Screenshots & trailers
What players say
Why the number is what it is: aspect mentions counted across 429 sampled Steam reviews (423 positive / 6 negative), recent and most-helpful. Plain keyword counting, fully reproducible; nothing here is written by a machine.
What positive reviews talk about
Positive reviews don't converge on specific aspects.
What negative reviews complain about
Negative reviews don't converge on specific aspects.
Satisfaction by hours played
Same score, different games: see how sentiment holds up the longer people play.
Under 5h
96%
49 reviews
5-15h
98%
96 reviews
15-40h
99%
107 reviews
40-100h
100%
82 reviews
100h+
99%
95 reviews
Review sentiment over time
Weekly positive-review rate (green) and review volume (bars). Dashed lines mark significant patches; the amber line is the start of the current scoring window. Hover the dots to see what drove a dip or a jump.
How this score was computed
The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.
| Component | Positive | Quality (0-100) | Weight (pseudo-reviews) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press reviews (OpenCritic) | – | 92 | 90 |
| All-time Steam reviews | 98% | 94 | 1296 |
| Metacritic user ratings | – | 88 | 526 |
| Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted) | 98% | 93 | 3000 |
| Calibration prior (typical game) | – | 72 | 50 |
Scoring window: since the last significant patch (May 1, 2024) · 300 reviews sampled · 134687 total reviews in window · weighted 242.1 up / 4.6 down · computed 1h ago · full methodology →
Press & Creators reviews (77)
Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.
- 80
- 100
“A wonderful roguelike card game which twists poker rules in unexpected ways. It would seem that after Slay the Spire this genre won't be able to surprise in any way, but cool ideas from independent developers continue to appear.”
read full review ↗ - 100
“Balatro is a roguelike for gamers who don't like roguelikes... and then everybody else on top of that. It utterly nails what it sets out to do, providing an instantly accessible, satisfying, and addictive gameplay loop that anybody can grasp. It's an immensely enjoyable experience from the start, but as you get deeper in, there's really nothing else quite like it. We suspect we'll be hearing a lot about Balatro when conversations steer towards Game of the Year, because this is a clear and obvious frontrunner. Utterly sublime.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“The constantly challenging nature of Balatro makes it an unforgettable experience and a delight for Poker enthusiasts.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“Balatro is a simple and satisfying roguelike built on the familiarity of poker to make it one of the most addicting games I've played in a long time. The game's not content to just disrupt your daily routine, but also extends to the genre itself, setting a new standard for roguelike deckbuilders. By not trying to do too much, Balatro achieves gaming nirvana easily and produces an impossible-to-put-down experience that has me still hungry for more after 50 hours of playtime. For those who aren't familiar with poker or used to the cruel luck of the draw, Balatro can seem a bit brutal. But if you persevere, there's a special game waiting for you in Balatro.”
read full review ↗ - 100
“Balatro is a fantastic showcase of how to create complexity by establishing a simple ruleset and building on it. LocalThunk’s debut title turns the simplest of poker hands something magical with modifiers and special cards and jokers. At the same time, it pushes the player to try new strategies with its bosses and to skip blinds for a bigger reward. I felt like I barely scratched its surface and I still yearn for more. Get ready to devote all your free time to it and watch your “perfect” strategy fall apart just to try it again and again. A must have for poker, deckbuilder and strategy fans.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“For a deck building rogue-like, a concept I have seen so many times over, Balatro thrives within its style.”
read full review ↗ - 85
“Balatro is a surprisingly delightful experience, proving that neither a massive budget nor breathtaking graphics are necessary to compete with the AAA giants of the gaming industry. This is a very simple title that relies entirely on its gameplay loop, yet its simplicity manages to captivate in a way that few other games on the market can.”
read full review ↗ - 100
“Balatro is a triumph in simple-yet-airtight game design, combining the old-schoolness of poker & card shark mechanics with the new roguelike and deck-building-to-perfection loop that leads to an addictive time.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“The wonderful and terrible thing about Balatro is that, unlike with other roguelikes, I never got frustrated getting bounced back to the start. I almost always felt like I’d had the slate wiped clean of the web of synergistic collectables governing my ill-fated moves and this time, I was sure to succeed. Especially as my efforts in the game unlocked new perks or decks I could use when jumping back in. The combination of simple drag-and-drop controls and a continuous flow of numbers-go-up dopamine hits is irresistible. You’ve been warned.”
read full review ↗ - 84
“A surprisingly-effective roguelike variation on poker, for those who enjoy it, and a pretty unique challenge”
read full review ↗ - 90
“Balatro is an incredibly clever indie gem that uses the bones of regular poker to build an incredibly approachable and fiendishly addictive new experience. There's a wonderfully slick core to this one, building decks and taking on dealers as you add wild special cards and variables to your pack is trance-inducing stuff and, backed by a fantastically understated soundtrack and perfect visuals, it makes for one of the first proper, actual, absolute must-play games of 2024.”
read full review ↗
Fintendo
3DNews
Nintendo Life
eXputer
video games are good
Hu3br
Seasoned Gaming
STWGames Italia
Kakuchopurei
The Indie Informer
Nindie Spotlight
Pure Xbox…and 65 more tracked reviews.
Patch history
- Friends of Jimbo 2 free update is hereOct 24, 2024
- Balatro - Friends of Jimbo FREE UpdateAug 27, 2024
- 1.0.1f - Patch notesMay 1, 2024significant · resets scoring window
- Balatro Languages 1.0 Update!Mar 8, 2024
- 1.0.0n - Patch NotesMar 8, 2024
- 1.0.0L - Patch NotesMar 1, 2024
- Mac version and Trading Cards Live!Mar 1, 2024
- 1.0.0k - Patch NotesFeb 23, 2024significant · resets scoring window
- 1.0.0j - Patch NotesFeb 21, 2024significant · resets scoring window
- Update 0.9.0q-DEMOOct 16, 2023significant · resets scoring window
- Playtest Update and Demo PlansAug 11, 2023
- Update 0.8.7cJul 3, 2023
- Update 0.8.7bJul 2, 2023
- Update 0.8.7Jul 1, 2023significant · resets scoring window
- Update 0.8.6cJun 19, 2023
- Update 0.8.6bJun 18, 2023
- Balatro Demo now available!Jun 16, 2023