We’d have to imagine that launching a similarly-themed roguelike deckbuilder in the shadow of Balatro is both a gift and a curse. The gameplay is different enough in structure and premise that it doesn’t feel like a copy, but Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers inevitably inherits some of the attention Balatro brought to the space and also has the unenviable task of being compared to an inarguable instant classic.
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It doesn’t feel like it’s shying away from those comparisons, either. D&DG loves cracking a good joke, and perhaps even more loves cracking a bad referential quasi-joke. Among these? Yep, totally a Balatro nod. In your first hour with the game, you’ll likely run into send-ups of The Witcher, DJ Khaled, Slay the Spire and more. There’s even a particularly, uh, faithful rendering of a Charizard card that feels to us like murky IP waters to tread.
As much as there’s similarity in the possibility space — especially turning lots of things known as “cards” into playable items — Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers sets itself firmly apart through its blackjack-based mechanics. Rather than building poker hands against an ever-rising score goal, you’re playing an opponent, and it’s more about probabilities and risk. Truly this is gambling, in a true gameplay way, with tons of ways to manipulate the odds in your favor.
In the spirit of the game’s humor, we’ll say this: busting does not make you feel good. While traditional blackjack is about binary wins or losses, here your loss results in damage equal to the difference in hands. So you’ll end up making choices you wouldn’t in the normal game, like standing when your hand has lost, rather than risk taking double-digit damage. It also incentivizes finding ways to make your opponent bust, as it’s worth so much more than chipping away a few at a time.
The starter decks are fairly simple: a full set of cards of one suit. Each suit has an ability that kicks in if you hit the maximum score (usually 21): hearts heal you, spades shield, clubs deal extra damage and diamonds add to your funds. The hearts deck is “easiest” and the only one available for your tutorial run, and… yeah, that ability is generally just better than the rest. There’s also a “nothings” deck, with cards that have no suit ability at all, and an unlockable deck that glitches out and gives you random results. (Which is indeed difficult in a game about controlling luck.) There are decks past these as well, but since the game hides them until you get there, we won’t spoil them. Suffice to say, they’re a bit of variety but don’t fundamentally change how we feel about the game.
As is increasingly the case in single-player games like this, your opponents in Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers don’t think or adjust. They have a specific deck composition and set number totals at which they stand, and these are considered in order to make an interesting opponent, but that’s it. Which is to say that the primary way you can win is by manipulating their deck or board and trip up their pre-set plan. This makes ways to play more cards valuable, as every play brings you closer to your opponent standing and no longer being able to undo any switcheroos you inflict.
It’s good to have disruptive options in your deck anyway, because there’s no mechanism in the game to encourage an end. Some battles can become endless wars of attrition, with healing and shields replenishing as fast as they’re taken down on both sides. And if you find yourself in one of these? There’s truly nothing you can do but start intentionally losing until you’re defeated and can start a new run. The design could benefit from something to hasten an end.
There are bosses at the end of both of a run’s two potential paths, but like most roguelike deckbuilders, these aren’t exactly final bosses. Winning on a difficulty lets you choose a harder one with additional modifiers. In this format, you see the game’s quips over and over and over again, and we really wish you didn’t have to after a while.
That said, this review has been a weird one for us. During the review window, the game has seen undocumented patches that fundamentally change the feature set and game balance. Totally new cards. Reworked abilities. Adjusted art. It’s good that the developer is working on making the game better, but it’s difficult to tell which of our experiences have been representative of the product you’ll play.
Ultimately, what hurts the most about launching in the long shadow of Balatro is the expectation of a wide possibility space and near-endless depth. Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers is more of a diversion than a new avocation, with interesting ideas that play out fairly quickly and funnel toward a few very specific viable strategies. It’s fun! Briefly.
Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers releases August 8, 2024 for PC, Mac and Linux via Steam. It’s developed by Purple Moss Collectors and published by Yogscast Games.
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Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers
Battle your way through a seedy tavern filled with gambling addicted townspeople in this Blackjack Roguelike Adventure. From aces and face cards to tarot cards, business cards and more, create your unique deck to beat the house.
Ultimately, what hurts the most about launching in the long shadow of Balatro is the expectation of a wide possibility space and near-endless depth. Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers is more of a diversion than a new avocation, with interesting ideas that play out fairly quickly and funnel toward a few very specific viable strategies. It’s fun! Briefly.
Food for Thought
- Our favorite cards in the game are the “0.5” ones. They give you a conditional point only if you need it, and buy you a turn too. We’ve never once been mad to see them.
- We're told a patch is on the way to address the game’s subpar controller support, but at least for now, hitting and standing are comfortable enough.
A copy of this game was provided by the publisher for review. Reviewed on PC.
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