#but I am addicted to balatro

[the-meat-machine]

kinda unrelated question but do u like playing videogames?? if so, which ones??

yeah, i love games! these days i pretty much exclusively play 2D games because my motion sickness with 3D games has been getting worse and worse, but i love the retro 2D pixel aesthetic so it works out ok for me

i tend to favor games that are puzzley, narrative-heavy, or exploration-focused. some random semi-recent favorites:

Monster Sanctuary (metroidvania monster collector with the best battle system of any mon game i've ever played)

Animal Well (a very puzzley, atmospheric metroidvania)

Baba Is You (puzzle game where you can change the rules of how everything interacts by pushing the rules themselves around)

Carrion (a "reverse horror" game where you're a monster escaping from a lab)

Sunless Sea (eerie, narrative-heavy game about sailing a vast, mysterious underground sea)

Hypnospace Outlaw (explore 90's-style websites to find the truth about what's going on in Hypnospace)

and this is not a recent fave but Cubivore is possibly my favorite game of all time. probably i couldn't play it without getting motion sick anymore, but it still holds a special place in my heart. i mean, a game that's all about running around strategically devouring every creature you see in order to evolve and change forms? how could i NOT love it. the writing is hilarious too. too bad it was only ever released on gamecube and never got remade

[hypixelskyblockquotes]

[soopmod]

Wings flutter. Beauty distracts.

[mosslingg]

Balatro (Ecstatic)

rtgame did a fun series on it

what's balatro

[soupergoulash]

Sitting in French class but at least it's my last lesson and then weekend whoopee

[amaranthoi]

Wtf apparently the 5h gap between classes is Friday only. On Mondays it’s six hours. And I don’t want to go home just to come back later cuz it’s like an hour+ trip

[callmearcturus]

beginner tips for Balatro

ppl will not shut up about their weird poker game so wtf is going on

BASICALLY:

It's Roguelike Poker.

A LITTLE LESS BASICALLY:

You want to play hands to gain enough Chips to reach enough Chips to beat the level (called "Blind"). You can play things like Full House, Three of a Kind, Flush, etc.

The hook of the game is the Jokers. After every Blind, you can visit a shop to buy Jokers. These Jokers affect your hand in weird ways. You can carry 5 Jokers at a time. Mixing and matching these will unlock useful and sometimes hilarious combinations.

The ultimate goal is to reach the boss of the 8th Ante. An Ante is a Small Blind, Large Blind, and Boss Blind. The chip requirement will grow over time.

It's extremely addictive, has a lot of both vertical and horizontal progression curves, and despite how it looks and sounds, Balatro is a one-time purchase single-player game with no microtransactions or ads.

here's a fast list of things I wish I understood when I first started playing Balatro:

+chips < +mult < X-MULT is the way usefulness works. +chips will add chips to the left, blue side of the score calculation. +mult will add to the red, right hand side of the score calculation. X-MULT will take the final score and then multiply the WHOLE thing by it. So basically the formula is (+chips x +mult) x XMULT. The game does not explain this very well but it's vital.

You can always play 5 cards. Even if the scoring hand you are playing is less than 5 cards, you can use the rest as a free discard. For example, if I play Ace, Ace, 6, 3, 2, I will play a Pair of Aces, and the 6, 3, 2 will be discarded.

Money is king in this game because money gets you access to the Jokers. The easiest way to control the money game is to get to 25$ as soon as possible, then try to avoid going under that. 25$ will get you the maximum interest every round. When at the shop, feel free to spend down to 22-25$ish.

However if you need to bankrupt yourself because you see Card Sharp or Flashback or another extremely-high value joker, don't think, just do it.

If it says +1 hand in yellow, that means draw an extra card in your hand. If it says +1 hand in blue, you get a full extra hand to play in the round. Yes, it's confusing.

YOU CAN MOVE YOUR JOKERS AROUND. (This is a little Advanced but if you want to know the optimal Joker order, it's like the card usefulness: Jokers that add chips go to the left. Jokers that add XMULT go to the right. Effects Jokers, like Four Fingers (allows you to play Flushes and Straights with 4 cards instead of 5) can go anywhere.)

YOU CAN ALSO MOVE CARDS IN YOUR HAND. Playing a Straight as Jack-Ten-King-Queen-Ace is still a straight. If you have a Glass card, put it to the rightmost side of the hand.

DO NOT DO THE MATH. Or, until you get to very very high level play, do not check your math. There will be times when you have a single hand left on the boss blind of the 8th Ante and you will google the Balatro Score Calculator, we've all been there. But you need to believe in the heart of the cards and the vibes of the jokers.

