Balatro was one of the standout games of 2024, taking the whole industry by storm and perfectly demonstrating there’s still plenty of room for an independent game to shine – as shown last night at the Game Developers Choice Awards (GDC), where it picked up the game of the year award. It also won the awards for Best Design, Best Debut and the Innovation Award, meaning the indie game wasn’t far off a clean sweep.
Winning big at GDC is just the latest in a long line of accolades Balatro has won since it was first released just over a year ago. The poker-inspired deck-building game also won awards at the Golden Joystick Awards, The Game Awards, and D.I.C.E awards – it’s fair to say it’s been a pretty big 12 months for the game, having sold over 5 million copies worldwide.
Astro Bot, another big player during this year's award season, was also a major winner at the 2025 GDC Awards, picking up prizes for Best Audio and Technology.
Black Myth Wukong and Metaphor: ReFantazio also shared the spoils picking up one award each.
If you haven’t checked out Balatro yet, watch the trailer above, but in truth, the only way to really fall in love with the game is to play it. The game perfectly captures that feeling of just wanting to play for five more minutes, and thanks to its mobile availability, it’s a surefire way to ensure your commute races by in no time.
Balatro is currently playable on pretty much every platform, from mobile to PC and all major consoles. You can also nab the game on Apple Arcade and Xbox Games Pass for anyone with a subscription.
If you're looking for something to check out with pals, why not give our Split Fiction review a read, which we described as a "breathtaking game for two".
Main image credit: Local Thunk
