Alright. I have completed several runs in Luck be a Landlord and played around a bit with my next unlock (floor 5). This is a pretty fun and almost completely casual roguelike. It is not a deckbuilder, so that description is false. Rather, it's a slotbuilder. Because this isn't a digital deckbuilding game. It's a digital slot machine with RPG elements mixed in. Instead of building a deck, you add slot items (such as what cherries and bars would be in a normal slot machine). Each slot item has a certain amount of gold it can potentially earn if it comes up when you pull the imaginary lever.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3427469226

And this is a core gameplay mechanic. You begin with five slot items (which can be people, coins and gems, fruit, animals, and so on). In addition to potentially being worth some coin, many have special abilities. For example, a chicken might lay an egg, which is another item. And that egg might in turn hatch a chicken. A cat might drink milk, destroying said milk item but granting you bonus coins. A dog might give people next to it a coin boost. And on and on. There are A LOT of slot items to be unlocked.

How this works is, in between each pull of the non-existent lever (the spin button), you receive the choice of one of three items that show up randomly. Whichever you choose is added to your pool of items. Every so often (I forgot to count how many spins are needed), you will also earn a more permanent item which doesn't get added to your spins but offers you buffs under certain circumstances after spinning the wheel.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3427469248

Why is all of this important? Because your slot machine is in an apartment you are renting, and it is how you earn your rent, which is due after "x" amount of spins. If you fail to pay your rent ("x" amount of gold coins), you're out the door (i.e. you lose and need to start over). If you manage to pay rent twelve times, you win the game. However, your rent increases after each time you pay it. So, your landlord is essentially a slumlord. Now, there is a resistance movement who will periodically gift you with rerolls (if you don't like the selection of characters presented to you) and some destroy items as well (which will remove an unwanted character from your "deck"). You know, to help you fight the power. You start on the first floor. When you win a game, the landlord flees up a floor. You will then have the option to replay the previous floor(s) or move up a floor. This is basically a difficulty boost. However, you can actually defeat the landlord eventually, and so while you win the game by defeating a floor, you don't technically complete the game until you have defeated the landlord completely. You also have the option upon completing twelve rent payments to enter endless mode instead of starting over.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3427493052

Achievements are as random as the items you unlock and are triggered mostly by random events, which actually is kind of fun when they pop up and you read why and how you earned them. It's a nice touch that adds to what is already very much a "just another round" type of game. Quite the addictive gameplay loop. And this game only takes up like 150mb of space as well, meaning it's easy to keep this one downloaded to pick and play whenever the mood strikes. It also does feed the inner gambler in most of us to a degree, making it an even more compulsive play type of game, lol.

I picked this up in one of the current Fanatical Bundlefest bundles, and it was a very pleasant surprise. Quite the enjoyable little game. $9.99 is probably a bit excessive as the retail price for this, but as mentioned, it's currently bundled and has been in ten bundles overall at the time this review goes live, so that is definitely the way you're gonna want to pick this game up. But pick it up you should. It's worth playing.

*Final edit: I've defeated the landlord at this point. Which is actually presented as a boss battle that retains the game's format but adds some new wrinkles. On your end, gathering rent money also reduces the landlord's health by an equal amount. However, he starts adding debuffs in between spins to make it more difficult on you. Fun way to conclude the story aspect of the game. Afterwards, there are still many more floors to complete, but you have finished the main game.

If balatro was a slot machine.

ggg toooo easy
beat floor 1
so hyped now

轻松老虎机,挺好玩

peak

This game is a joke, a pretty funny joke (and it's way too expensive, but of course it is...).
Pretty fun to play overall. Lacks depth.

Good mindless fun. Decent on the steam deck, but I need to adjust the resolution each time I start the game

A positive review, but only just.

There are times when a slot machine roguelite can be a lot of fun. Select symbols that synergize, and you get to watch the coins pile up. RNG is less important than you'd expect on spins, and more relevant in the symbols you're offered. Past the 6th of 20 difficulty levels, the game adds an extra element of "essences" or goals to hit within games to provide additives and multipliers to certain strategies.

However, at 18 hours I already feel as if I've seen everything that there is to be seen in this game. There's more that could have been added, but the developer moved on too fast to other projects. Past floor 20, the only thing left to do are achievements that are either an unreasonable grind or straight rng. And unlike other deckbuilders, there aren't enough viable strategies or game variety to allow for significant replayability.

It's worth playing, but I recommend waiting for a steam sale, as the total content doesn't really justify the 9.99 USD purchase price.