Balatro Wins GOTY at the Game Developers Choice Awards

Indie hit ‘Balatro’ has been receiving heaps of praise in the awards season with it garnering praise in almost every different show. The Game Awards saw it win indie game of the year, best debut indie and best mobile game. It was also nominated for the main Game of the Year award but it lost out to Astro Bot in the end.

Image by LocalThunk

If you thought that Balatro deserved even more recognition, its been getting it. The Game Developers Choice Awards were held earlier this week and they crowned the poker roguelike as their GOTY. This award show differs from others as the choices for winners comes from a panel of purely game creators. This is the gaming awards show for games developers- so for the prime award to go to an addictive roguelike made by only a single person, it shows just how impressive Balatro is.

The game also won best debut, best design and greatest innovation at the same show. Although seemingly simple, this addictive poker game (now available on pretty much every platform) has sunk its claws into enough gamers to earn its praise. As developer LocalThunk quietly works on expansions and additions to the game’s formula, Balatro remains one of the most addictively simple releases we’ve seen in some time.

Image by LocalThunk

You can pick up Balatro now on every major platform as well as mobile (which is a category in which it has dominated at almost every awards show). Its also available on Game Pass. Either way, it’s definitely worth checking out what game developers themselves deemed as the best release of 2024.