For a game that has sold five million copies in less than a year, I’m still surprised thatBalatrowas intended only to be a portfolio piece for its creator’s resume. After releasing in February 2024, the rogue-like deck builder by LocalThunk has taken the gaming world by storm and won multiple awards.
Now, a new genre within the indie scene called “Balatro-like” has started to gain momentum. Almost every new deck-building game released in the last year with power-up mechanics has characteristics similar toBalatro.
What IsBalatro?
The goal ofBalatrois for you to defeat Blinds and Bosses by getting enough chips. Each ante (groups of three rounds) has two blinds, Little and Big, with the third challenger being the ante’s boss, each with their own unique ability. The game ends when you cannot get enough chips to defeat an enemy, or beat the Finisher Blind at the end of the eighth ante.
The gameplay is very similar to Poker as you’re able to select up to five cards to create various legal hands. Cards are randomly distributed, and you can discard cards back to the deck to create better hands. You can only discard cards and play hands a limited number of times before the end of a play, unless you can get an enhancement from the shop.
Between the antes, you can buy Joker cards that can enhance the number of chips a played hand can give you, or buy upgrades and cards to improve your deck. This aspect allows for the game to have a rogue-like feel as you can create various builds to complete the antes. The builds you develop are crucial because you need more chips to defeat enemies as the antes progress—especially at the end of the game, where you face the Finisher Blinds. Jokers can also change how well your poker hands perform.
You can also buy packs that have cards called Planets and Tarot. Planet cards can increase the number of chips you can receive for playing different poker hand types, such as Two of a Kind and Flush. Meanwhile, tarot cards can change the base set cards to be worth more chips, change their modifiers, or erase them. These card types can help you in the later antes inBalatro,as the number of chips required to defeat them and bosses increases significantly.
Like one of the game’s other influences, Poker,Balatrocan be very addictive. From my personal experience and several of my friends, I have always tried to fit in some time during the day to do another ante. This addictive feeling that the game gives to players is having an impact on how some rising indie game developers over the past few years, especially those developing deck builders, approach their designs.
What Were Deck Builders Like BeforeBalatro?
To understand where the deck builder genre shift started, let’s look at the games that came beforeBalatro. Deck-building card games took off in the late 2000s with the release of the card gameDominion. The playstyle is very similar toMagic: The Gatheringwith the card collection gameplay. Where this game differs fromMagicis that it gives you the ability to use your in-game coins to purchase better cards.
This attribute gives the genre a rogue-like feel, allowing you to fulfill a power fantasy of getting stronger as you face more difficult bosses. A game similar toBalatrothat did this well was Mega Crit’sSlay the Spire. While this wasn’t the main influence onBalatro, the game uses a points system that allows you to buy upgrades and more powerful cards, which is very similar to the upgrades you can get from the shop inBalatro.
The aesthetics ofSlay the Spirecompared to LocalThunk’s title are vastly different, however, as the game is a blend of western fantasy tropes and JRPGs with its turn-based mechanics. Meanwhile,Balatrofeels like it is endlessly sucking you in with its addictive Poker gameplay alongside the trippy art and sound.
The Game That Led toBalatro
The game that directly inspiredBalatrowasLuck be a Landlordby TrampolineTales.
Rather than basing the game on fantasy themes like other deck builders at the time, the developer incorporated a simple blocky look that feels more like a retro video game. This style allowed for the mechanics, which were heavily influenced bySlay the Spire, to truly shine.
Similar to the gambling backdrop ofBalatro,Luck be a Landlordhas its mechanics based around slot machines where you test your luck by spinning to get various symbols to afford your rent that month. After each spin, you may add symbols to your lineup to get more money to afford your next month’s rent until you pay for the full year and defeat your landlord.
This design of building up your symbols to defeat a month’s worth of rent is similar to how you build your deck inBalatroto complete the three battles in each ante. WhileLuck be a Landlordis a much smaller game, LocalThunk’s deckbuilder does take a lot of influence from it.
I would also say that the games both being based on physical gambling is another element that connects them thematically. AsLuck be a Landlordbrought slot machines to the deckbuilding genre,Balatrobrought in Poker. This connection can be seen in many Balatro-like games, as many of them do reference familiar sources for their gameplay.
What MakesBalatroStand Out?
Compared to the games that came before it,Balatrostands out with its enhanced focus on its rogue-like elements. There are some special Joker cards that are considered rarer within the game and these cards can be applied to future playthroughs. This allows the actions and purchases performed in previous sessions of the game to apply to new rounds. At the end of each game, depending on how well you perform, new decks can be unlocked for use in new runs.
This choice of having the actions of previous rounds affect future playthroughs, as well as the buying abilities to further enhance your plays, makesBalatrostand out. The gamification of Poker brings it a feel that is both familiar to card players and familiar to rogue-like fans. This combination of genres breaks the mold and makesBalatrostand out. As such, it’s quickly inspired other creators within the deckbuilder genre.
What Games HasBalatroInspired?
DespiteBalatrobeing just over a year old, there have been many recent games with similar mechanics. In my mind, the characteristics that define these games are: they take influence from a well-known physical game, have a power-up buying mechanic, and allow you to defeat enemies in rounds of gameplay.
One of the first games that was released with similar characteristics was Purple Moss Collectors’Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblersin August 2024. The game’s Blackjack influence can make the game feel complementary toBalatro’s Poker influence.
The game also has a dungeon-crawler progression system. You play in various seedy locations against the town’s gamblers until you lose all of your health or defeat all the enemies in each area. This is the major differentiator fromBalatro, as this game divides the rounds by location rather than by antes.
Elsewhere,Wordatro!by Le Poulet uses the gameplay ofScrabblein a similar vein. Although it does not feature cards likeBalatro,the word tiles from your bag take their place.
One of the outstanding elements of this game is the system of buying upgrades for your existing tiles, or adding more to your bag that you can pull out to create words worth higher points. This system allows you to strategize similar toBalatro.
There is also Jakub Wasilewski’sSolitomb, which is one of the hardest games that I’ve played this past year. It takes influence fromBalatroin how you battle enemies. Based off the classic game ofSolitaire, this is a tough rogue-like where you create combos using the various cards at your disposal.
The enemies of each round have smaller enemies in the card decks you pull from, similar to how the Poker blinds are used as enemies inBalatro. Solitombalso utilizes an overarching enemy, which is the devil with whom you made a contract with, which can be compared to the bosses at the end of each anteBalatro. At the end of rounds, you can use gold to upgrade and purchase new skills.
The notable pillar that these three games share is how they’re all inspired by physical games with globally known rules.Balatroalso perfected upgrade systems and enemy battles, but the most influential shift is turning these well-known games into a digital experience with traditional video game elements.
What Does This Mean for the Future?
With more deck builders entering the market as Balatro-likes, one may assume that the genre will oversaturate. However, I feel like as these games are taking influence fromBalatro, so too will others take influence from them.
Balatrowas inspired byLuck be a Landlord,which took fromSlay the Spire,which took fromDominion, and this chain of iterations will continue.With all great games comes great fandoms, and these indie creators were originally fans of the titles they based their works on. If it means we get more amazing experiences likeBalatro, I can’t wait to see what I’ll be addicted to next.
