And finally, we finish off this year’s awards with the ultimate choice: The overall Best Game of 2024, as voted by the editorial staff of Entertainium!
Winner: Balatro
Balatro is one of those games which exploded pretty much out of nowhere. Developed almost entirely by a single person (LocalThunk, who prefers to remain pseudonymous), it slowly gained traction since its release on PC in February this year, getting a mobile port in September. Balatro is the perfect blend of easy to pick up and play, but also has a surprising depth and different methods available of “breaking” it, if you’re so inclined.
The aim of this rogue-like deck builder is to play poker hands, with the aim of making the best hand possible. However, you are allowed to make wildly illegal poker hands for a standard 52 deck, like four Ace of Spades or even Five of a Kind. Likewise, you acquire a variety of joker cards throughout a run, which allow you to multiply the number of chips you get for each hand in numerous ways, many of which synergize with each other to create wildly overpowered combinations.
Between each round, you have an opportunity to buy things at the shop; more cards, more jokers, or upgrade the value of played poker hands, so for example you could make Two Pair a vastly better hand to play than Full House, were you to upgrade it sufficiently. The upshot is you will hopefully be able to make some truly wild combos, sufficient to overcome the “Boss Blind” of each ante, which will make things more difficult in various ways, disabling certain cards or forcing you to win on a single hand.
Balatro’s hypnotic music (exactly the right combination of repetitive and memorable to make an earworm) also helps reinforce that “just one more round” ethos, meaning it’s very easy for a half hour session to spiral into one lasting many hours. It’s to LocalThunk’s credit that they’ve rejected any monetization or microtransactions and despite the game being rated 18+ by PEGI (apparently the mere existence of playing cards and poker hands means this must be considered as gambling), it’s actually a game for all ages.
With existing free updates adding a load of new card art from other hit games and an expansion adding more yet jokers and various other improvements planned for next year, Balatro will surely continue to evolve and grow, as players continue to find new and exciting ways to make even wilder and more crazily overpowered poker hands.
– Gareth Brading
Runners Up: Pacific Drive, UFO 50
UFO 50
UFO 50 is astonishing. The degree to which it effectively captures a very specific era of game design and aesthetics, the sheer audacity of making 50 unique fully-formed games (including sequels!). It’s a remarkable creation. Something truly singular in its ambition and execution.
– Callum Rakestraw
Pacific Drive
Ironwood Studios’ quirky portal-shifting adventure feels awesome to play and has plenty to offer to those brave enough to dive into the Olympic Exclusion Zone. Read more about Pacific Drive as the winner of our award for Best Game Feel.
– Eduardo Reboucas
