The trials and tribulations that Balatro developer Localthunk went through to get his hit roguelike an appropriate age rating are well-documented. Sometimes, ratings boards don't really look past the idea of gambling to find out if that gambling is actually present. In the case of Balatro, common sense eventually prevailed. But for CloverPit, which seems to have taken plenty of inspiration from Balatro, I don't think it's beating the allegations.
CloverPit is comfortably one of the biggest roguelikes in Steam Next Fest, sitting in the top ten across all three major charts. I can instantly see why. It's a game that immediately plugs into all of the horror stories you hear about how casino designers get punters to stay in place for hours at a time. Before you sits a traditional slot machine, and it's your job to use it to make increasing quantities of money, before the trapdoor floor beneath you opens up and sends you off to an unpleasant fate.
The slot machine functions as any traditional one-armed bandit might. You pull the lever, and the screen rolls around, paying out a small sum if you hit at least three of the same symbol in a row. Each round, you can choose whether you want to drop a small amount of money for a smaller number of spins, or increase your pay-in in hopes of a bigger payout. At the end of three rounds of spins, you'd better hope that you've made enough money back to pay off your debt.
The good news is that you've got multiple ways to improve your odds. The money you pay in does net you a small amount of interest, and if you manage to reach your next goal early, you'll also get an extra reward. There are also lucky trinkets that augment the stats of the slot machine; perhaps you'll get a free spin every so often, or increase the value of certain symbols while removing the likelihood of seeing others. There's a sense of buildcrafting even in the very early stages, and while luck does play a big part, you can certainly make some of that for yourself.
My favorite lucky charm is a maneko cat that pays out your banked interest every time you get three scoring combos in a single roll, which can really set your money climbing fast. That synergized excellently with the one time I managed to net a full jackpot - every slot on the machine showing the exact same symbol. It was enough to carry me through multiple deadlines, showering me with interest at the end of every round.
Unfortunately, it also meant that it really started to sting when I didn't trigger the cat. And it really hurt when I didn't hit anything at all. Sadly, that's sort of the nature of slot machines - there's nothing you can do to ensure you hit, so you've just got to pull the lever again and hope you come up better the next time, or the time after that. Very quickly, I was nestled into a dangerous loop - paying in my fee, yanking on the level, scooping up my winnings and paying off my unseen creditor. I was constantly hoping for the little bursts of good luck - the charm triggers, the big combo - that would net me my next good windfall. Even writing this, I'm itching to jump back in. Localthunk might have beaten the gambling allegations with Balatro, but CloverPit isn't shy about its similarities to the poker roguelike, and this time, I think the house might win.
For a far more wholesome roguelike, Moonlighter 2 is so good that I'm planning to jump straight back into its predecessor.
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