Balatro takes his place among the biggest – TEST

We could legitimately blow our noses when we see them approaching Balatro. The video game market being saturated with constant releases, when we hear roguelike associated with deckbuilding, it is not the spark of originality that will push the less fans of the genre to be tempted. However, for many months, this little independent game, developed by LocalThunk and edited by Playstackwas able to appeal to players with several demos on Steam. It was finally on February 24 that the spiral definitively began, leading many players into this “playful addiction” that is Balatroand it's hard to blame them.

Balatro, almost a casino

Its aesthetic might grow, but Balatro is not afraid to put its foot down and borrow its visual identity from the casino. Tokens, cards and language; When you engage in a game, nothing is different from when you play a real poker game. But the twist is there: what you are going to do is very different. In its own way, Balatro is a variation of the famous casino game.

You know the card game very well Balatro, because it is our traditional game of 52 cards, where our Aces, our kings, our queens, our jacks are mixed with the other cards. At the start of each game, you are given 8 cards, and with these, you will have to form a poker hand. Pair, double pair, straight, flush, Royal Flush will punctuate your games and allow you to increase your blind to advance in your run. But just training beautiful hands won't save you, and you won't get far. This is where the game takes us into a scoring curve. Each hand has a base multiplier. Making a pair will double your score, while a straight will do it by 5.

Multiply will be the watchword of your game of Balatro. If you have your base game at the start, each round will take you to visit a random shopwhere you can buy jokers with the money raised at stake. These offer different bonuses allowing you for example to increase your multiplier which will increase your score and so on. And because there needs to be a twist within the twist, don't count on your 52 different cards to reach the end.

Because yes, deckbuilding Obviously, you will be able to make a few modifications to your deck of cards to maximize your chances of going further and passing the high blinds. Improve cards, multiply the same cards, the same colors… all strategies are good to combine a good deck with the right jokers. To do this, maps of Tarot available in store will allow you to apply some changes to your game, and a system of cards representing the planets of the solar system will level up the different hands. But to make things a little worse, the magic of randomness will force you to always use your gray matter to employ the most profitable strategy.

The “bosses” of the game will impose some constraints on you, by debuffing the effects of some of your cards or by making you play face down. Some tougher than others could make you shed a tear of frustration when ending a run which looked like a good start (yes, I speak from experience). An efficient and rewarding system, who pushes to use the best possible methods to move forward, and who does not hesitate to bend the rules. You won't be surprised after you get the hang of playing 5 Aces of Hearts, which, in a casino, would probably earn you a lifetime ban.

The appearance of winning

Shop, winnings, chance… the game apparently has everything to put you off in an industry where the most vile techniques are used to extract your last cent. But, as if he were criticizing this system, he turns the situation around by using commercial tricks like “ lootboxes » in its core gameplay. You will therefore have to open a good number of “ boosters » of cards between two rounds. What, in the profession today, is a technique for making players pay real money, becomes a central mechanic that will decide the direction of your game.

All bonuses are virtually paid in Balatro. The money component becomes vital from the start in order to hope to progress. You will count every dollar, and if everything goes well, you will end up spending without counting after a few rounds. There is something enjoyable about the idea of ​​spending lavishly to become better, and the author has understood this well and seems to play with it, having fun in each game with our emotions when all these purchases ultimately lead to than a flat defeat.

But all of this could not work without the great care taken in the animations, sound effects, and the visual wonder that each action provides. The work of LocalThunk take pleasure, like a Vampire Survivor, to make each element devilishly satisfying for our eyes and ears. The sound of a multiplier being added to our cards, the sound of cards being shuffled, the opening of a booster… The game does not only offer final victory as a reward, it makes each action satisfying enough to give a sense of constant success. At the same time installing a flow which pushes you to restart a game as soon as the previous one is finished, made easier by the simple press of a button.

And it's so easy not to get bored… Because each game will unlock other decks for you, with other abilities, which will therefore push you to consider a game from another angle: an extra hand, a discard more, more money… All methods will be good to modify your start of games, noting that you will unlock new decks through progression, opening up a wonderful field of possibilities. A few rare pitfalls still remain to be noted, with rare slowdowns to be noted on Nintendo Switcha very nice soundtrack (and in 7 steps what’s more!) but which can easily annoy in the long term, and touches which can, sometimes, quickly make you do the wrong thing.