I’m old, so that means I’ve been playing Doom since it first launched in the 90s. In the wake of my first encounter with a cacodemon, for the last 30-ish years or so, I’ve seen this wonderful yet violent demon blaster get ported to all manner of consoles and platforms.
As you’re probably well aware by now, the spread of Doom onto new platforms has seen id’s iconic shooter made playable in some rather unusual places, from Teslas to fancy pregnancy tests. In fact, there’s a whole sub-reddit called r/itrunsdoom if you want to go on a deepdive.
This irrepressible community modding challenge has given the classic first-person shooter extended relevance, and I think I’m only contributing to that by covering the news that the game is now playable within Balatro.
Doom X Balatro
Following the discovery that two of my favourite games have been brought together by Redditor UwUDev, I was immediately inclined to dig in and find out more.
You can read through the linked sub-reddit for more commentary, but the most relevant details are the fact that “it’s super laggy” and basically “unplayable”. However, the dev is working on optimising things, so that should improve.
UwUDev also promised that, based on the popularity of this project, they are now “planning something even more impressive and stupid”. I’m invested now, and I can’t wait to see what they’re cooking up.
You can see in the screengrab below how Doom has been integrated into Balatro via the jokers collection menu. If you watch the full video on Reddit, you can even see cards being moved around and chunks of Doom gameplay moving with them. I’ve no idea how they got to work, but I do think it’s fun.
Balatro is one of the games that features in my new article about the best roguelike deckbuilders, which you should totally check out next.
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Still with us? Of course you are! If you want to keep reading about great hand-picked rogues, the following articles represent a huge collection of the best roguelike games ever made.
Next, there are genre-specific lists that delve into the best roguelike games of all types. I’ve pulled out the best examples from each category, alongside the links to more in-depth articles!
The best turn-based roguelikes: Caves of Qud | There are some seriously incredible turn-based roguelikes out there. Of all the modern games, these are the closest to the original Rogue.
Awesome first-person rogues: Gunfire Reborn | We almost went with Blue Prince for this spot, but most people checking out first-person rogues probably want to wield a gun, you know?!
Cool roguelike deckbuilders: Balatro | Sorry, Slay the Spire fans, but this poker-solitaire deckbuilder has stolen Mike’s heart and won’t give it back.
Exciting roguelike platformers: Spelunky | Now, don’t get us wrong, Dead Cells is an incredible game, especially with all the DLC switched on. But when it comes to impact, you just can’t beat Spelunky.
Amazing action-roguelites: Hades 2 | And finally, let’s wrap things up with our favourite of them all. There’s no beating the original Hades, although Hades 2 comes pretty close!
