In a year full of massive open-world RPGs and AAA live service games with ambitious season passes, the title that truly captured the hearts (and free time) of players in 2024 is actually Balatro. I can’t believe it was just a stupid little poker riff called.
Created by an anonymous developer named LocalThunk, Balatro is a game that defies simple explanation, and its appeal falls right into the “you’ll understand when you play it” category. But that didn’t stop the game from becoming a huge hit, receiving numerous “game of the year” nominations and drawing attention away from the industry’s heavy hitters.
For many, Ballatoro has become an obsession, an endlessly playable game that will forever be an amazingly abnormal game with just one more round to play, keeping gamers glued to their screens from the comfort of their couches to their morning commute. It will be.
Ballatro’s rise in the mainstream zeitgeist is unprecedented for an indie game of its kind, and even earned it a nomination for “Game of the Year” at the industry’s biggest annual event, The Game Awards. Although the crown ultimately went to PlayStation’s popular Astro Bot, Baratolo completed a hat-trick of awards at the ceremony, including Best Indie Game, Best Debut Indie Game, and Best Mobile Game.
The game has been hailed as both a critical and commercial success, with more than 3.5 million units sold as of December, and a top or top spot on digital storefronts on every platform from consoles to PC to mobile. Ranked near the top. Social media is also taking over. Both the game’s official accounts and fans have been circulating images of Ballatoro’s clown mascot, Jimbo, to spread the heat, and now everyone from YouTube star Mark Prior to former U.S. President Barack Obama Mentions of people are suffering from this fever.
But 2024’s breakout game, like most indie titles, started fighting for attention with an endless barrage of other games. Rolling Stone recently spoke with LocalThunk about Balatro’s path to launch, its impact on the industry as a whole, and what the elusive developer envisions for the game’s future.
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What is Baratro?
Balatro is a round-based roguelike card game where you use decks to build poker hands and earn points. Basic hands such as “pairs” and “high cards” are worth less, but more advanced hands like “full house” and “straight flush” are worth much more. As the run progresses, players earn money by clearing rounds (called blinds) and collect Jokers (permanent modifiers and multipliers), Tarot cards (one-time use effects), and Planet cards (poker hand can be used to purchase (level ups).
Trumps and Jokers can be equipped with enhancements to increase their scores. Purchasing permanent vouchers increases the odds of getting an extra playing hand or discard each round, or of already enhanced cards appearing in the pool.
Although it uses the concept of a poker hand, it doesn’t stick to the same rules, making Baratolo more accessible.
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The various cards you can obtain and enhance contribute to the countless builds you can create in a single run. With 15 unique decks, stakes (difficulty modifiers), and special challenge modes, there’s a reason why fans of the roguelike genre have spent thousands of hours playing Ballatro. That’s because it can be replayed infinitely.
Balatro’s roguelike elements ensure that no two runs are the same, even when playing with the same deck and difficulty level. And there’s no more rewarding challenge than having to pivot to a completely new strategy mid-run, especially when a pesky blind leaves you without a reliable hand (in my case, a full house).
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One of the game’s biggest strengths is that it doesn’t have its own deck of original or fantasy cards for players to learn. Poker’s visual language makes it easy for casual players to glean how to build a hand, but the game relies on the actual rules of poker or Texas Hold’em, which can scare people. No. Even the Jokers, each with their own special abilities, are easy to understand and learn quickly as wildcard features are applied during rounds. Picking up a joker card that you don’t understand often leads to a big “aha!” When it finally clicks, a whale-sized score reels in.
Overall, Baratolo blends familiar elements drawn from a variety of sources into something inherently understandable if you’re willing to give it a chance.
How the cards were placed in place
Before Balatro’s dark horse success, it was just the latest in a series of small personal passion projects that LocalThunk was developing on the side. While working full-time in the IT field (which he didn’t elaborate on), these side projects were more of a hobby than anything else. After sharing an early build with a friend, he began to realize how much of a waste of time this game could be, and therein lies its potential.
There are dozens of Jokers to collect, each with unique abilities that change the shape of the orchid.
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“I showed the game to three or four people who liked it, and most of them didn’t even touch it, usually just sending the link to their friends,” says LocalThunk. This is another one of those crazy projects that you can’t expect people to invest time into. But one of my friends ended up spending 10, 20, 30 hours playing it, and I hadn’t played that much yet at that point. So I thought there might be something here. ”
The game first appeared as a demo on Steam in 2023, and “of course there was no fuss,” LocalThunk laughs. “I didn’t have a following. In the first few weeks I was getting between 10 and 40 wishlists, which was what I expected so I wasn’t disappointed or anything. But some very small YouTube channels started posting about it, and around that time someone from Playstack Publisher sent me a DM. It grew from there, and the game kind of exploded.”
