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The RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 12thOpen today’s door - then run
Open today’s door - then run
Image credit:RPS
Image credit:RPS
Today’s advent calendar game is already inside your head, for this is not a game you stop playing, merely one you step away from between rounds. Even after you quit, it lingers on the edge of your awareness like a muffled bassline. It glitters in the air around you like a cloud of spores. It cannot be denied. It can only be…
…Balatro!
Edwin:As with a lot of games I like, the genius of Balatro is that it’s secretly a horror game. The horror starts with themusic– that endless 7/4 time signature loop of synth and drum, wafting over a swirled, synthwave backdrop. It’s at once lazy and inexorable, the kind of lounging, layered composition that gently puts one part of your brain into cryostasis while turning another part of your brain into a factory. Such terrible music. I listen to it constantly while working, walking, jogging, eating, sleeping and playing video games that aren’t Balatro.
Brendy:Fear is definitely the right word. I played the demo of Balatro to pieces when it first appeared, and from the moment I started flipping cards I knew how dangerous it would be to my time. After the full game was released, I played it enough to complete a handful of runs (flush tactics 4 life) and then I put it away. It’s too good. I can’t have it anywhere near me.
Graham:Balatro’s unheimlich mashup of poker, tarot and grander deckbuilding games brings to mind bothCalvinballandNumberwang. The overwhelming thought when I played it was, first: what a lot of bullshit you’ve just made up, Balatro! And then, second: what a lot of alluring, brain-fizzing bullshit. Balatro meant to trap me. I uninstalled it after an hour.
Headback to the advent calendarto open another door!
