There are far too many excellent turn-based strategy games to play them all these days, and with even more coming to PC everyday, going back to the landmark releases gets harder and harder. But if you missed it, Invisble, Inc from Don't Starve developer Klei Entertainment is worth a return, particularly if you miss XCOM 2, and need something to fill the gap before (hopefully) XCOM 3. Oh, and if it helps, you can get it for just $3 right now.

There is no other game quite like Devil Daggers. Created by Sorath and originally launched in 2016, Devil Daggers is a contest of skill and perseverance, its steadily increasing difficulty calling to mind Gears of War's horde mode, its bullet hell design offering an FPS game spin on shmups like Ikaruga or Battle Garegga, and its infernal visuals taking notes from Doom or Quake. It's a tremendous work, endlessly compelling and, best of all, available for just under $3 USD right now.

Ars Technica informed me last week that there are 861 rogue-like deck building games on Steam currently.  Given that was a few days ago, there are probably half a dozen more there now.

I feel like the term “rogue-like” (or roguelike, as it has become one word for some) has been diluted of its early meaning, which was literally a game like Rogue, which included a bare few essential elements, and its immediate progeny which included things like Moria, Hack, NetHack, Island of Kesmai, and even the original Diablo according to lore. (More in random level generation than perma death, but it was an influence.)

Ars Technical has a whole post about that too, how the term has evolved from a perma-death ASCII adventure game to meaning something vaguely like a title with no fixed path where you have to start over from scratch when you die, lose, or otherwise fail some objective.

And then there are deck building games, which has nothing to do with a wooden platform in your back yard to hold BBQs in the summer… though now I feel like I should check Steam to see if there is a redwood deck tycoon or simulator title out there… but rather a card game where you acquire cards along the way, as opposed to a collectible card game, where you buy cards in sealed packs for a non-stop sensation of disappointment.

I am not really a fan of either right now.  I burned myself out with a Nethack obsession back in the 90s and deck builders tend to be too much immersed in lore and details I can’t be bothered to learn, so my Steam wishlist is pretty clear of both.

Which brings me to Balatro, which is a deck builder based on the standard 52 card deck and the rules of poker.

I learned many cards games as a child.  Having opted to live with my dad when my parents divorced, he taught me a wide range of such games, from four deck canasta to gin rummy to black jack, and of course poker was in the mix.

We had a lot of time to fill when football season was over while we waited for the internet to show up.

And it isn’t that I am good at poker… I have more tells than… well… something with a lot of tells… and have learned I should never play for money.  But I know the damn rules!

I’ve been playing some form of poker since Poker Solitaire on the Atari 2600, and I like a nice card game to play now and then, so when I saw some people I follow online talking about this, I put it on my Steam wishlist.  And then there was a deck building game sale and I was in.

The basics of the game means playing a hand to beat a given score through a round, each round being made up of the small blind, the big blind, and the boss blind, the latter always having a name and a special rule that makes it more difficult.

You have a selection of cards dealt out for you to try and make poker hands from, as well as some discards to try and get better cards if you are left without much to work with.

The poker hands all have a base chip value (the blue on the scoring) and a multiplier value (the red on the scoring, referred to as the mult) and the cards you play add chips to the score, which is then multiplied by the mult value to give you your score for the hand.

The blinds require progressively higher scores to beat them.  However, with every blind you can earn some money for beating the blind and having some unused hands.

With that money you can go to the shop between hands to buy upgrades in the form of jokers, vouchers, and card packs.

Jokers have effects on the scoring of hands you play, adding chips or mult.  More chips are always better, but more mult is critical.

The vouchers give you some benefit that last throughout your run, while the card packs can upgrade how much base value a hand has or cards in your deck, giving them special attributes like bonus chips, cash payouts, or more mult.

The shop is randomly stocked so you may find different things there each round.  Also, you can only have so many jokers, with five being the default value (though you can get a voucher to add another slot) and those are usually key to progressing.

And, on top of all that, there is a whole collect them all, achievement aspect to the game, as expanding what you have used unlocks access to further items.

And then there are Steam achievements on top of that.

Among the high points, this is perhaps the only time I have ever managed a legit royal flush.

My only real problem with the game is why the hell isn’t this in the Apple Store so I can play it on my iPad?  That would be ideal.  It is available on Steam for PC as well as PlayStation, XBox, and Switch (I guess I could get out my Switch Lite), but not on my iPad.

I actually got loaded up Steam Link on my iPad to try using that and, while it is a workable solution, it is not ideal.  I would prefer a native version for the tablet, but I will take what I can get.

As for playing… I’m not any good and haven’t even managed to complete a full run yet, and it can be maddening to get what seems like an idea joker setup only to have the cards betray you and have to start over from scratch when you lose, but it does keep me coming back.

Related:

• Balatro web site
• Balatro Steam Page