Balatro creator reacts to award nomination by telling you to vote for another indie: "A truly deserving gem"
Oct. 5, 2024Localthunk is a big fan of the acclaimed indie RPG Arco
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The creator of the hit poker-inspired roguelike deck builder Balatro, who goes only by the online name of localthunk, is celebrating his game being nominated for three different Golden Joystick Awards by… asking you to play and vote for another game.
Arco is competing against Balatro in the Best Indie Game category. It’s described by publisher Panic as a “Mesoamerican fantasy RPG where each fight is a handcrafted bullet-hellish maelstrom that you must solve through clever use of your skills, items, and environment.”
I can’t yet vouch for it myself, butArco has 643 Steam reviews and a whopping 97% of them are positive. GR+’s Austin Wood is also a big fan, calling it “one of my favorite finds of the summer” in hishands-on writeup.
The game blends real-time and turn-based combat in what sounds like a genuinely innovative system that’s directly impacted by the choices you make in the story, which puts you in the shoes of four different characters, each with their own unique skill tree and playstyle. The handcrafted world makes brilliant use of so few pixels, and I’m a big fan of the underutilized Mesoamerican setting. Basically, I’m sold, Localthunk.
Arco is available on PC and Nintendo Switch, and Balatro is available on those platforms as well as PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Android, and iOS.
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After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar’s west coast Staff Writer, I’m responsible for managing the site’s western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I’m too afraid to finish.
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