Balatro is Getting Its First Major Update, Adding New Joker Mechanics, Difficulty Changes

Balatro is getting its first major update since release that will introduce a number of sweeping changes, including new Joker mechanics and a difficulty overhaul.

The acclaimed poker-themed roguelike game from developer LocalThunk currently has its first big content update in Steam public testing and is set for a full release in "about a week." The patch, known as Update 1.0.1c is said to bring a "lot of changes" and the developer explained why they opted for an extended public test.

Balatro's First Major Update

Balatro is Getting Its First Major Update, Adding New Joker Mechanics, Difficulty Changes — Balatro is releasing its first major update soon as the new patch will include sweeping changes, including new Joker mechanics.
(Photo : LocalThunk, Playstack / Screenshot taken from Steam)

LocalThunk noted that they wanted to make sure that everything in the upcoming update will be working smoothly before it is pushed to the live game. The patch notes also included a couple of bug fixes and several balance changes. Some cards got buffs while others saw their effects and rules tweaked a little bit.

The update will also fix an issue that some players on Windows and Steam Deck have been experiencing resulting in them having poor or stuttery performance. There will be two notable mechanic additions in the form of Perishable and Rental Jokers, according to Eurogamer.

Perishable Jokers have a 30% chance to appear during Orange Stake runs and cause other Jokers to receive the "perishable" sticker that will be disabled after five rounds have passed. On the other hand, Rental Jokers will have a 30% chance to appear during Gold Stake runs. Jokers that are marked with a "rental" sticker will cost $1 upfront and then $3 every single round.

The public test for the upcoming major update is currently ongoing and players can access it by right-clicking Balatro's entry in their Steam library and going to Properties>Betas>Beta Participation. Then, they simply need to select the "public_experimental" option to enter the new update.

On top of these major changes to the game, the new update also introduces a number of changes, such as adding a toggle for "Reduced Motion" that removes the swirly background and gyrating card motion.

Extended Testing for the Changes

Another major part of the new update is reduced antes that make the game itself a bit easier to play. This includes changing the ante scaling for a few stakes and also making players need fewer points to progress through specific rounds, said PCGamesN.

Furthermore, the Orange state's increasing pack cost of $1 per ante has been removed in the new update as it has been replaced with the new Perishable mechanic. LocalThunk also made it so that the first Legendary Joker on any Gold Stake random seed will be one that players have not won Gold Stake with yet.

Players who are part of the extended test will also experience the change where the first shop in every single run will not include a Buffoon pack. This means that they can always buy one for more Joker cards.

Madness has also been changed to only apply to small/big blinds and not to boss blind selection. The To Do list has also been revamped to no longer have the poker hand include changes on payout. It would instead always change at the end of the round, according to Insider Gaming.