Game Reviews
Balatro: Just One More Hand
- Format
- 5 / 5
- Platform
- Steam · 26 hrs
- 5 out of 5. Twenty-six and a half hours on record, and every one of them started with "one more hand."
- Poker hands are just the start. Jokers, tarots and planets turn every run into a combo puzzle.
- It adds new complexity at a perfect pace, and there are eight stakes to climb.
- Some runs are doomed from the start, and later stakes get brutal.
"'Just One More Hand' – My Last Words Before Losing Hours" was my Steam review headline. Balatro is the most dangerously addictive card game since Slay the Spire, and I say that with love and a slightly worrying sleep schedule.
It's what happens when someone asks, "What if poker was actually fun?", then adds roguelike runs, deck building, and more multipliers than your brain can handle.
What it is
Don't let the poker theme put you off. This is a puzzle game that happens to use playing cards. You play poker hands to hit a score target, round after round. Between rounds you buy jokers, tarot cards and planet cards that change the rules: this suit counts double, that hand type levels up, every face card adds multiplier.
Before long you're triggering absurd combos and watching your score climb into scientific notation.
What worked
The depth. More than 150 jokers and endless ways they combine. Every run turns into a search for the broken combo.
The pacing. It introduces new mechanics at exactly the right speed and reveals its layers as you get better.
The variety. Fifteen decks, several game modes, eight difficulty stakes and challenge modes on top.
The feel. Clean UI, a hypnotic synthwave-flavored soundtrack, and crisp sound effects. Big combos feel as epic as they should.
It runs on everything. Including the Steam Deck, where it's verified and flawless. Load times basically don't exist.
Tip
Read your jokers carefully, then read them again. Half the fun is noticing that two cards you've had for three rounds suddenly break the game together.
What didn't
It consumes your life. Say goodbye to your free time.
Later stakes are hard. The top difficulties are brutal.
RNG. Some runs feel impossible from the first shop.
Sleep loss. "One more hand" is a dangerous phrase.
Who it's for
Perfect for deckbuilder fans who want something fresh, people who like optimizing builds and finding broken combos, and anyone who enjoys watching numbers get bigger. No real money involved, which I appreciate.
Not for people with important deadlines, people who need sleep, or anyone looking for a traditional poker game.
How long?
About seven or eight hours to beat it the first time, and 200-plus to finish everything.
Worth it?
It's digital crack in card form. Buy it if you dare, but don't say you weren't warned.
If you like the card-roguelike itch but want it with a lot more dread, Inscryption is the other one. And Loop Hero uses cards to build a whole world instead of a hand.