You will unlock decks as you beat the 8th Ante boss with the last deck you unlocked. Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, and Black are the basic decks. After you have those, you have to use any deck to beat the stakes. Raising the stake will add weird conditions to the game to try to make reaching the 8th Ante harder. For example, I am currently on the Orange Stake on Abandoned and Plasma Decks. Red, Blue, and Yellow Decks are easiest for tackling the stakes. Black Deck is the fucking devil.

When you walked in the sand and saw the footprints behind you, that was Flashback as they carried you.

[voice-of-the-light-c]

Have you had any addictions? How do you overcome those sorts of feelings. Be it a drug or some sort of feeling of justice you're addicted to.

Depends on what you mean by addiction? I guess balatro. Oh balatro is an old internet game from the 21st century! I forget most people aren't into old media from the old internet like I am... In retrospect Ayin probably got the idea for LobCorp after I talked about SCP stuff so much... Woops!

[predatory-transbian-milf]

Hi my new meds are working great. I am now hopelessly addicted to balatro about 6 months late. I would ask you to send help but I really just want some puppy girl to live under my desk and suck my girl dick. I am accepting applications.

[eldritch-elrics]

the 5 best games i played in 2024

this is not a "top games of 2024" list, because, as always, i failed to play more than a handful of games that were released this year. instead, these are my favorites of the... 14 or so? games i beat for the first time this year. enjoy!

i tried to limit myself to putting one game per franchise on here. sorry, dark souls 3.

1. Dark Souls (2011)

a game about being one little undead warrior in a big mean world <3

dark souls! what a game! though i technically started playing this in december 2023, i think i'm allowed to count it among my 2024 games.

moreover, this is definitely going on the "favorite games of all time" list. i adore dark souls. it's rare that i start playing a game and instantly feel like we're speaking the same language. i love the weirdness and awkwardness of it, i love the grungy medieval fantasy atmosphere, the great characters, the difficult but satisfying combat, the incredibly memorable environments... the list goes on. there's a reason this is a classic. it's a very silly game and also a very clever game. i am incredibly glad that i decided to give it a try.

2. Silent Hill 2 (2001)

a game about a man who travels to a strange, empty town in search of his dead wife.

there was this one night in october in which i played through a frankly ridiculous chunk of this game in one sitting, and afterwards i felt completely insane in a way that i have very rarely experienced!!! what did they put in silent hill 2 to make it one of the most emotionally arresting game stories i've ever seen? i'm still trying to answer this one. add to that some top-notch atmosphere, excellent scares, and an environmental design philosophy that makes the world seem simultaneously more real and more surreal... and you get an incredibly tight, smart game where every part of it contributes to crafting the experience.

3. Inscryption (2021)

a game about playing a life-or-death game of cards in a spooky cabin with an old man who likes to cheat.

speaking of very clever video game stories!! inscryption is a fantastic addition to the metafictional games canon. of all of the games here, i think this one surprised me the most - it plays with your expectations so deftly, and all in service of a deliciously simple meta premise. helps that the core gameplay is extremely addictive, too. this was my balatro

4. The Beginner's Guide (2015)

a game about a guy showing you a few short games his friend made.

can i put a game on this list that i haven't played myself? though i watched courtesy play it, it's more or less a "walking simulator" sort of a game, so i got more or less the same experience. anyway, this is another metafictional game that subverts expectations in a major way that i am still thinking about nearly a year later. unfortunately, this is another one i shouldn't talk too much about - it's short, you should just play it yourself.

5. Lil Gator Game (2022)

a game about a lil gator trying to build the best playground game ever with their friends!

not only is this a very cute game about a cute gator exploring a big island, it is also a beautifully written game about games. not in the same way as inscryption or beginner's guide - it's about playground games! as someone who played a lot of those as a kid, this one struck a chord with me. it's also very creative, consistently laugh-out-loud funny, and all around charming.

honorable mentions:

Sable (2021) - what a cool world. what a cool way (and cool reason) to explore a world. this one majorly scratched my "exploring and collecting things" itch.

Dark Souls 3 (2016) - dark souls 3 is just really good, guys.

and if you want to see a list of all the games i played/experienced this year, here it is!

[iced-lemon-draw]

2024 Steam Winter Sale Recommendations

So the steam winter sale just happened so I've decided to draw the cute steam sale girl. There was an attempt of the drawing during the autumn sale but I was busy back then and did not make it, but I've decide to salvage the drawing of her for this winter sale post. Along with the drawing I would also like to take this opportunity to recommend some steam games that I've played this year that you'll likely never heard of. While we get some great releases like Balatro and all, there are many other smaller indie games that did not get a lot of traction that I think these games do deserve some of your attention. Do note that this list consists of games that I've played in 2024, not necessarily released this in 2024 So in no particular order, here are my recommendations:

Witching Stone:

An elegant mix between match 3 puzzle and a roguelike. In combat, you cast spells based on the gem sequence you've input. Each spell requires their own input so each turn you will be strategizing ahead which gems you should include in your sequence to cast the spell you want. While it is not strictly a deck builder, there is enough customization and variety in the spell mechanic to allow you to make unique devastating builds.

