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Beyond Balatro: Best Roguelike Card Games to Play Next

Last Updated: November 13, 2025

Selection of game art from various Roguelike card games similar to Balatro.

Balatro has taken the gaming world by storm, selling over a million copies in its first month and cementing itself as a modern indie classic. Its ingenious blend of poker, deeply satisfying roguelike progression, and strategic deck-building has created a phenomenon. The addictive loop of high-stakes decisions, wildly powerful synergies, and endless replayability has left countless players wondering what to play next.

For those who have mastered the art of the flush house and are hungry for more, the roguelike deck-builder genre, which Balatro has elevated, is rich with incredible experiences.

The Allure of Balatro: The Perfect Multiplier

At its core, Balatro is a roguelike deck-builder where players score points by playing poker hands. Developer LocalThunk elevated this simple concept into a masterpiece with a vast array of Jokers, Tarot cards, Planet cards, and Spectral cards. These modifiers are the heart of the game, creating an unparalleled depth of strategy that allows for game-breaking, unexpected combos.

The true genius lies in its simple but profound scoring: Chips x Multiplier. This formula is the engine for every exhilarating run, where the goal is to build a synergistic machine of Jokers that sends both values skyrocketing. The thrill comes from turning a weak hand into a multi-million-point monster, all while navigating the ever-increasing score requirements of the blinds. This intricate balance of luck, risk, and skill is what makes Balatro so compelling and what players seek in similar titles.

Titans of the Genre: The Shoulders Balatro Stands On

While Balatro feels revolutionary, it builds upon a foundation laid by some of the most influential indie games of the last decade. Before you look for the next "Balatro-like," it's essential to recognize the genre's titans, which are still must-play titles.

Slay the Spire is the undisputed trailblazer of the modern roguelike deck-builder. It established the core loop: ascend a map of branching paths, fight monsters in tactical turn-based card combat, and build a powerful, focused deck from a random pool of cards along the way. Its four distinct characters, mountains of cards and relics, and perfectly balanced difficulty make it an essential experience for anyone who loves strategic card games.

Other key pillars include Monster Train, which adds a brilliant twist with its three-level vertical battlefield, and Inscryption, a meta-narrative masterpiece that wraps its deck-building mechanics in a layer of unsettling psychological horror and escape-room puzzles.

What to Play Next: The Best Card Game Hybrids After Balatro

The success of Balatro has supercharged interest in developers exploring the fertile ground of card game hybrids. If you're chasing that "one more run" feeling, these games are your best bet.

For Those Who Want More Poker-Powered Action:

  • Aces & Adventures: If you love the poker-hand core of Balatro but want a more structured RPG experience, this is your game. You’ll draw poker hands to activate abilities and defeat monsters in a vibrant fantasy world. It’s a narrative-driven adventure that cleverly uses the familiar rules of poker as its combat engine.
  • Poker Quest: A long-standing and well-regarded entry in the poker-roguelike space, Poker Quest leans heavily into classic RPG tropes. You choose a character and equipment, then battle through dungeons using poker hands to fuel your attacks. It offers a huge amount of content and deep character progression.

For Those Who Love Building Overpowered Engines:

  • Cobalt Core: This sci-fi roguelike puts you in command of a spaceship where you manage a crew of charming animal characters. The gameplay revolves around a single axis, where you must dodge, attack, and build up defenses. Like Balatro, its brilliance shines when you discover powerful synergies between crew abilities and ship upgrades, leading to incredibly satisfying, screen-clearing turns.
  • Wildfrost: Don't let the cute art style fool you; Wildfrost is a deceptively challenging tactical roguelike. You build a deck of companions and spells to protect your leader from waves of frozen monsters. Its "counter" system, which ticks down on every card, adds a layer of positional, time-sensitive strategy that rewards careful planning and powerful combos.

For Those Who Crave Unconventional Hybrids:

  • Luck be a Landlord: This title isn't a card game, but it perfectly captures the spirit of Balatro’s engine-building. It’s a "slot-machine roguelike" where you add symbols to the reels instead of cards to a deck. Your goal is to create synergies between symbols to earn enough rent money. The feeling of finding the perfect symbol combination that triggers a cascade of bonuses is identical to finding the perfect Joker in Balatro.
  • Dicey Dungeons: From developer Terry Cavanagh, this game trades cards for dice but keeps the roguelike heart. You play as one of six giant walking dice, each with a unique playstyle. Runs involve fighting monsters by placing your dice rolls into ability slots, all while collecting equipment that lets you manipulate the odds. It’s a brilliant and charming take on probability-based strategy.

The Future of the Roguelike Card Game Genre

The monumental success of Balatro has firmly established the roguelike card game hybrid as a significant and exciting force in gaming. It proved that an accessible foundation—like poker—can be the perfect gateway to immense strategic depth, appealing to a massive audience far beyond hardcore card game fans. As more developers are inspired to innovate, players can expect an even wider array of games that push the boundaries of what deck-builders can be, offering fresh challenges and new ways to experience the thrill of building the perfect engine. The future is bright, and our decks have never been more interesting.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What kind of game is Balatro?

Balatro is a roguelike deck-builder that creatively combines traditional poker mechanics with a deep system of card modifiers. Players aim to score points by playing poker hands, enhancing their deck and scoring potential with game-changing Joker cards, Tarot cards, and more to beat progressively harder challenges.

What makes a game "Balatro-like"?

Games similar to Balatro typically feature a blend of roguelike progression (where each run is unique and you start fresh), strategic card or symbol-based play, and a heavy emphasis on "engine building"—creating powerful, often exponential, synergies between your collected items or abilities.

Are demos available for these types of games?

Yes, many emerging indie games in this genre, especially those showcased in events like Steam Next Fest, offer free demos. Demos are an excellent way to try out new mechanics and see if a game aligns with your preferences before making a purchase.

What are some core mechanics shared by roguelike deck-builders?

Common mechanics include building and refining a deck of cards from a randomized pool, using unique abilities or relics to modify gameplay, navigating a map of challenges with increasing difficulty, and adapting your strategy to the random elements that make each playthrough distinct. The ultimate goal is often to create a self-sustaining or overwhelmingly powerful combination of cards and abilities.