There are a few small hints that the poker roguelike Balatro is well-liked. For example, Balatro had a review score of 91, there were 40,000 reviews on Steam that were "overwhelmingly positive" on average, I played 30 hours of the game in one week, and that was when I played the pre-release demo, not the full game.

Another small clue that "Balatro" is a pretty good game was revealed this week. It is outstanding for a game by a single developer, LocalThunk.

"When we started working on it nearly three years ago, we had no idea that Baratro would be played by over two million people," LocalThunk said in an email to PC Gamer. 'I'm very grateful to all the players who gave me the chance and I look forward to showing everyone the next chapter of my game.'

Wait, there's a next chapter? Local thunk is going to put more balatro in balatro.

"Playstack is pleased to announce that developer LocalThunk will be releasing a major gameplay update for Balatro in 2025. This update brings new ideas and strategies to the game and will be released on all platforms." And as a huge token of our appreciation for the game's amazing and passionate community, the update will be completely free."

It is unfortunate that this statement is vague, but I guess it is not against type for the developers of a poker-inspired game not to reveal their hand. Hopefully we will get more information on updates soon.

There will be two more announcements from Balatro in the coming months, and the two cards currently being withheld from the official Twitter profile will be turned over in August and September. As for what these announcements are, some community members are hoping for a mobile version, while others suspect it will be some sort of physical deck of cards for collectors.

My personal hope is that a Balatro movie will be made, titled "Balatro Rounders": a sequel to Rounders, with John Malkovich reprising his role as Teddy KGB, "I play Perkeo Joker in my club anytime!" etc.

Otherwise, it might be nice to add Teddy KGB sound effects to the game. Pay Day At Ma In He's Manay."

This is not the only recent news from Balatro. Just yesterday, LocalThunk revealed that it is so averse to the idea of "Baratro becoming a true gambling game" that in drafting its will, it "stipulated that Baratro's IP never be sold or licensed" for use by gambling companies or casinos.