Last year, Balatro took over my life. I’d sit in front of my PC, lost to the soothing synth waves and muttering Joker cards. My friends and I would chat about the best combos and strategies, I was watching hour-long streams of some truly mind-boggling runs, and I was ticking off every challenge. Then Balatro came to mobile and ruined me all over again. Suddenly I was playing on the train, in bed, at the gym, and on the sly when visiting family. This experience isn’t unique to me, though, because Balatro has quickly become a phenomenon that’s sold over five million copies. The game has just had another mammoth achievement too, hitting an incredible Steam milestone.
There isn’t anything else like Balatro. The poker roguelike blends a traditional deck of 52 cards with an almost endless amount of possibilities, turning the simple act of reaching a high score into one of the most engaging videogames of the last 12 months. That’s why developer LocalThunk took home three trophies at The Game Awards, and we called it the 2024 Game of the Year. Everyone loves it.
This is especially true on Steam, as Balatro has just achieved what many can only dream of. After less than a year, the game now has over 100,000 Steam reviews sitting at a staggering 98%. This means Balatro has kept the elusive ‘overwhelmingly positive’ rating on Valve’s store. Vampire Survivors managed the same with 200,000 reviews back in 2023, meaning Balatro joins an exclusive club home to the likes of Portal 2, Hades, and Stardew Valley.
Balatro’s success on Steam hasn’t gone unnoticed, either, with plenty of free updates introducing myriad crossovers. You can change the appearance of your suits to resemble games like Cyberpunk 2077, Shovel Knight, Slay the Spire, The Witcher 3, and even Warframe. To me, this is the biggest indicator of Balatro’s universal success, because not only do players love it, but other developers do too.
The Balatro train isn’t slowing down this year either, as publisher Playstack has confirmed that a huge free update is coming to the game in 2025. The DLC will “bring new ideas and strategies” to all players on every platform, but exactly what that means is still unknown. I’d imagine we’ll get new Joker cards, decks, and potentially even more game modes and mechanics.
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