The only thing that stopped the game’s momentum was the sudden change in March of the game’s PEGI (Pan-European Game Information) content rating from 3+ to 18+, a ruling that gave Ballatolo The decision was made in response to complaints that it contained “conspicuous gambling images.” While this change limited the game’s potential reach, it also resulted in the game being removed from stores in certain countries.
The reason behind this change is ironic given LocalThunk’s fervent opposition to gambling. LocalThunk takes gambling so seriously that they have written a will that includes a clause stating that “Balatro IP will never be sold or licensed to any gambling company or casino.” Last month, Baratolo was still rated 18+, while LocalThunk said it would keep loot box-centric games with “actual gambling mechanics” like EA Sports FC rated 3+. and accused PEGI of allowing it to be available to a younger audience than Balatolo’s, despite its potential. It has a more addictive real-world impact on players’ wallets and spending habits.
The combination of Joker and card effects generates hugely high scores (sometimes in the millions).
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“In my opinion, this preys on the misconception of probability,” the developer says. “I think it’s very predatory to hijack people’s brains to make money. I’m against microtransactions and I don’t want to be predatory in monetizing this game. My game is It’s very mathematical and statistics heavy, so if you understand probability you’ll probably be better at the game. I like that it’s now more intuitive to understand what that actually means. And the smartest gamblers understand that for every dollar they put into a machine, they get 95 cents back. I think so.”
Balatro’s next big breakthrough came in September, when it released on mobile devices, a market almost tailor-made for card games. It was once again an instant hit, becoming the #1 paid app across iOS and Android app stores. In fact, it disappointed many existing players. Many of them jokingly lamented having more time to play the game again after the clock. There were a lot of them on previous platforms. With the holidays coming up, gamers are looking to do more than just chat with their relatives, and Balatro is sure to make its way into more and more players’ game libraries, especially at the low price point of under $15.
Balatro is an indie lottery
Nominated for the top prize at The Game Awards 2024, Balatro defied expectations and solidified its legacy with a groundbreaking moment for indie games. Although it’s not the first card game to be nominated for Game of the Year (2014’s Hearthstone was), it’s the first independently developed game to be honored in this way. is.
While LocalThunk is clearly ingratiating itself, the controversy surrounding Balatro’s nomination may encourage more players to check out other big indie titles of the year, such as Shared Memory’s Animal Well and Mossmouth’s UFO 50 collection. I’m even more excited about it. “I just happened to make an indie game that became really popular this year,” he says. “This is a beautiful corner of the industry full of creative people who are very passionate about what they do. In many cases, people are making these games not because they’re expecting any kind of reward, but because they’re making art.” I have a vision and I want to see it through to the end.”
Upping the ante requires a seeded strategy payoff early in execution, which is a matter of trial and error.
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Balatro’s nomination at The Game Awards inevitably sparked an online debate among detractors who believe that a simple “card game” is unworthy of top honors or that the hype is unwarranted. Ta. However, LocalThunk welcomes this scrutiny and is happy to see people openly wondering why Baratolo was nominated, giving both his games and indie titles more general recognition because of it. He says that it has started to attract a lot of attention. To him, any press is good press.
But he also points out that while the attempts and failures of AAA game development have certainly become more publicized, they still happen frequently in the indie space. “People like me are asked about this. It’s like asking a lottery winner if they should buy a lottery ticket,” he says.[Indie developers]are still struggling and many of them have to go back to work because they can’t make enough money to sustain themselves. It’s still a tough industry to break into at the low end. ”
What’s next for Baratolo?
Even with the release of Balatro, LocalThunk and publisher Playstack are not slowing down one bit. One of the most exciting post-launch additions are the three Friends of Jimbo updates. This adds collaborative cosmetic card packs from over 10 Poplar titles, including The Witcher, Dave the Diver, Cyberpunk 2077, Stardew Valley, and Cult of. lamb.
Jimbo has been creeping into unexpected places, most recently in Cyberpunk 2077.
cd project red
LocalThunk said the recognition from small studios as well as major studios like Larian Studios (Baldur’s Gate 3) and CD Projekt Red (Cyberpunk 2077) is “really, really special.” He specifically praised Stardew Valley’s creator, an independent developer who goes by the alias ConcernedApe, for taking the time to personally draw the in-game art “as a challenge” to himself.
So what does the future hold for Baratolo? As an indie title, it is not up to the discretion of the board of directors or shareholders. LocalThunk holds all the cards, but hasn’t handed anything over yet.
“There’s still a lot we want to do with the game, and I think we’ll continue to add content that we think players will enjoy,” he says. “I don’t want to show too much of my hand, but I think[the content]will be appreciated by players and will bring players back and allow them to re-experience what they originally loved about the game. I want to keep doing this until I can’t anymore. I want to treat this as a hobby for as long as I can, but I don’t know how long.”
Balatro is currently available on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PC, macOS, and mobile devices.
