elector State Troops, the gaudy old "sometimes get slayers if you fuck up too much" mechanic has been turned into Grudge Settlers; your performance in an Age of Reckoning affects how many units get added to the Grudge Settler pool, and they follow the same insta-recruit rules.
Similar to the Empire buildings, Dwarf recruitment has been both simplified and knocked down a tier, with some changes to how flame cannons and aerial units work really helping them against factions they struggled against.

Nurgle's rework was not quite as indepth, but still impactful. In-battle spells are now charged up via spreading poison or other contact effects, massively increasing the rate at which they can be used and no longer necessitating you get your troops halfway to death just to fire off a healing spell.
Plagues were reworked entirely to be a ~web~ of effects, with your available options being decided by the starting node.
Units spawn with much more health and the cyclical process of Nurgle's military buildings is sped up - with some buildings being made static so the faction's economy doesn't shit the bed early on.

It's all great, right?

But all of this is free.

The actual paid content is fine.

Dwarfs get an extra gun unit, a lot of extra Slayers, and the beloved Thunderbarge. The Lord/Hero additions are, naturally, Slayers.

The Empire get some more rifles, a nice Sword/Shield cavalry unit, the Land Ship (it is EXACTLY what you're picturing) and another Steam Tank variant alongside an Engineer Lord and Hero.

Nurgle's additions are, with the exception of Rot Knights, slow moving and high health entities that're exceptional at killing infantry units. Rather embarassingly, the Nurgle Chaos Lord is a reskin of the last DLC's Tzeentch Chaos Lord with a new helmet and effects. The Nurgle Chaos Sorcerer does look cool, though, and they have access to the coveted Lore of Death.

This time, the theming of the Legendary Lords (and their additions, too) is derived from the novel Tamurkhan: The Throne of Chaos - one of the few good Warhammer novels! Elspeth shows up alongside Theodore Bruckner, Malakai Makaisson is there with Gotrek & Felix (not part of this DLC, they were free in TWWH2) while Garagrim Ironfist shows up to add another Slayer to the roster, and of course the mighty Tamurkhan shows up with Kazyk the Befouled and a whole host (literally) of unique heroes.

They're all very nice, well animated and incredibly useful, especially once they gain their unique mounts. Tamurkhan looks phenomenal, too; they even rendered the hole where his worm form burrowed into the current host body! To say nothing of what happens if he and Theodore Bruckner have a fatal clash...

But honestly, this DLC being fine is a welcome relief. Shadows of Change was nice, but it was a pure cheats DLC. ToD is a much more balanced - Malakai aside - reticient affair and purchasing it honestly benefits the other members of the respective factions more than the included lords. Ungrim Ironfist, a Dwarf lord from the first game, benefits the most given Slayers are his shtick. Garagrim is also his son, so.

Despite everything I'm still giving this DLC a 5/5 because, as I alluded to up above, we are in fact so back. The mere fact that Cavalry units finally work is enough to rate it highly.

10/10 Be'lakor, the Dark Master wins for the fourth DLC in a row.

A delightful little nightmare, and also the exact kind of difficulty spike I needed from Rimworld.

Dragon's Dogma 2 being a bit shit admittedly took a bit of the wind from my sails, giving me a hefty case of Gamer Block™ that's inhibited any attempts I make to start something new. Which is a shame, because I really want to play Library of Ruina.

Fortunately, for whatever reason, the games industry has collectively decided that April is update/DLC season, so every game I play on the side is shoveling new stuff down my throat. Between Dwarf Fortress, Ultrakill, Big Ambitions, CK3, an upcoming Total Warhammer 3 DLC and other stuff I'm probably forgetting, I'm hardly lacking in games to revisit.

But it's Rimworld's Anomaly expansion that's grabbed my attention the most.

I really like Rimworld. No matter what, I always come back and roll a new colony eventually. Compared to most colony sims, Rimworld manages to be an enjoyable experience even with very few colonists, and I'm eternally surprised at just how differently a lot of my colonies play out based on a combination of the colonists/map/terrain/storyteller.

But, sad as I am to say, once you've adjusted to Rimworld's particular eccentricities, it becomes rather easy. Each DLC can alleviate this in some way, but they don't offer much challenge beyond "mood debuffs" or "alternative humanoids to fight" on the difficulty front - even if their other offerings still make them worthwhile.

