At the beginning of 2024, an indie game rapidly stormed the Steam charts and captured the hearts of millions of players. It was created entirely by a single developer.
What game is it? We’re talking about Balatro. The game was released on February 20, 2024, and quickly had over 35,000 players at its 24-hour peak (via steamdb.com).
It currently has around 98% positive reviews on Steam, earning it the rating “Extremely Positive.” Balatro also impressed at the Game Awards, winning numerous prizes (via thegameawards.com). You can get the game for €13.99.
What is Balatro about? Balatro is a poker roguelike. You play illegal poker hands with 150 special joker cards that you can combine in countless variants. The game features deck-building and collectible card elements that you can use in a campaign mode with 8 difficulty levels and daily challenges.
In your matches, you earn points that you can spend on cards and upgrades to improve your deck. This allows you to tackle increasingly challenging challenges and create decks with exciting tricks.
There’s not just an interesting story behind the development of the game, but it also emerged from the creative work of a single person.
“I prefer to write really bad code and draw silly game cards. That’s what I enjoy about it.”
Who is behind Balatro? The mastermind behind Balatro is a single developer named “LocalThunk”. At the end of 2023, he had quite a bit of vacation time left. So, he took about a month off, as he explained in an interview with thelogic.co:
“I had saved about a month of vacation at my job and had to take it at the end of the year. So, I basically had all of December off. And in Saskatchewan, it’s quite cold in December, and you can’t do much.”
That marked the birth of the now-successful project Balatro. In the first year, LocalThunk developed the game as a hobby project alongside his job. However, when he had to give up his full-time job, he wanted to focus on the development of Balatro for a few months. It was intended as a piece for his portfolio, which he could use for future applications.
Shortly after he set up the page in the Steam shop, the first of many companies that wanted to publish his game contacted him. He ultimately chose the London publisher Playstack because he felt understood by them.
However, LocalThunk attributes the fact that his game became a “viral hit” less to luck:
I think it’s like everything. You have to be prepared, and if you put in the work, then hopefully, it will be a success.
He also mentioned that the development was somewhat lonely without a team to celebrate progress with. Nevertheless, he wants to tackle the next project alone as well: “I don’t like leading people. I prefer to write really bad code and draw silly game cards. That’s what I enjoy about it.”
“The game has sucked my soul, it’s so good”
What do fans say about it? Fans who have read the interview share their admiration for LocalThunk and his game Balatro once again on Reddit:
- User Cranjesmcbasketball1 shares: “This is damn awesome, the game has sucked my soul, it’s so good, and when he brought it to smartphones too, the game was over.”
- User Jackol4ntrn writes: “Balatro has helped me enormously with my travel/work anxiety. I just engage with the game and the hour passes without me being bothered by delays.”
- Cheese1423 also encourages poker novices to try the game: “The only true poker element is forming poker hands. You focus on manipulating the card game and other things. It’s a fantastic game and worth it even if you hate poker.”
Developer LocalThunk has previously gained sympathy points in the community. The backstory of his success is likely to add to that. Previously, he endearingly crowned his favorite game and was celebrated for it by fans: An award-winning developer crowns the game of the year and the community loves everything about it
