Balatro is a straight-forward, incredibly designed and radically fun game that uses the gameplay of poker as a foundation, and builds upon it massively with no-nonsense roguelite mechanics. It's relaxing and distinctive atmosphere provided by its graphics, sound design and music help it to stand out as one of the most unique games of the decade.

Balatro's gameplay loop is simple: play high-scoring hands to earn chips and defeat blinds. What makes every run unique is the player's choice of Jokers - unique items that change the rules of the game you play. Jokers can range from straightforward e.g. Jokers rewarding you extra chips if you play flush hands, to incredibly complex e.g. Jokers that multiply your score for every time you a play a hand that isn't your most-played hand. This is the magic in Balatro. Its core gameplay is so intuitively simple yet so rewarding to master that it'll have you hooked with play-sessions lasting for hours at a time. As you experiment with Jokers and different playstyles, the game will reward you with more Jokers to garnish your future runs with. The majority of Jokers you discover will be unlocked naturally simply by you playing the game and pushing its mechanics to their limits. At 88 hours in, I have unlocked 149 out of the 150 Jokers available at the point of writing this review, and I have never had to Google how to unlock Jokers or look at the 'Collections' tab available in the game to figure out how to unlock that last one. The wonder of discovering the game is just as rewarding as the fruits of that labour - playing runs at the highest difficulty (or 'Stake' as its affectionately referred to as in Balatro) is some of the plainest fun you can have in a game where the only thing you need to do is press the left-mouse button.

It's a labour of love, and I'm wholeheartedly glad that Balatro is getting its flowers because we need more innovative games like this that push the envelope on what a simple yet fun game can be. I simply can't wait for the first major content update coming to Balatro in 2025.