4.5/5 ★ – Just_Deli's review of Balatro.

This game is literal crack that injects itself through all of your senses. If you have ever thought, "How do we make Solitaire for the modern age?" This is it. While visually this game immediately makes you think of poker, other than playing hands like a two pair, flush, straight or a full house to score points, that is kind of where the similarity ends. You don't need even the slightest knowledge of how to play poker to enjoy this game. To give a quick rundown of what the game is, it is a deckbuilding roguelike. Essentially, you start with a normal deck of cards, and you play hands to beat the increasingly difficult scores that move you on to the next "ante" or difficulty tier. The key is that you gain things like joker cards, which can modify your deck in like 150 different ways, or planet cards that upgrade your hands, and so many other upgrades or modifications that give each run a different feel. Like Vampire Survivors, another recent indie hit that seems extremely simple at first glance, the level of depth and playability here is on another level. From the minute you load the game, you are met with the beautiful and magical background music that you will inevitably hear for hours on end even after stopping yourself from playing for the night. This song is the equivalent of the Greek mythological story of the lotus, a fruit that when eaten caused such bliss you would forget about time altogether. So, yeah, Balatro is that, and now there is a mobile version so you can take this unbelievable bliss with you wherever you go. Did I mention this game is developed by one person? Like the very popular, single-dev games before it, Stardew Valley and Vampire Survivors, I can't wait to see where he continues to take this game or what he will do next.