2. Minishoot Adventures:

Imagine Zelda 1 but replace links sword combat with bullet hell combat, that's this game. There are not many non roguelike/ shmup bullet hell games and honestly there should be more of it. If you like bullet hell then definitely give this game a try. While the boss fights can be challenging overall I'd say this game is quite friendly for beginners as well (trust me, I am not very good at bullet hells and I mainly play touhou on easy mode). But do keep in mind that this game is inspired by Zelda 1 on the NES in particular, which means this game does not tell you where to go so it's up to you to explore and figure things out yourself. (There is also hardly any text in the game like in Hyper Light Drifter)

3. WitchHand

A card based colony management game similar to Stacklands, but it does a lot of unique things with the witch theme. In this game you can do all things from management games like building buildings, command familiars to fight for you, craft resources and more, but all in a easy to grasp card format where everything is a tangible card. Two things I really like about this game, one is that there is no card limit like in stacklands which really kills the pacing for me, secondly, this game has automation mechanics where you will eventually build supply chains to automate a lot of the complex crafting for you. Overall playing this is a very addicting and satisfying experience, just keep in mind that you will be managing, a lot, and I mean a lot of cards.

4. Rusted Moss

A grappling hook focused metroidvania with bullet hell combat. While most games have grappling hooks, this games stands out where the hook is actually elastic like rubber, in which you can stretch and contract it to fling yourself wherever you need. While it takes some time to get used to, it is indeed pretty fun to master this movement mechanics (schmovement as they called it). The level designs does make use of this as well, for example in most metroidvanias if you see a ledge you can't reach it usually means you'll need another upgrade to reach there later on, but in this game it's likely just skill issue. it also has a good number of optional challenge ares to test your mastery on the movement mechanics. Combine this and some well crafted gun play, you get some fun and engaging gameplay throughout your adventure. While I'd say this game is pretty challenging in terms of the platforming skill it demands, there are accessibility options that let you tweak the game's challenge to whatever fit your needs. Also this game has some interesting lore that is based on Fairy Tales with some pretty interesting character interactions if that is your thing. (Also this game has another content update coming soon.)

5. Transiruby

An cute little metroidvania where you play as a cute robot girl. While this game is pretty simple and arcady in terms of it's collectathon gameplay (you just collect chips in areas which are the equivalent of Mario coins) I do find it quite charming, and sometimes that's all you need for a fun experience. Also one of the upgrades allows your cute robot girl transform into a motorcycle if that interests you.

6. Touhou Endless Dream

It's your standard bullet hell top down shooter roguelike with a touhou theme. While the game can be janky and lackluster at times, but if you can look past that the gameplay is thrilling with enemies all over the place shooting unique bullet patterns which you'll need to observe and dodge carefully. I honestly enjoyed my playtime with the game and would love to see the devs expand on this as this game has a lot of potential. Do check this game out if you are looking for some fun and intense bullet hell combat out of the box.

7. Touhou lensed Night Sky

A Touhou fan game that is a roguelike. Unlike games like touhou 18 and 18.5 this game goes all in with it's roguelike aspect with randomly generated enemy encounters and game changing Bind of Issac style item systems on top your familiar shmup gameplay from Touhou. I really like this game because it does many unique things that you usually don't see from a standard Touhou shmup and there is a lot of variety from the item effect. There is a good blend of stat based upgrade and upgrades that heavily alters the game mechanics, great for making unique builds which makes this game very replayable. (It also has a challenge based difficulty system similar to Slay the Spire's accession system if that is your thing). I would recommend you to at least give this game's demo a shot although do keep in mind that this is still an early access game with quite a number of bugs to be expected. (The devs are working hard squashing the bugs so do report them if you found any.) But if you can look past that, this is a game worth trying for yourself.

8. Archvale

Another bullet hell adventure game but unlike Minishoot Adventures this one takes inspiration from Terraria with it's many unique weapons for you to decide on your playstyle. What I really like this game is it has a lot of polish into making sure the combat feels very satisfying. Similar to Vlambeer's games like Nuclear Throne, every moment of gameplay is a treat for the senses. If your like nuclear throne or what you've seen from gameplay footages then you should get this game.

