Indie phenomenon Balatro is one of the most-played games on Steam Deck this year, beaten only by Stardew Valley and previous GOTY winners Elden Ring and Baldur's Gate 3
Nov. 28, 2024The little roguelike that could
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Balatrois the fourth most-played game onSteam Deckin the last 12 months, beaten only byElden Ring,Baldur’s Gate 3, andStardew Valley. That’s an impressive caliber of colleagues it’s got.
Is there nowhere we can hide from the viral sensation that is Balatro? No, is the short answer. It’s on consoles,PC, Steam Deck, andmobile– GamesRadar+’s Oscar swears he doesn’tplay Balatro on his phone during meetings, but we don’t believe him. To be fair to solo developer LocalThunk,they did say “I’m sorry"when they released it on mobile.
By now, we should all be used to Balatro going up against gaming juggernauts. It won two Golden Joysticks last week,Critics Choiceand Best Indie, so it’s not surprising it’s selling well. What is impressive is that two indie games made by solo devs are on par with two of the most critically acclaimed RPGs to come out this decade, with Elden Ring and Baldur’s Gate 3 both being previous Game of the Year winners at The Game Awards.Balatro is also up for Game of the Year this year, so it’s already proven to be tough competition.
LocalThunk shared a screenshot of the Steam Deck charts on their Twitter account, showing that while Elden Ring had climbed three places on the leaderboard and Stardew Valley had gained eight, the poker roguelike was a new entry entirely. So, it got just shy of the podium in its first year of release. Not bad for a “fun little project"started during a few weeks of vacation.
At the moment, I only have it on my laptop, but my phone is calling to me like the Green Goblin’s mask, begging me to make myself even less productive.
If you’re weaning yourself off of Balatro and want something else to play, why not check out some of thebest upcoming indie games? One of them could be the next big hit.
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I’m Issy, a freelancer who you’ll now occasionally see over here covering news on GamesRadar. I’ve always had a passion for playing games, but I learned how to write about them while doing my Film and TV degrees at the University of Warwick and contributing to the student paper, The Boar. After university I worked at TheGamer before heading up the news section at Dot Esports. Now you’ll find me freelancing for Rolling Stone, NME, Inverse, and many more places. I love all things horror, narrative-driven, and indie, and I mainly play on my PS5. I’m currently clearing my backlog and loving Dishonored 2.
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