I have a special feeling that a game is the greatest of all time. To be fair, it’s a feeling you get after you already know it’s a classic – after investing dozens or even hundreds of hours into it. It’s been years since I’ve played a game that evoked this feeling. but Balatero Join that illustrious list.
This is what it’s like to get ready to embark on a suicide mission in Mass Effect 2; watch the last big Street Fighter 4 tournament. Finally reach the top of Peach’s Castle’s “Endless Stairs” and complete GTA V’s massive end-game selection as Franklin, or watch the Sheikh reveal their true identity. They all evoke a powerful feeling: This is the end. And then I realized: I didn’t want this to end.
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Most of the time, this feeling is associated with story-driven games. I think it usually just happens along some vague axis of story and gameplay – both being at some seemingly impossible level of formulaic perfection that changes something in your brain chemistry. The end result is a crazy emotion, finishing a game and finishing it feels like lossand ultimately provide a variety of powerful emotions that come with it.
But to card-based, RNG-driven roguelike deck builder Balatro’s credit: it triggered this feeling in me. That night, when I completed the last of the 20 challenge missions, I should have felt utterly victorious at having finally beaten that tedious, difficult “Joker” test. But instead, I felt a bittersweet pain. no matter what i do Do What will happen to myself once I finish the rest of what this game has to offer?
To be fair, I still have a ways to go – different decks and different bets to check out, and even though I’m someone who really doesn’t care about achievements or trophies, I’m determined to get them all in Balatero ( Another historical marker of mine). But completing all the challenges has the same feeling as watching the final “normal” dungeon boss fall in a Zelda game: it heralds the beginning of the end.
And, God, I didn’t want it to end. Thankfully, Balatro is a game where you can fire up a profile and enjoy the challenge whenever you want. But the variety of challenges and deck structures is what I crave in a game like this, and I know that once I tick off every challenge and deck, I’ll lose enthusiasm for playing the game. I feel a sense of loss about this. This makes me pray for DLC or a free update to maybe add new challenges and clowns.
It’s a special feeling and even though it kind of sucks, I embrace it and love it. Like I said, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and it always means a game will enter my personal pantheon of the greatest games of all time. Balatro has been with me a lot this year and is my number one game on the Steam Deck.
As the industry shook off the cobwebs of the pandemic and the amount of international travel required for the job continued to increase, I experienced sleepless nights caused by toddlers and helped survive several temporary hospitalizations. You know, it’s also the typical toilet game.
This may be too much information. But the right amount of message is this: I haven’t loved any game this year as much as I loved Balatro. This is the best game of the year and over 150 hours later I still haven’t finished it. While I’m here, I mourn. so terrible. But it’s also magical.
