“Balatro Strikes Again: The Rise of Poker Roguelikes in Gaming’s New Era”

It’s a significant day for Balatro, as developer LocalThunk has unveiled two massive new crossovers and stealthily released the poker roguelike phenomenon on Xbox Game Pass.

LocalThunk has introduced Balatro’s fourth Jimbo Pack, which is now readily available for free and features crossover content inspired by popular titles such as Assassin’s Creed, Fallout, Dead by Daylight, Civilization 7, Critical Role, Bugsnax, Kill the Princess, and Rust.

These are the latest in an extensive line of Balatro crossovers, with some of the most notable including The Witcher, Cyberpunk, Among Us, Stardew Valley, and Divinity.

Balatro Jimbo Pack 4 features cards themed around fan-favorite characters, including Assassin’s Creed protagonist Ezio Auditore da Firenze, the Fallout mascot Vault Boy, and, ahem, Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III from Critical Role. Importantly, the crossover will also include characters from the forthcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows, featuring the stealthier of the game’s two main characters, Fujibayashi Naoe. It’s not specified in the trailer whether Yasuke, the other playable character, is included in the DLC.

From the trailer below, it appears that at least two of the original trio of killers launched with Dead by Daylight in 2016 will also be getting their own Balatro cards, which I’ve no doubt they have been eagerly anticipating. I also spotted the princess from Kill the Princess, Elizabert Megafig from Bugsnax, Hatshepsut and Charlemagne from Civ 7, and a generic survivor from Rust.

Balatro creator states that one Joker is a nod to a notorious 17-year-old meme, even if it was not originally intended: “This is less of a ‘confirmed’ and more of a ‘lmao it is now’.”