10 AMAZING Recent Video Games NO ONE Saw Coming
7. Balatro
Poker-themed roguelike Balatro became a stonking smash hit out of nowhere last year, after being quietly developed by a single anonymous developer who goes by the moniker LocalThunk.
The beauty of Balatro is that you don't need to be a fan of roguelikes, card games, or even poker specifically to become fiendishly addicted to it. In fact, many have called it a poker game for people who don't like or even know how to play poker.
Card hands are the weapon you wield throughout Balatro - a concept so elegantly simple yet ingenious it's genuinely surprising it hasn't been done before.
Couple this with a deceptive depth which fully reveals itself the further you play, eye-popping presentation, and an almost narcotically addictive gameplay loop, and Balatro is exactly the sort of creative spin on well-worn genres we desperately need more of.
Thankfully it didn't merely live on as a celebrated cult curio - Balatro was also a sales phenom and received a shedload of Game of the Year nominations. You love to see it.