Balatro's Secret Sauce Is Not Requiring Perfection

One of the best feelings in a roguelike is when the pieces all come together to create a perfect run. In Hades it's a powerful combination of powers, in Dead Cells it's a perfect set of weapons, and in Balatro it's all about getting the right combination of Jokers. With the right set of Jokers, a run in Balatro can feel almost easy at times. You have so many Joker effects happening that the game starts to speed up the animations and your score catches on fire because you aren't about to just win the round--you are about to blow past it, making the score you need to reach seem trivial in the process.

These runs are amazing in Balatro and in other roguelikes, but that's because it's not how every run goes. In fact, that's how very few runs usually go. Most runs in Balatro, including many of my winning runs, have me barely beating out each round with my final hand. Every shop or bonus for skipping a blind becomes deeply important, because I need another boost in chips or multiplier; otherwise my run is about to crash and burn. This scrappiness is what makes Balatro special, and there are multiple mechanics that let you take some of the chance out of these runs, making it just as viable to fight tooth and nail to win a run as it is to break the game entirely with your build.

Balatro lets you control your fate (mostly)

While it's not uncommon for roguelikes to allow you to influence the powers or weapons you might receive in a run, Balatro consistently provides you the opportunity to make risk-versus-reward assessments. Each ante has three blinds, two of which can be completely skipped. You won't earn any money or get to visit the shop, but you will get something else. Sometimes it's as simple as a pack of cards to add to your deck, or it can guarantee a Joker of a certain rarity or with a specific bonus type. Importantly, the reward is never a specific Joker--only certain modifiers or rarities. There is never any point where you can guarantee yourself the exact Joker you need, which puts an emphasis on working with whatever Jokers you do get.