Now, let’s be clear with this 8List: we’re not saying Balatro should have won. What we’re saying is, if Balatro won, it would just be as deserving of the win as pretty much every single nominee this year also was.

The reason we’re taking up for Balatro is pretty simple: it’s available everywhere, including your phone right now, has zero DLC, and is often the one game in this year’s nominees people love dismissing as a sign that the Game Awards has no idea what makes for a good game — despite most of the people saying this having never even played the game.

So let’s talk about the reasons Balatro is a much better game than most people give it credit for…

8. A unique gameplay loop that hooks you.

Everyone knows how roguelikes work, and the maker of Balatro didn’t really hide the fact that he was originally inspired by the game called Luck Be A Landlord, but who ever thought that you could use that conceit on a deck of playing cards while playing poker hands?

It isn’t hard to get the basic mechanics of Balatro down. It’s the increasing challenge and endless replayability that keeps people coming back, because they know, they just know, that next run will finally be the one that finally succeeds.

7. Great after-sales care.

Not only is there an active Balatro community out there that helps people up their game, the early access process of Balatro truly showed how a developer can listen to their players and make improvements for the better. Not many games do that, but this one did to its advantage.

6. A mesmerizing aesthetic.

“It’s just a card game,” plenty of naysayers would say. But it’s so much more than just that! With its thoughtful visual style permeating through whatever screen you play on, Balatro just oozes with a kind of style and flavor that’s all its own.

5. An equally mesmerizing soundtrack.

With music built from the ground up by Luis Clemente, Balatro’s soundtrack absolutely complements the game’s catch visual style. In fact, so impressed was Localthunk, the game’s anonymous and sole developer that he made sure that Luis is contractually guaranteed 100% of the proceeds of every copy of the game’s soundtrack.

4. It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

By all indications, Localthunk seems to be your cut-and-dried gaming success story, with the additional kicker that he’s an overall good guy. If the soundtrack story wasn’t enough of a hint, the fact that he hasn’t resorted to adding in-app purchases of any sort to the game by now only shows that this is a game made for gamers, not to squeeze every dime out of them. And isn’t that something worthy of acknowledgment?

3. Seamless play regardless of platforms.

You can play the game on the PC, on the console, and on your phone. No matter how you play it, the game works flawlessly. It’s this ease of access that makes this game enticing to more people in general. You don’t need a top-of-the-line rig or a PS5 to enjoy this masterpiece. Even your smartphone will most likely do, and you sacrifice nothing in choosing the mobile option.

2. Shareable runs.

Every run has its own code that allows you to replicate someone else’s run and try to improve on it. So even if there’s no multiplayer to speak of, there are endless ways to enjoy and challenge yourself on this game, and again, considering the game is, at its base, playing poker hands, this feat of indie excellence has earned every single one of its 3.5 million copies sold and counting.

1. Critical and player acclaim.

A few critic reviews might not be convincing enough, but with everyone who has played the game singing Balatro’s praises, doesn’t it make sense to at least find out why there’s all this hype over some “poker game?” It might not be in your top five this year, but it’s very likely that it’s in the top five of your top 5’s favorites this year. That’s just how good this game is.