9. Maiden and Spell

A bullet hell PvP fighting game. Imagine Touhou 9 or 19 but both players are in a single arena shooting directly at each other, that's this game. This is Mino's previous game and while it's not a replayable roguelike like Rabbit and Steel, I still think this game is worth a look at if you like bullet hell combat. While it is a fighting game, it also has a pretty fun single player campaign to play with. This game also supports online play with online netcode and from my experience the online gameplay is pretty solid with minimal network issues encountered. Do give this game a shot and like rabbit and steel, recommend this to a friend as well so they can play with you. And one more thing, like Rabbit and Steel, the soundtrack of this game is also remarkable as well so do give it a listen.

Alright that's all I got. Thanks for listening to ramble about niche games. I really like small indie games made by small teams that most of them had little to no recognition, usually these games are overshadowed by super successful titles like Balatro and Hades and I do wish that they get the recognition they deserve. While I can't exactly convince you to get these games from the winter sale, I do hope you find all these titles interesting. Do let me know if you had more indie game recommendations as well, I always like to learn more about indie hidden gems. Anyways I am done here and I hope you had a good year. See ya again in a future post.

[ft-rj]

they should have never shown me balatro i saw it I'm like "i am NOT buying that I will get addicted and hate that" then my friend irl i talk with all the time was like "yeah it's fun i play it in bed on my phone" and I'm like okay (downloads it on my pc) .

13 fucking hours later. Hey at least i have 2 wins. what the hell is an ante 11. x1.5 mult. reroll. planets. flush

[flightyquinn]

Here's a question...

Is Balatro actually fun?

I know, I know. You're asking yourself, "Are they serious? Of course it's fun! Just look how many hours I have in it!" I can hear you right now through the bug I hid in your laundry pile (you should really wash those, by the way).

And look, I'm right there with you...

I've been playing this game every chance I get.

But at a certain point I have to question, am I enjoying it? Or, am I just feeding a gambling addiction?

Because the moment to moment gameplay...it's just poker. It's poker, stripped of the aspect of trying to outsmart your opponent. You see a target number, and you start calculating multipliers, chip values, and the probability of drawing certain cards on a discard.

Is that really engaging gameplay?

...because I'm pretty sure it's just doing mental maths.

Sure, there's the shops and stuff, but here's the thing - you don't always get to take advantage of them. That's at the mercy of the RNG, even if you math good. Plus the further into the game you go, the more the mechanics serve to reduce your control and make you more dependent on getting good RNG.

There's a nice flow of unlocks and new discoveries early on, which certainly helps to get you hooked. And as is the nature of these sorts of games it slows the deeper in you get, and the harder the tasks become. At least there's an option to just unlock everything if you don't care about getting the achievements, but I still can't help but think about how many forms of gambling will use simple rewards early on to get people into that mindset that the next payout is just around the corner.

All of which leads me back to my original question...

Is playing Balatro actually fun?

[bnuuybot]

girl help it is the week of my final exams and i am hopelessly addicted to balatro

[otoutocomplex]

15 18 and 8 for the ask game

omg hiiiii dean :D

8. Game of the year?

well that depends on the criteria 🤔 so I will give two answers. if we are talking "favorite game that was released in 2024," then I absolutely have to give it to balatro. I fucking love balatro. I got ADDICTED to balatro. however, honorable mentions go to home safety hotline, hades 2 (which is still in early access but i am counting it), and of COURSE mouthwashing. if we are instead talking "game I played or enjoyed the most in 2024," I think it's gotta be graveyard keeper. or balatro again. OR seven kingdoms: the princess problem. I went absolutely fucking feral over that game and played it like six times back to back. it's so good

15. What’s a bad habit you picked up this year?

oh boy. that is a good question. I'm sure there is one but I can't think of it...maybe "cheating" on my daily tasks? lol. I have this app where you can track habits you want to form and give yourself reminders to do tasks and stuff and I tend to check them off even if I haven't done them just so I don't lose points. it's so dumb because then it's like. what's the point of even tracking 😭

18. A memorable meal this year?

bold of you to assume I can even remember what I had for dinner last night LOL. for real though...this is kinda lame but the only thing that really comes to mind is thanksgiving dinner. I kinda eat the same five meals over and over again so nothing else really stands out? oh well

thank you for the ask bestie 🥺🥺🥺 love youuuu

[dont-touch-the-flower-child]

Balatro is so fun. It's a game with rules so simple that you go through the tutorial in under a minute. It's also got rules so complex that you could spend hours explaining all of its mechanisms

Balatro is about following rules, but it's also about breaking them. Specifically you get to break rules in fun ways While making up your own rules—And trying to hit the highest scores possible while observing them! Confusing, I know, but true!

I am addicted to this game