Balatro, the acclaimed poker-themed roguelike from developer LocalThunk, has just received its first major content update, officially known as Update 1.0.1c, and the patch is currently in public testing on Steam ahead of its full release “in approximately one week”.
Update 1.0.1c, according to some important patch notes shared on the official Balatro Discord channel (via Reddit), promises “a lot of changes,” and LocalThunk explains that they're opting to do an extended public test “to ensure everything works smoothly before we actually release it.”
There are a couple of bug fixes and plenty of balance changes that can be found in the patch notes, with some cards getting buffs while others see their effects and gameplay rules tweaked, and the adjustments cover everything from price to features. token rewards.
Additionally, the update aims to fix an issue seen on Windows and Steam Deck that could cause poor or stuttering performance for some players.
As for new stuff, the two most notable mechanical additions come in the form of perishable and rental wilds. Perishable Wilds have a 30 percent chance of appearing during Orange Stake races and cause wild cards that receive the “perishable” sticker to deactivate after five rounds.
Meanwhile, Rental Jokers have a 30 percent chance of appearing during Gold Stake races. Wilds marked with a “rental” sticker cost $1 upfront and then $3 per round, and the effect stacks along with the eternal/perishable effect.
Public testing of the update is now underway and can be accessed by right-clicking on the Balatro entry in your Steam library and then going to Properties > Betas > Beta Participation. From here, simply select the 'public_experimental' option to get started. If all goes well, LocalThunk hopes to release the update “for real” in “about a week.”
Update 1.0.1c Patch Notes:
- Updated version of Love2D: This fixed an issue on Windows and Steam Deck that was causing poor or stuttering performance for some players.
- Added an option for 'Reduced Motion', removing the swirling background and rotating card motion.
- Changed default alternate tarot from Crazy to Strong (when all tarots are on screen)
- Changed Gold Stake random seeds: now guarantees that the first Legendary Joker in that seed is a Joker you haven't won with in Gold Stake (for the Completionist++ hunt).
- The ante scale in white game was modified:
- Ante 3: 2800 -> 2000
- Ante 4: 6000 -> 5000
- The ante scale in the green bet was modified:
- Ante 2: 1000 -> 900
- Ante 3: 3200 -> 2400
- Ante 4: 9000 -> 7000
- Modified the ante scale in the purple bet:
- Ante 2: 1200 -> 1000
- Ante 3: 3600 -> 3000
- Ante 4: 10000 -> 8000
- Ante 5: 25000 -> 22000
- Modified orange stake:
- Rising cost of discarded package
- Added a new “Perishable” mechanic. Wild cards have a 30% chance of having a “Perishable” sticker, which disables them after 5 rounds.
- Modified gold bet:
- Discarded -1 hand size
- Added a new 'Rent' mechanic. Wilds have a 30% chance to have a 'Rent' sticker (stacks with eternal/perishable), making them cost $1 upfront and $3 per round.
- Changed eternal to apply to wildcards in Jester packs.
- Changed the first store in each run to always include a regular Jester pack as one of the pack options.
- Upcoming blinds/tags can now be seen in the store immediately after defeating a blind boss/cash out
- Some blinds are now banned in Challenge Races: Crimson Heart, Verdant Leaf and Amber Acorn banned in 'Jokerless' – Verdant Leaf banned in 'Typecast' – Verdant Leaf banned in 'Non-Perishable' – The Plant banned in 'Mad World' '
- polished saturn
- Now grants +3 mult instead of +2 mult for righteous people.
- Polished Neptune
- Now grants +4 mult instead of +3 mult for Straight Flush
- Polished Eris
- Now grants +50 tokens instead of +40 tokens for Flush Five
- polished cherries
- Now grants +4 mult instead of +3 mult for Flush House
- Changed the uncommon tag: it now makes the uncommon wildcard free.
- Changed the Rare tag: it now makes the rare wildcard free.
- Negative, polychrome, holographic and aluminum labels release their respective wildcards.
- The investment was modified to give $25 instead of $15.
- Modified 8 Ball: old effect removed, new effect -> 1 in 4 chance of spawning a tarot when scoring any 8 played
- Modified Blue Seal: Now creates the planetary card for the last poker hand played during the round.
- Mad Joker and Smart Joker changed: Removed the “contains 4 of a kind” effect, now applied to any hand containing a “two pair.”
- Modified Yorick: old effect discarded, new effect -> gain X1 mult every 23 cards discarded (starts at X1)
- Modified Wizard's Tarot: now applies luck to 2 cards instead of 1
- Modified Midas Mask: now only applies the gold upgrade to face cards, costs $7, up from $6
- Changed Vampire:
- Now only removes the scorecard upgrade.
- provides an X0.1 mult per upgrade instead of a X0.2 mult
- Rare instead of uncommon
- Madness changed: now only applies to small and big blinds, not boss blind selection.
- Changed to-do list: poker hand no longer changes at payout, always changes at the end of the round (won't get stuck on straight flush)
- Changed the shortcut description to include a more suitable example (10 8 6 5 3)
- Changed the old Joker: the selected costume can no longer be repeated between rounds.
- Changed Swordsman: Now adds sell value of all other wildcards to Mult, not just the wildcards on the left.
- Changed Hanging Chad: it now reactivates the first card played 2 times instead of once.
- Modified Flower Pot: Now includes the base suit of weakened cards when determining whether to activate.
- Modified Bootstraps to include the current multi-bonus in the description.
- Changed the 4 sinful jokers (one for each suit): each now gives +3 mult per suit instead of +4 mult.
- Modified banner: now grants +30 tokens per discard remaining instead of +40 tokens
- Modified Fibonacci: costs $8 instead of $7, because Fibonacci
- Modified Steel Joker: Now grants a 0.2x multiplication per steel card in the entire deck instead of a 0.25x multiplication.
- Changed Odd Todd: now awards +31 tokens for each odd-ranked card instead of +30 tokens.
- Changed sixth sense: now rare and $6, it was rare
- Modified Walker: Now awards +5 tokens for each scoring card played instead of +4 tokens.
- Modified Gros Michel: now has a 1 in 6 chance of going extinct instead of 1 in 4
- Modified Seance: Now rare and $6, was rare and $7
- Riff-Raff changed: now $6, was $4
- Changed vagabond:
- Rare, it was uncommon
- $8, it was $6
- Applies when you have $4 or less, were $3 or less
- Changed Cloud 9: now $7, was $6
- Changed mail-in refund: $5 was now $3
- Reserved parking changed: now common, was rare
- Lucky Cat has been changed: she now earns X0.25 per lucky process, previously it was X0.2.
- Modified Trading Card: Now $6, Was $5
- Campfire modified: now earn X0.25 per card sold, previously it was X0.5.
- Changed smiley face: now grants +5 mult for each face card, previously +4 mult
- Modified Golden Ticket: Now pays $4 for each Golden Card played, down from $3
- Changed Bloodstone: Now has a 1 in 2 chance of activating, down from 1 in 3.
- Onyx Agate changed: it now grants +7 mult per club card, previously it was +8 mult.
- The Crystal Wild has been modified: it now grants a multiplication of X0.75 for each crystal card destroyed, previously it was a multiplication of X0.5.
- Specialist modified: now grants +250 tokens, previously +300
- Modified Invisible Joker: now requires 2 rounds and costs $8, down from 3 rounds and $10
- Changed Burnt Joker: now rare, was uncommon.
- Changed the wording of most scalable wildcards to refer to “this wildcard.”
- Fixed bug where opening a booster pack with a hand size of 0 could not be skipped.
- Fixed bug where the boss would not weaken the card generated by the 'Certificate'.
