Balatro is a fantastic mix of deck-building, roguelike runs, and cheating at poker. But you don’t have to take my word for it. This indie darling was such a smash hit last year that it sold millions of copies on PC and console before quickly expanding to Android and iOS. If you haven’t picked it up yet, you can do it for free or cheap — it’s now included in the Xbox Game Pass subscription service.
Game Pass isn’t perfect, but it remains the best deal in gaming if you don’t need access to exclusive titles on PlayStation or Nintendo Switch. At $12 a month for the PC-only version, or $20 a month for access across all devices with streaming included, it’s a great way to access tons of titles. I like to dip in for just one month if a new, full-priced game interests me and I’m not ready to shell out $70. (I imagine a lot of people are doing that right now for Obsidian’s Avowed RPG, same as Starfield.)
But seriously, buy Balatro. It’s $15 on Steam, $10 on your phone or tablet, and I think the latter’s touchscreen might even be the better way to play it. The game was basically complete last year, but a few content updates have added free cosmetic extras that tie into other popular games. The “Friends of Jimbo 4” update adds card art from games like Assassin’s Creed, Bugsnax, Dead by Daylight, Fallout, Rust, and Civilization.
Here’s my final plea to convince you to play Balatro: I installed it on my grandma’s iPad over Christmas. This is an octogenarian woman who has not played a mainstream game since Angry Birds. Two weeks ago she called me up to tell me she finally broke 20,000 points. C’mon, that’s freakin’ adorable.