Balatro Dev reveals his favorite game of 2024

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Summary

  • Balatro developer praises Animal Well as his favorite game of 2024.

  • The developer also named some of his other favorite games of 2024.

  • Balatro achieved enormous success, selling 3.5 million copies and receiving great acclaim from players and critics.

The developer behind it BalatroLocalThunk, he named Animal well as his favorite game of 2024. Released to very positive reception, both Balatro AND Animal well are the indie mega hits of last year.

Built on a limited budget and by a solo developer, Balatro has enjoyed surprisingly huge hype since its launch in February 2024. The deck-building game has won laurels not only from critics but also from players, allowing it to sell over 3.5 million copies in the process. At the same time, it's no secret that 2024 was also a year full of other popular indie titles, such as Neva, Lorelei and the laser eyesAND UFO50. And, among these games, Animal well it notably also rivaled the level of critical acclaim it received from Balatro. For this reason, the developer of the card game paid him a special compliment Animal well counterpart.

BalatroFortnite

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In a post on Twitter, LocalThunk named Animal well its “Game of the Year 2024”, heavily praising the latter's solo developer at Shared Memory, Billy Basso. In the Balatro typical humorous style of the creator, he nicknamed the award “Golden Thunk” and underlined it Animal well earned this recognition due to the “compelling experience” it offers players. Furthermore, he said that the Metroidvania title is full of “style” and “secrets”, labeling it as Basso's “true masterpiece”. Acknowledging LocalThunk's post, Basso indirectly called him “(The) most humble and kindest developer of the year.” In the comments, several fans complimented both games, with one expressing happiness at the evident “positivity” and “solidarity” between indie developers. Apart Animal wellLocalThunk also shined a spotlight on a few other indie titles that were among his personal favorites of 2024.

Developer Balatro picks his favorite games of 2024

In the reply thread below the original post, LocalThunk later revealed its other favorites Animal wellone of the most popular games of 2024. It has listed Dungeons and degenerate gamblers, Bow, Nova Deriva, DancerAND Mouthwash as “runner up”. [sic]” and mentioned what he liked about each of these games. Interestingly Dungeons and degenerate gamblers in particular it shares some similarities with Balatro as both are pixel art-based deckbuilding games made by solo developers.

While Balatro has been immensely successful so far, its developer has chosen not to sit on its laurels and has been rolling out free updates for the game in recent months, improving the player's experience. So far, three different “Friends of Jimbo” updates have brought crossover content from various popular IPs, such as Cyberpunk 2077, Between usAND Dave the Diverto the card game. Most recently, LocalThunk hinted at the possibility of teaming up with one of the most popular games of 2024 for another Balatro crossed.

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