Forget Avowed, one of the best games in years just shadow-dropped on Game Pass

One of the super cool things about Microsoft’s subscription service Game Pass is the sheer wealth of great games it has available at all times. We generally have an indicator of what to look forward to with the Coming to Game Pass tab (and the fact we always keep you up to date with what’s on the horizon), but occasionally something even cooler happens and it’s something we don’t often get in the gaming industry – a pleasant surprise.

That’s what we are waking up to today as one of the best games of 2024, and, realistically, much much longer has just appeared like magic, out of nowhere on Game Pass. That game is Balatro, which if you have not heard of it, a) you must be living under a rock and b) you need to alter that life choice right now. Rocks are not good habitats for anybody apart from spiders.

Assuming then you have heard of Balatro but maybe are not one of the five million people who has already purchased the game. it is time to stop everything you have planned for today and start the small download and prepare to hand your life over to a game that screenshots might make you think is just poker, but is anything but.

Balatro has that rare insidious quality of being difficult to put down, and unlike other games that evolve around gambling, it doesn’t try to ever take any money off you. I know right? It takes the vague idea of poker and turns it into a deck-building masterpiece. It’s that good.

With Balatro’s arrival on Game Pass, there is also news that it will be getting some more cross-over content as well including Civilization, Fallout, and Assassin’s Creed. We have high confidence that this will be worthwhile rather than just some desperate shilled sell-out.

Anyway, anyway, while you are still here you could be downloading Balatro on Game Pass. Run, quickly and get that done.

Before you do go though you might want to check yesterday’s news about Balatro winning its appeal against its previous ridiculous 18+ age rating.

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