The hugely popular roguelike poker game Balatro is coming to the iPhone.
The decision to move it to mobile devices is unlikely to come as a big surprise – Balatro is already a success story, recording “overwhelmingly positive” reviews on Steam since its release last month despite controversy surrounding its rating – but she will be welcome. news for players who don't have a Steam Deck or Switch to play on the go.
Balatro – Launch Trailer | ROGUELIKE POKERAt this time, developer Localthunk isn't confirming when, exactly, the iOS version of the deck builder will be available, but he did say so. I do more (thank you, VGC) that future updates will include “possibly more secrets,” and teased that there is an “interesting new design space [he’s] excited to explore.”
“I will continue working on Balatro, there is still a lot to do!” He added localthunk. “But yeah, I love the idea of creating twisted versions of other well-known games.”
In a recent AMA session on reddit, Localthunk was asked to comment on how PEGI mishandled the game's rating after it was pulled from sale in some countries due to a “mistaken belief that the game 'contains images and 'Gambling Featured Materials That Instruct About Gambling',” according to publisher Playstack's statement at the time.
“I still believe the rating is unwarranted, but there is a gray area for PEGI interpretation, and at this point, it is what it is,” localthunk said at the time. “I think what disappoints me the most is the fact that other games with actual gameplay mechanics aren't rated the same way because of their look/theme.”
“In recent weeks it has completely taken over the gaming world and I can understand why,” reads our Balatro Eurogamer review. “A roguelike poker is such a brilliant idea that you almost don't need to create it to see how clever it is. There are a few of these, and Balatro is comfortably the best I've played. It's really clever, and it's also ingeniously simple.”
