Best Games Like Balatro

Balatro is a fun and funny innovative roguelike based on poker that throws away every pretense of being anything like poker after the second round. In reality, Balatro shares much of its DNA with other deck-builder roguelikes, especially those based on other traditional card games like Void Tyrants.

But not all games based on traditional cards will feel like Balatro. For example, another game that shares the same willful disregard for traditional cards while still nominally using them is the modern tabletop card game, Regicide. Even then, the two are nothing alike. Much closer to the spirit of the first are some roguelike dice games. Even if they can’t really be called deck-builders, players new to the genre would be surprised as to how close those two play.

7 Void Tyrant

Deck-Building Inspired By Blackjack

• Platforms: PC, iOS, Android
• Released: 2019-06-28
• Developer: Quite Fresh Games
• Genres: Roguelike, Deck-Builder

Void Tyrant is a deck-builder roguelike with light Blackjack inspirations. The player draws cards, filling an attack bar that goes up to 12. While they can choose to stop at any moment if they ever go over 12, their turn is skipped, and the enemy gets a free attack. If the player stops before hitting 13, they deal damage to the difference between their attack and the enemy’s.

Just like Balatro builds on classic Poker, Void Tyrant uses this quasi-Blackjack gameplay loop to create a complete roguelike with special items, characters, and different enemies. Void Tyrant used to be available only on a mobile, but it has since received an excellent PC port.

6 Slice & Dice

A Roguelike Dungeon Crawler With Customizable Dice

• Platforms: PC, iOS, Android
• Released: 2021-06-16
• Developers: Tann
• Genre: Roguelike

Slice & Dice is an excellent roguelike dungeon crawler based on customizable dice. The heart of the game is in the progression. Like the excellent board game Dice Forge, the different dice are upgraded by switching out some of their faces for better effects. Occasionally, an entire die can be switched for another, representing a character leveling into a new class.

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By adding together RPGs, deck-builders, and dice, Slice & Dice creates a unique mix that straddles the line between the familiar and the innovative. The game comes with a generous demo and an inexpensive price tag. While Slice & Dice isn’t on Steam yet, a Windows version is available on the game’s Itch.io page.

5 Dark Mist

A Punishing Deck-Builder All About Survival

• Platforms: PC, iOS, Android
• Released: 2021-05-30
• Developers: Pixel Cattle Games
• Genres: Roguelike, Deck-Builder

Dark Mist is a difficult roguelike deck-builder about fighting larger and larger waves of enemies. More than any other card-based roguelike, this one will see players barely scraping by every encounter. Although Dark Mist appears to only be on mobile, it is also available through Steam under the name Blood Card 2: Dark Mist.

Dark Mist’s more interesting addition to the genre is that enemies deal damage by stealing cards from the deck. If cards run out, it’s game over, and the only way to take them back is to knock down the enemy who stole them.

4 Night Of The Full Moon

Story-Focused Deck-Building

• Platforms: PC, iOS, Android
• Released: 2019-06-25
• Developers: Giant Games
• Genres: Roguelike, Deck-Builder

Night of the Full Moon is quite unique among deck-building roguelikes, if nothing else because it has a story. It arguably has multiple stories, all vaguely based on Little Red Riding Hood. That said, players coming to this game for the story might be left a little disappointed.

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The gameplay of Night of the Full Moon, when compared to its premise, looks almost basic. In reality, the different game modes make for a very replayable experience. For example, the story/mode Memory in the Mirror is played, but it doesn’t use cards like the rest of the game, playing instead more like an auto battler.

3 Inscryption: Kaycee’s Mod

A Highly Replayable Deck-Builder With Great Atmosphere

For a time, many seemed to think that Inscryption was the best thing that ever happened to card-based roguelikes. That time ended when those players finished Act 1 of the base game and realized the rest of it wasn’t a roguelike at all; it was a story-driven horror game tied together by a strong metanarrative, not gameplay.

Kaycee’s Mod might be the game many players hoped Inscryption would have been. Unlike what the name seems to imply, this is not a mod; it’s a free expansion added to the game after its release. This alternative game mode turns Act 1 of Inscryption into a proper deck-builder roguelike, competing with challenge runs and seemingly endless unlockables.

2 Slay The Spire

Everyone’s Favorite Card-Based Roguelike

Slay the Spire is one of the most popular card-based roguelikes ever released, as well as one of the most successful roguelike games in general. The game is very well-known now, but when it came out in 2019, roguelike deck-builders were still relegated to the unflattering world of mobile gaming.

As is to be expected for one of the greatest examples of the genre, Slay the Spire has different playable characters with unique abilities and suitability, challenge runs, and endless variation. This last element might be what gave this game so much staying power. Even compared to the numerous Joker cards of Balatro, Slay the Spire’s collection is without equal.

1 Dicey Dungeons

A Dice-Based Roguelike With A Sense Of Humor

• Platforms: Switch, PS4, PS5, PC, iOS, Android, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X
• Released: 2019-08-13
• Developer: Distractionware
• Genre: Roguelike

Dicey Dungeons has everything a player might expect when coming from Balatro. It has emergent gameplay based on rolling adorable dice, a way to control and harness this randomness, and plenty of variation. It also features challenges, unique bosses, super varied enemies, and so on.

One thing that might surprise players is the dice. Indeed, dice are not cards. But this information shouldn’t be taken out of context. If anything, Dicey Dungeons feels less random than Balatro. This is because the player interacts with the dice only after they have been rolled. This makes the dice function more like the cards in Balatro and less like, say, rolling attack damage in Dungeons & Dragons.

Balatro

Released

February 20, 2024

Developer(s)

LocalThunk

Genre(s)

Strategy , Digital Card Game , Roguelike