REVIEW: Balatro, say goodbye to your social life after him

Individually developed by Canadian LocalThunk and released by Playstack, this new game brings excitement and a lot of addiction through the roguelike card game genre. Check out our review of Balatro below!

Complete perdition and sugary glory go hand in hand

You won't want to play Balatro. That's what you read: Balatro It's an extremely dangerous game, the kind that grabs you one way and doesn't let go. So, don't think about playing it. It will dominate your life, it will become the only thing on your mind and it will waste all your free time because it is so addictive.

However, if you decide to take on this challenge, keep in mind what makes it so dangerous. From start, Balatro It may seem like a regular poker game, as it respects the same basic moves as the classic card game. In it, with a deck of 52 cards, you earn points by forming pairs, sequences of numbers (straights), among others, in the same way as you would at a casino table. 

It's in the way he treats each round that things get very different: Balatro has an absurd amount of jokers, each one with its own unique effect, which can be a score multiplier, take into account a certain combination of cards in your favor, or even directly modify the cards in your hand, facilitating the plays, leaving you closer and closer to victory.

Each round is divided into three matches: one with a prize (blind) small, another larger and the boss. The latter brings a greater difficulty factor, changing your way of playing in random and challenging ways, such as starting the first hand with all cards turned back to back, the invalidation of a certain suit, a single type of move allowed, or the which I think is the worst, having to resolve the match in a single hand. If you are unable to reach the chip target, it is game over. 

But don't worry, because there are many ways to achieve this and win, and even more ways to lose. And it's not just the jokers that change radically with each game. There are also tarot cards, which in turn can act directly on your deck, modifying the cards and their effects, or even changing their suit. Next to them are the planet cards, which change the multipliers for each type of poker play you make. These can be used more than once depending on your luck in getting them, benefiting strategies and changing, sometimes violently and without warning, your style of play.

Turns around in the 30s, or better yet, in the threes

Therefore, having flexibility is very important when playing. Balatro, because it is practically impossible to predict what might happen when a match starts. Initially, the rules of Balatro They may seem crazy – in reality, they are! – but as you gain experience and learn the tricks, it shows your level of depth, and before you notice it, you will have already played 10, 20, 30 hours…

In the same way as a roguelike traditional as Dead Cells, despite having to start from the beginning with each new game, everything you find during them is saved in your arsenal, which, in turn, serves to unlock more ways to play, of which there are many. For example, there are different types of decks with an absurd variety of advantages and disadvantages, like one of the first, the azul, which gives you an extra move each game, until the Verde: with it, in addition to receiving a bonus for not discarding and having cards left in your hand, you no longer get more money per game, among many others.

This is because the money you earn is used between matches to buy more jokers and other modifying cards, as well as packages with new features for your deck. It is also possible to skip this phase and the round, which can give you benefits on the next screen, with the risk, of course, of getting really screwed in the next round, as with each victory, the number of chips needed to win increases. While it's good to play with your luck and get out of your comfort zone by skipping rounds, it's not always the best idea, giving you the chance to come out on top or sink your game for good.

Where to play and how much will you pay for this game

Balatro is available for virtually all of the most popular consoles and computer systems on the market. The price will vary depending on the virtual store you choose to use, as there is no option to purchase physical game media.

The lowest price is the one charged by the eShop of Nintendo Switch and Steam: on them, Balatro It costs an attractive price of R$44,99. At the Xbox, the price goes up a little, to R$54,95, while in PlayStation it costs almost twice as much as the hybrid laptop from the house of Super Mario, reaching R$74,50

But then… Is Balatro worth it?

Knowing all this, seeing that Balatro It's a game with a simple concept but with a lot, a lot of complexity that reveals itself the more you play, you might even come and ask me if you should play it. Jokes aside with the title and opening of the review, yes, Balatro It's a game that will give you many hours of fun and as much or more pure agony. It's the kind of game that you'll debate deleting from your computer or console, only to put it on the best of the year pedestal in March, all in a matter of minutes.

That's the power of this brilliant creation from a single developer, someone who was able to take the best parts of a genre that, frankly, had long since given its due, and combine it with ancient poker, a diabolical combination. and explosive with the potential to leave you madly in love with it and addicted in a way that games that were banned in the country until recently are capable of doing.

Balatro It's clever and full of moments that will make you seem like an absolute genius, while in others, you'll think you're a complete dolphin. This is how a time-sucking game acts on the player's mind, not only because it is something that encourages with the sweet reward of success, but also with the bitter taste of defeat, of humiliation, of that spark of victory that is stamped out by the stomps of increasingly greater challenges of this game. 

Honestly, this game is the kind of thing that brings the ambivalence of the relationship we all have with the time spent enjoying an activity, and how we would like to have a prize after the hours spent accomplishing something, an expectation nor a unrealistic, a hard lesson learned by many who aspire to be good at something. It's the same with Balatro. Yes, the more you play, the more you understand it, but victory doesn't come with time if you don't act. 

It lost? Don't keep banging your head against the wall, start acting differently and MAYBE you can win. There are no guarantees in a game like Balatro and that is exactly why it is a unique and unmissable experience. For every blow you take, there is always the chance of falling into the arms of victory, sweet and glorious. It's not a question of time but of cleverness.

So no, you shouldn't play it...

SEE MORE!