There is inspiration everywhere in this world. For Balatro creator LocalThunk, it struck when he played Luck be a Landlord, a slot machine game where you collect various power-ups to get enough money to pay rent each month. Now, developer Dan DiIorio has created a new game, Maze Mice, and given its 95% positive Steam reviews, I'm excited to see what else comes in its wake.
"If you don't know Dan DiIorio, he's the dev behind Luck Be a Landlord; the game that inspired me to make Balatro and influenced tons of other devs to expand on the genre he shaped," tweets LocalThunk. "His newest game Maze Mice just left early access! I'm going to be playing it all weekend."
If you don't know Dan DiIorio, he's the dev behind Luck Be a Landlord; the game that inspired me to make Balatro and influenced tons of other devs to expand on the genre he shapedHis newest game Maze Mice just left early access! I'm going to be playing it all weekend https://t.co/wiTJpILvijJuly 11, 2025
The genre he appears to be referring to is the gambling roguelite. Games like Balatro and Ballionaire, which utilize familiar gambling mechanics from Poker and Pachinko machines but put a less wallet-draining spin on them. You get all the oxytocin of gambling without any of the poverty-inducing debt. Although Balatro still got in trouble for being too much like betting.
Maze Mice isn't a gambling game at all, though. It resembles a bullet hell version of Snake. You control a little mouse running away from a trail of cats, and you can pick up power-ups like fiery footsteps and even bombs to slow them down.
Reviews compare it to Vampire Survivors but with "much more intricate and rewarding movement." Another reads, "I bought this yesterday and then ended up playing 6 hours of it accidentally." So, buy at your own risk. You can get it right here, currently 30% off.
Or, check out the best games of 2025 so far.
