I picked this up on a whim and lost way too many evenings to it. Poker meets roguelike in a way that makes probability feel fun instead of like homework. Every run is about figuring out if you can build a deck that’ll beat the next blind, and the math is the whole game.
What hooks you is that it’s never obvious if you’ll make it. The game teaches you to think about probability without drowning you in numbers. Runs get weird fast. Sometimes you’re building a flush deck with planets, or you go all-in on discards with Glass Jokers. Even when you fail you learn something about when to buy stuff, when to reroll, when to use your planets. Stakes keep going up so strategies that worked before stop working, which keeps you adapting.
Each Joker changes how you approach the run. Finding synergies between them feels rewarding. The deck variety means you can try completely different strategies each time.
Lost too many evenings to “just one more run.” Kept pushing for higher stakes and different decks. My Indie GOTY for 2024.