Anomaly, then, was much needed.

Somewhat uniquely for a Rimworld DLC, Anomaly does not initially fire when enabled. Besides an odd Monolith on the starting cell, some of the DLC gear appearing at vendors and the odd single Shambler (zombie), there are no real signs Anomaly has even enabled itself.
It's not until your curiosity gets the better of you, and the investigation of the Monolith starts, that Anomaly kicks in.

Anomaly's primary offering is in both difficulty and difficulty variety.

A single enemy stalking your base doesn't seem threatening, but it's invisible. Even a proximity detector only tells you it's hanging around, it won't show itself until it decloaks. It's smart, too! If you have pawns that work in separate areas away from one another it will absolutely wait until they're alone before decloaking and feasting.
Even then, there's a similar monster - the Revenant - that only comes out at night and snatches pawns away without picking a fight. For once, building separate bedrooms is no longer the safest option.

And sure, Rimworld has had events that boil down to "lots of things come to kill you" before, but Shamblers are uniquely terrifying in their volume. They also don't feel pain or suffer from organ damage, and while fire is effective against them it's also risky - wildfires are a very real threat, and if they breach your defensive lines it could be parts of the whole colony that go up in smoke.

There are lots of horrors in Anomaly, I won't go through all of them because some are best experienced blind, but my favourite is the Metalhorror which is... The Thing. Yes, that Thing. It slips into one of your pawns and goes out of its way to spread, and it is horrifically clever. If it infects a pawn on kitchen duty it'll slip food into the colony's meals. Infected doctors/surgeons will lie about examination results. Did you build a communal barracks to deal with the Revenant? Congratulationss! That's an infection vector!

Most basegame threats in Rimworld are easily subdued by catch-all solutions, which is was a huge contributing factor in the game being relatively easy even on naked brutality starts. Anomaly's threats not only require more specific countermeasures, but the threats you even receive are entirely randomized. There are no pre-prepare easy tactics, my friend.

Your reward for engaging with this threats is the ability to play Lobotomy Corporation, or Diet SCP. Unlike human prisoners, extradimensional horrors require much more intense containment measures in exchange for much grander rewards. Bioferrite is plucked from said horrors and makes for an excellent crafting material, and archeotech shards help turn pesky uncooperative prisoners into mindless Ghouls that regenerate all ailments/wounds absurdly fast and have no needs beyond raw meat - give them a Nuclear Stomach, and even that one need is moot. Take part in some dark rituals, and you can make colonists immortal by sapping the lifespan from an unwilling victim, or even warp a random person through the void to your colony for whatever nefarious reasons.

Despite writing 'reviews', I actually don't ever go out of my way to formally recommend things. I'm a glorified blogger yelling to myself, not a buyer's guide, I don't know your history or preferenes or exact mechanical icks or tolerance for girl guro.
That said, I don't recommend Anomaly as anyone's first Rimworld expansion. Not because of it's quality, no, but because it synergizes so well with Biotech (Sanguophages especially) and Ideology that it should come with a warning on the store page. Anomaly is phenomenal for 'evil' or unscrupulous colonies, and it adds so much to vampiric runs that I can't imagine one without all it adds.
Also, as a little post-gdocs addendum: Mechanitors feel infinitely more useful in Anomaly, in part due to robots lacking consciousness which makes them immune to the very concept of horror - and very resistant to Shamblers!

Lastly, if you're a prospective Rimworld buyer: Don't get Anomaly immediately. Or, if you do, don't fuck with monoliths. This is a hard DLC even for experienced Rimworld players, and it can feel 'unfair' at times. It's best bought once you're familiar with how Rimworld works, what makes a good colony, and how to handle disaster.

Ultimately, my only gripe with Anomaly isn't even a dealbreaker. Without touching the Monolith, Anomaly just doesn't activate. I would've liked to see toned-down versions of the various horrors appear as random events, but I can understand why given the ease with which they'd decimate newer players.

I don't really have a cool sendoff for this. You guys play uh, Balatro?

EDIT: Literally as soon as I posted this, Ludeon announced they were changing how Anomaly integrates. Amazing.