Quick verdict: Balatro is the only game that made me miss my bus stop twice, and I say that as a compliment. It sold over 5 million copies in its first year, won a pile of 2024 awards, and its 150 jokers and 15 decks keep giving. When I ran out of jokers, I went hunting. This is the honest list of what scratched the itch, starting with the closest relatives and ending with the 2026 event, Slay the Spire 2.
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Why Balatro Broke the Brain
Balatro took poker hands, the most boring card vocabulary in existence, and turned them into a slot machine for math people. Every run is 20 to 40 minutes, every joker is a sentence you slowly learn to read, and the game keeps a running count of exactly how stupid your build has become. That loop, score goes up, deck gets weird, boss blind rears up, is now a genre standard.
The numbers matter here. Over 5 million copies in year one, multiple Game of the Year awards through the 2024 season, and the top paid spot on the iOS store at several points. It runs on everything, including your phone, and on the Steam Deck it sips power at about 6.5 watts for around 9 hours of battery. That portability is a huge part of why the "games like Balatro" search keeps growing in 2026.
The problem: Balatro does its one thing so well that most imitators feel thin. So this list is split into three tiers. Tier 1 is games that chase the same gambling brain. Tier 2 is the deckbuilding masters that defined the genre before Balatro. Tier 3 is the weird ones that use different engines to light up the same circuits.
Tier 1: The Same Brain, Different Cards
The closest relative. You spin a slot machine with themed symbols, rent goes up every week, and your job is to build synergies between the symbols you land. It is Balatro minus the poker, plus landlords. Runs are short, 10 to 15 minutes, and the "one more spin" pull is identical. The art is budget and the humor is dry, which I mean as praise. It costs pocket change and eats whole evenings.
The blackjack answer. You battle through a seedy tavern playing blackjack against gamblers with themed decks, including tarot cards and business cards, and every opponent plays differently. It shipped in August 2024 with Very Positive reviews and it is the funniest game on this list. The tavern setting gives it a campaign structure Balatro never needed, and the puns are relentless. Closest in spirit to Balatro's "gambling as a personality trait" energy.
The one that predates Balatro and plays poker properly. Instead of playing a hand and moving on, you draw five cards and assign them to attacks, shields, and abilities with actual poker rankings. It is slower, more RPG, and the runs can run long, but the decision space is deeper than Balatro's. If Balatro ever felt like the chips were playing themselves, Poker Quest is the corrective.
This one is a deckbuilder only in the loose sense. You are a billiard ball in a roguelike dungeon, pocketing monster balls into holes and traps, with a draft of upgrades between levels. It costs $5.99, runs are about half an hour, and the physics chaos gives you the same "what did I just create" feeling as a broken Balatro joker setup. Reviewers keep calling it a deckbuilder and players keep loving it, 91% positive on Steam.
Tier 2: The Deckbuilding Masters
The 2026 event. Mega Crit's sequel launched into Early Access in March at $24.99 and sold roughly 3 million copies in its first week, around 5 million in the first month. That is the biggest deckbuilder launch ever, by a distance. It keeps the Ironclad, Silent, and Defect, adds the Necrobinder and the Regent, and brings four player online co-op with cards designed for teams. The early access build is excellent but still a 0.x: content is being added and balanced continuously, and full 1.0 is estimated for 2027, with consoles arriving at that point.
My advice: if you loved the first StS, buy it now, it is Deck Verified and runs 60fps on the Steam Deck. If you are new, the original Slay the Spire is still the better teacher and costs less. The sequel is "just more" in the best sense, but more of a difficult game is still difficult.
The defense twist. Instead of climbing a tower, you defend a train carrying the last pyre against waves of heaven's forces, with three floors of units and spells. It is Balatro's inverse: the deck is the infrastructure, and positioning matters as much as card choice. Runs take about an hour and the difficulty ladder goes very deep. If Balatro is jazz, Monster Train is classical structure. Both reward mastery endlessly.
The story one, and the only game on this list that made me put the controller down out of unease. It looks like a deckbuilder about escaping a cabin with a creepy card god, and then it becomes something else entirely. I will not spoil it. Know that the deckbuilding is real, the horror is real, and it is a complete, finite campaign rather than an endless roguelike. Buy it expecting a great 12 to 15 hour game, not a new addiction.
