Balatro Review -- Is the Hype Justified? [Poker-Inspired Roguelite]

[@salyz7141]

I love seeing this game get the praise it deserves! I'm 50 hours in and loved it so far. The higher stake difficulties do get a little annoying due to how early you need to get a good build going to survive. And that depends a lot on luck and leads to lots of resets.

[@InsertReviews]

It's a great game! Yeah I find myself losing a lot of runs early on if I can't get that build started. I'm trying to beat the last two stakes, but that early game fail percentage has gotten really high for me. Still having fun with it though

[@KimSokolArt]

This is what made me finally go UGGGHHH FIIIIINE I’LL TRY BALATRO and now the sun’s coming up =\

[@ToolShopGuy]

Can someone explain what the term "min/max" means? Roguelites are my favorite genre and I have played dozens and dozens of them, and have 100s of hours logged. Ive played all the big ones. I've heard this term used so much. And I have no idea what it means! Any help would be appreciated

[@newuardfkt]

Basically, it means a certain playstile. You try to maximize the stats/cards/route or whatever you can influence that fits your playstile and the other things are reduced to a minimum. For example, in Dead Cells you can chose between 3 stat upgrades and various routes. To min/max means, that you look for the route that yields the most stat upgrades. You also want to get the most stat upgrades into the one stat that influences your damage the most, like purple if you play with a purple weapon. That way you get "the most" out of your build and cut the corners that don't fit your playstile. This also means that you often become specialized in one certain area/type of the game. If we go with the Dead Cells example, purple gives the least hp. You quickly become a glass cannon (someone who can deal high damage but dies with a few to a single hit). The moment you dedicate your run to a glass cannon build, you have to make sure to not get hit, or kill your enemies before they can kill you.

[@InsertReviews]

To me, min-max (aka minimize and maximize) effectively just means to optimize, usually in a highly efficient and deliberate way. For video games, I think the term was first used for RPGs where you maximize a stat you're focusing on (like strength) while minimizing spending on stats that aren't the focus (like dexterity) or minimizing other negative effects. For Balatro specifically, you could min-max (aka mathematically optimize) in the sense that you can calculate the score each hand would have before you play while also having a mental calculation of the cards left in your deck to decide what hand to play each turn or whether to discard and reroll cards. I don't think most people would want to optimize the gameplay to that degree though as it would get tedious.

[@ToolShopGuy]

@@InsertReviews hey thank you so much!!! 🙏

[@jamesp1389]

I'm having heaps of fun not min maxing haha genuinely fun game and fun to learn

[@newuardfkt]

Nice Video.

[@InsertReviews]

Thanks!

[@bashfulpanda2596]

It is a fun but flawed game. Has some issues with inconsistent wording and the original high Antes were terribly designed. There should be some unlockable score calc because the min maxing really matters to the deckbuilding die hards. After hitting gold on about 3 decks I think I'm basically tapped out on all the variety the game has to offer more or less. Solid amount of play time though. Less than I got out of Monster Train and less than StS which Im still playing. That said: Solid 7/10 for me. Hard to say any game can live up to the hype balatro got. I think it is definitely suffering a bit from the overexposure. It's a fun game but not the second coming of Jesus.

[@ausmiku]

It's overhyped. There are lots of rubbish jokers and booster packs to extend playing time. It's a really cheap dev trick.

[@rjose705]

Bruh this game is literally poker, how tf do the developers think this is 3+ lmao

[@Chris-sm2uj]

It is well known fact that people have lost a fortune on Balatro after all

[@TheRogBG]

Rouge-like*

[@newuardfkt]

Just a friendly note that he made a video on this distinction, if you haven't seen it yet :)

[@TheRogBG]

@@newuardfkt dont need to see it, hes saying it wrong.

[@ToolShopGuy]

@@TheRogBG there are Lites and there are Likes

[@TheRogBG]

@@ToolShopGuy nope only rouge-likes.

[@ToolShopGuy]

@@TheRogBG OK whatever you say. Thank you

[@meticulousgeek]

My first "win" (ante 8) was with a two pair build. I know it's not optimal but when pieces fall together you have to make use of them.

[@maxixvi3735]

Great review! I agree about early game RNG: some games ends abruptly, that doesn't feel good. Balatro It's a nice game and I had fun with it, however, I don't think it's a masterpiece like Slay the Spire (as I read in other reviews -not yours-). About gambling accusations, it's very unfortunate. Perhaps the rating agency ended up considering the flashy sound effects to have some similarity to games such as slot machines? I don't know.

[@InsertReviews]

Yeah the early game RNG is definitely a potential frustration points. It's a great game, but I don't think it's even been out long enough for me to consider putting on the level of Slay the Spire. I'm not sure either. A similar thing happened to the Luck be a Landlord dev with slightly different details. That game at least looks like a slot machine even though it similarly also has no actual or virtual gambling.

[@FaultyWirestv]

I enjoy that element. Too many roguelites these days become too easy as you get unlocks and I like a game that isn't a win every run.

[@Klayht]

Excellent video as always, I have been enjoying this game a ton!

[@behnam.xqwwX2]

first

[@spaceman_256]

Surprised you didnt mention the endless mode after clearing a run. Wish more roguelikes had something like that

[@InsertReviews]

Honestly, yeah I should have mentioned it. I really like that it's after clearing a run in Balatro vs. some other roguelites that have it as a separate game mode. I only really kept my runs going a couple times when I absolutely loved my builds, so that's probably why I forgot.