------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☑ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☑ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☑ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☑ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☑ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☑ Old Fashioned
☐ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☑ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☑ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time (Average Run) }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☑ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ 10 / 10 }---

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Balatro is by far one of the best indie games I've ever played. It has a wonderfully crafted gameplay loop, soundtrack, and art style, it's been constantly getting mini updates here and there, usually consisting of bug fixes and Friends of Jimbo collaboration face card packs, etc. No run feels *too* similar from my experience playing the game, the stakes/modifiers that make runs harder are balanced and don't feel too restricting on what Jokers you can and cannot pick up for a run, getting a good run feels incredibly satisfying especially when it's not just luck but also how you built your deck alongside your Jokers, and the highest Ante I've achieved in Base Balatro is Ante 13. On the topic of the Ante system, it is probably my only complaint about the game. While in Normal Mode the default end goal of Ante 8 is feasible and not too difficult to obtain, getting past Ante 12 in Endless Mode is brutal and the current Ante Scaling used is just far too much for any deck in the base game to handle with the sole exception of the Plasma Deck. Overall though, it is the only complainant I have and this game is incredible even with that flaw.

In simpler terms, it is worth the $15.00 USD. Buy it if you can.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Even though the Base Game is an incredible experience on its own, I cannot recommend modding this game more than enough as it makes the game feel just that much better. There are small QoL mods which I can 100% be implemented in the base game such as the features of the Handy mod by SleepyG11, which allow the user to do things such as hold click to select multiple cards at once, discard jokers and consumables much easier and in bulk, raise the game speed, etc. It is by far the best mod I can recommend if you don't want to stray from the Vanilla formula at all.

If you are feeling ambitious though, there are a multitude of mods that add new features right into the game. Some being very Vanilla-like such as Blind Editions by mathguy, which allows the Blinds themselves to have the many editions you can give your own cards in the base game as well as some custom ones from other mods that are compatible with it, with these Blind Editions doing anything from giving the Blind a 50% increase in size to giving the Blind a-... well I don't want to spoil too much, why don't you go find out yourself? There's also the Trance mod by an unspecified author, which allows you to change the color palette and font of the game if you'd so wish.

Then, there's of course the mods that add new features that stray away from the Vanilla experience. Some being seemingly small additions that change how runs play significantly such as Card Sleeves by LarsWijn which serve as deck modifiers, allowing you to in stack certain deck effects and custom effects with other decks in the game. Then there's mods that completely alter the Vanilla experience such as the Cryptid and Almanac mods by MathIsFun_ + The Cryptid Team and jenwalter666 respectively, which add new Jokers, Editions, Vouchers, and a whole bunch of other changes that completely change every run and allow you to get some really high ante's.

That being said, this game is definitely better with mods and push the game into leagues beyond just a 10/10. So, knock yourselves out and have fun!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------