Tier 3: Different Engines, Same Circuit
- Griftlands: the RPG deckbuilder from Klei. You negotiate, fight, and betray your way through campaigns where your deck changes depending on whether you are in a conversation or a brawl. The most story-dense game here, and the best at making failure funny
- Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles: dice instead of cards. You roll, you convert, and you damage yourself to damage enemies. The math gets brutal and the light/dark theme is a real mechanic, not a coat of paint. The closest thing to Balatro's "numbers go brrr" purity
- Wildfrost: the short, sharp one. Runs are 30 to 40 minutes, cards are frozen or burst into flames, and the companion system gives every run a different shape. Gorgeous art, quick sessions, very Steam Deck friendly
- Diceomancer: the indie darling that shipped in October 2024 with Overwhelmingly Positive reviews at $14.99. Dice and cards together, where your dice reroll anything, including the game's own rules. Exactly the kind of "what does this button do" energy Balatro fans chase
- Roguebook: the co-op deckbuilder. Two players share a deck-building run with a painted book world, and the tag-team combos are genuinely fun. The only real co-op campaign experience in this genre, though Slay the Spire 2's new online co-op is coming for its crown
Which One Fits Your Session
| Game | Session shape | Difficulty | Platform | Price vibe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balatro | 20-40 min runs | Medium | PC, mobile, consoles | Paid |
| Luck be a Landlord | 10-15 min runs | Easy to learn | PC, mobile | Budget |
| Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers | Quick tavern battles | Easy | PC | Paid |
| Poker Quest | Long runs | Medium | PC, mobile | Paid |
| Rack and Slay | ~30 min runs | Medium | PC | Budget, $5.99 |
| Slay the Spire 2 | ~1 hour runs | Hard | PC (Deck Verified) | $24.99 EA |
| Slay the Spire | ~1 hour runs | Hard | Everything | Paid |
| Monster Train | ~1 hour runs | Hard | PC, consoles | Paid |
| Inscryption | 12-15 hour campaign | Medium | Everything | Paid |
| Griftlands | Campaign arcs | Medium | PC, consoles | Paid |
| Astrea | 40-60 min runs | Hard | PC | Paid |
| Wildfrost | 30-40 min runs | Medium | PC, consoles | Paid |
| Diceomancer | 30-60 min runs | Medium | PC | $14.99 |
| Roguebook | Co-op campaign | Medium | PC, consoles | Paid |
Prices and availability checked August 28, 2026. The two budget stars, Rack and Slay at $5.99 and Diceomancer at $14.99, are the best value per hour on the list.
Is Balatro Still Getting Updates?
Yes. LocalThunk keeps patching, and the game has received cross-promotional content with other games through 2025 and into 2026. The 150 jokers and 15 decks I keep quoting are current as of the 1.0.1o patch. The game is also on mobile, which is where half my playtime actually lives now, and it is the perfect Deck game at 9 hours of battery on OLED. Balatro is not going anywhere, the genre around it is just getting louder.
FAQ
Is Balatro still getting updates?
Yes, it patches regularly. The content count sits at 150 jokers and 15 decks as of the latest update, and the developer has kept adding cross-promotional content. No sequel has a release date.
What is the best free deckbuilder?
Honestly, the great ones cost money. Balatro, Slay the Spire, and Monster Train all carry price tags, and they are worth it. Free options are thin; the mobile market has the best free experiments, but nothing on this list is free except demos. If you want a zero cost start, Slay the Spire's mobile version goes on sale regularly.
Slay the Spire 2 or Balatro first?
Balatro if you want the quick dopamine loop and mobile play. Slay the Spire 2 if you want deep strategy and are fine with Early Access caveats. They barely overlap in feel despite sharing a genre, so most people end up owning both. That is the genre's dirty secret, they are all good in different directions.
Do these run well on Steam Deck?
Very well. Balatro is the battery king at about 9 hours on the OLED Deck, Slay the Spire 2 runs 60fps and is Deck Verified, and Wildfrost and Luck be a Landlord are perfect quick-session games. Deckbuilders are the single best genre for handheld play, which is why our Steam Deck list is full of them.
Why did Balatro win so many awards?
It did the hardest thing in games: made a genuinely new loop that anyone can learn in five minutes and master for hundreds of hours. The 2024 award season gave it Best Indie and Best Debut honors across multiple shows, and it was in the Game of the Year conversation everywhere. The math-fun loop is real, and it refuses to get old.
What is the best co-op deckbuilder?
Slay the Spire 2's four player online co-op is the new king, even in Early Access. Roguebook is the pick if you want a finished, two player campaign right now. Monster Train also has some co-op-adjacent modes, but the two above are the real answers.
Related Reading
- Best Roguelike Games (2026): the wider roguelike umbrella
- Hades 2: Best Boons Guide: the other 2020s genre giant
- Best Steam Deck Games 2026: why deckbuilders own the handheld
- Best Co-Op Games for PC (2026): if the StS2 co-op gets you hooked
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