Balatro creator was "shocked" at his poker roguelike's high review scores: "I don’t think I would have rated Balatro higher than an 8 and I made the damn thing"

Balatro Joker art
(Image credit: Playstack / LocalThunk)

It can sometimes be difficult to accurately assess your work, and the task becomes even more arduous when you're working on an entertaining poker roguelike game. For example, Balatro creator LocalThunk was stunned to see such high review scores pouring in after the game released in 2024.

"February 19th rolls around," he recalls in a detailed timeline posted to his blog. "The 19th is the review embargo day, and [publisher] Playstack did a truly exceptional job getting this game in the hands of traditional media to write their reviews before launch."

"I didn't know what to expect," LocalThunk continues. "This was a pretty weird game after all. Average ratings of 6 or 7?"

Nope. Balatro was quickly met with jackpot numbers across the board, shooting up to a 90 score on Metacritic, which it has since maintained.

"I am shocked. That rating doesn't make any sense," LocalThunk remembers thinking. "I don't think I would have rated Balatro higher than an 8, and I made the damn thing."

The game gathered 208,401 wishlists on Steam by its launch day, but LocalThunk couldn't get it out of his head that his avalanche of success would all come crashing down.

"I fully anticipated the sky to fall and for me to be working 24/7 to fix the inevitable disaster," he says, remembering that he was gearing up to be "patching like a madman" for a full month after Balatro's launch.

"I told my partner that I won’t be making any plans until the end of March," he remembers.

But LocalThunk was underestimating himself again; Balatro launched with negligible bugs, and its first few hours generated over $600,000, so LocalThunk had no choice but to reward himself with some burgers and champagne. If there's one thing that's easy to predict, it's one's inevitable need for burgers and champagne.

Balatro dev says solitaire exists "at the peak of game culture" and was debatably "the most important" inspiration for his poker roguelike.

Ashley Bardhan
Senior Writer

Ashley is a Senior Writer at GamesRadar+. She's been a staff writer at Kotaku and Inverse, too, and she's written freelance pieces about horror and women in games for sites like Rolling Stone, Vulture, IGN, and Polygon. When she's not covering gaming news, she's usually working on expanding her doll collection while watching Saw movies one through 11.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.

Read more
A screen full of Joker cards on Balatro
After an unbeatable year for Balatro, we asked a professional poker player to break down what makes the indie roguelike so good
ben starr dressed in harequinn makeup chomping down on a banana
Balatro's first few hours generated over $600,000, "far more money" than the roguelike's creator had ever made: "It is the most surreal day of my life"
Balatro screenshot showing an assortment of card packs
Balatro creator initially considered a Steam release in part to help "get a game developer job somewhere," and after 5 million sales I'd say he found one
Balatro Joker card
Balatro dev says solitaire exists "at the peak of game culture" and was debatably "the most important" inspiration for his poker roguelike
ben starr dressed in harequinn makeup chomping down on a banana
Balatro maker promises that the dodgiest odds in the hit roguelike aren't deceiving you
Balatro
Balatro creator started "properly playing the game myself about a week before launch" and had "a pretty emotional moment" where he realized it's "actually fun"
Latest in Roguelike Games
ben starr dressed in harlequin makeup chomping down on a banana
Balatro creator says it's "useless" for him to give advice to other devs because "I only have one data point" and it was a 5 million-sale success story
an ancient spaceship in the pixel art style of ftl
I just watched the first 10 seconds of this indie roguelike’s trailer, and it's not even trying to be subtle about being an unlicensed 40K game
Balatro
Balatro creator started "properly playing the game myself about a week before launch" and had "a pretty emotional moment" where he realized it's "actually fun"
Balatro screenshot showing an assortment of card packs
Balatro creator initially considered a Steam release in part to help "get a game developer job somewhere," and after 5 million sales I'd say he found one
Challenging The Manacle in Balatro, which limits hand size by -1 and playing two Jacks
From "I stopped working on the project entirely" to "we are so back," Balatro creator says the roguelike's development was always about passion and taking breaks was essential
Balatro screenshot showing an assortment of joker cards
Balatro creator intentionally avoided roguelikes but did eventually play and "steal from" Slay the Spire anyway: "Holy s***. Now that is a game"
Latest in News
Death Stranding 2
Hideo Kojima says Death Stranding's themes of connection came about because "I thought I lost everything when I became alone nine years ago"
Monster Hunter Wilds trailer screenshot showing a young woman with long blonde hair tied back into a ponytail smiling slightly, pumping her left fist in the air
Monster Hunter Wilds' infamously confusing menus spare no player, not even Gemma's voice actor herself: "This is honestly what I’m struggling with the most"
Death Stranding 2 kiss
Hideo Kojima says "it was very difficult to direct" Death Stranding 2's big kiss scene, but Norman Reedus thinks "it was niiice" locking lips with Léa Seydoux
Ms. Marvel alongside the mutants of Age of Apocalypse
30 years after the original Age of Apocalypse, Ms. Marvel Kamala Khan will travel to the alt-reality to save X-Men history
ben starr dressed in harlequin makeup chomping down on a banana
Balatro creator says it's "useless" for him to give advice to other devs because "I only have one data point" and it was a 5 million-sale success story
George R.R. Martin
Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin has a new update on The Winds of Winter: "I wish it would come faster"