Balatro News

One year ago, Playstack and I launched Balatro, and what a journey it has been!

I often said that I made this game for myself and that I wasn't expecting anything to become of it. Seeing so many people connect with Balatro has overwhelmingly filled this year with joy, so from the bottom of my heart thank you to all players that decided to give this game a shot. Your love and support have kept Balatro thriving, and it wouldn't be possible without you.

I am hard at work and I hope this next year will do Balatro fans proud. I appreciate you all naneinf!


- LocalThunk

Balatro has been a mega hit, having recently reached the 5 million copies sold mark, and for now its lead developer isn't rushing to move on.

Read more

Last year's defining indie smash hit, Balatro? Not nominated for the IGF grand prize. Animal Well, which turned damn near every games journalist into a tiresome obsessive? Not nominated for anything. UFO 50, an impressive, important, big boy achievement snubbed by our own 2024 list? It did get a Grand Prize nomination.

I don't disagree with any of the nominees or absences in this year's Independent Games Festival Awards, so I don't mention any of the above to stir up trouble. Instead I look at this list and think: wow, video games are more varied than ever, so much so that there's no longer a dominant cultural narrative even within the specific niche of indie gaming.

Read more

Gentle reader, I have previously written exactly two boob-related articles in my life. One was a cheesy round-up of the best manboobs in video games for Green Man Gaming's long-vanished blog. It was published sometime in 2010, and IIRC, pre-reboot Kratos came out on top. I think/hope it still exists somewhere in the apparatus of Green Man Gaming, hidden beneath the retailer's veneer of respectability like a barrel of radioactive waste. The other boob article was a piece for OXM about Ken Levine saying that he wished people would stop fixating on Elizabeth's cleavage in Bioshock Infinite - a complaint we might consider slightly hypocritical, given the character's visual design.

Now it's time for boob article number 3: some modder has given 122 of the 150 Jokers in cardgame Balatro big chests. This extends from visibly human Jokers to Joker concepts that shouldn't, strictly speaking, have the capacity for boobage. The banana card has boobs, for example. The credit card card has boobs. Behold.

Read more

Balatro is obviously one of the best games from 2024, and now the dev behind it has shared what they think are the top titles from last year.

Read more