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Breakout poker roguelike Balatro has a free update coming later today called Friends of Jimbo, featuring collaborations with four iconic indie games: Vampire Survivors, Among Us, Dave the Diver, and... The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. OK, three iconic indie games plus The Witcher 3, and even then Dave the Diver sparked discourse over the classification of indie given its massive corporate backing, with its director outright saying it's actually not indie. Two indies it is.
The surprise update was announced earlier today as part of the Nintendo Direct / Indie World showcase combo. Naturally, the Nintendo Switch version of the trailer specifies that Friends of Jimbo "is available today on Switch," but we can safely assume it will hit all platforms shortly. That said, there's been no official word at the time of writing. (Update: As expected, a separate trailer confirms the update is out for free on PC and all consoles today.)
Friends of Jimbo seems to add a mix of new cards and card appearances, with the likes of Geralt, Dave himself, the inescapable Amogus, and Dracula starring as royal cards. "That will do... for now," a Balatro Joker says of the hefty collab lineup, seemingly teasing yet more crossover updates still to come.
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Balatro has become one of 2024's biggest and most successful surprises, and it seems solo developer LocalThunk wants to turn it into a collab powerhouse next. Just don't get Friends of Jimbo mixed up with the Balatro collaboration coming to Dave the Diver, alongside the likes of Potion Craft, in an upcoming update of its own.
The first major gameplay update for Balatro was announced earlier this month and set to launch in 2025. "This update will bring new ideas and strategies to the game and as a token of huge appreciation to the game’s brilliant and passionate community, the update will be completely free," the game's official Twitter account said.
Balatro can't be sold to any gambling companies or casinos even after its creator dies, because its solo dev is so against that idea they've written it into their will.
