Shacknews Game of the Year 2024 - Balatro

If you’ve been following along with our Shacknews Awards this year, you may have noticed that Balatro was a regular fixture. We probably don’t need to explain it at this point. It’s an indie roguelike card game that’s available on literally every current gen platform including mobile. It’s also captured multiple Shacknews Awards this year, including Modojo @ Shacknews Mobile Game of the Year, Indie Game of the Year, and Person of the Year (for developer LocalThunk). And then there’s you, our staff, and our extended team. Balatro landed high on a lot of lists this year and we’ve seen our Chatty and Cortex talking plenty about succeeded and failed runs. So it should come as no surprise then what came out on top of our overall Shacknews Game of the Year.

Balatro is simply something extraordinary. It’s got a tasty and addictive roguelike loop of scoring chips with poker hands, unlocking and loading up with jokers that can turn odds in your favor, and fending off dastardly Boss Blind rounds that can brick your run before you can say “The house always wins.” But it’s not predatory. Balatro doesn’t feature or promote gambling, despite the PEGI’s odd and incorrect beliefs. It doesn’t prey on your wallet with microtransactions or make you watch unskippable ads about crap it wants you to buy to play more. It won’t trick your kids into using your credit card.

No, Balatro’s true danger is that it’s a devourer of time, so easy to pick up, and so hard to put down. Its addictive nature lies in just how damn fun it is to see the chips rise as you hit the hand you needed at just the right time. It’s the minty feeling when you open a card pack between rounds in the in-game shop and get that joker, playing card, tarot, or planet card you were hoping for. Just as well, it’s the bitter aftertaste when a run that was going so well gets shellacked by a tough draw or a nasty Boss Blind condition – the kind of salty taste that easily goads you into saying “no, I’m not quitting on that one,” as you hit New Run in indignant determination. Bless your resolve if you have the fortitude to claim that last bit never happened to you when playing this game.

There’s a reason so many of us voted for this game. There’s a reason it shared the stage with the likes of Astro Bot and Metaphor: ReFantazio at The Game Awards, The Golden Joysticks, The Indie Game Awards, the Steam Awards, and now here at The Shacknews Awards. There’s a reason it’s on every platform you can think to play it on (besides that LocalThunk is the kind of game developer determined enough to pull that off). And finally, there’s a reason Balatro is our Mobile Game of the Year, Indie Game of the Year, and now overall Game of the Year – a first in Shacknews history. If you don’t know what that reason is, pick it up. Play it. Take it for a few runs and try for your first win. We almost guarantee you’ll understand soon after.

Balatro is available now on PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Apple, and Android devices. Be sure to read over the rest of the Shacknews Awards in our Year of the Games: 2024 feature.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.