The game-play looks to be excellent.

[LeftPaw]

The game-play looks to be excellent. Sadly there are no excuses for the graphics in 2024. Pixel art is fine but when you take it this far it's stupid. If pixel art was necessary they could have done it 100% better than this. This is a game were your game table should be clear and easy to understand, and not have to be squinting at the screen trying to make things out.
Yep, this is a game were the Devs have taken it a few yards to far. I would imagine this is going to put off a awful lot of people.
I'm glad the developer of Balatro went with the happy medium with his game when it came to the pixel art, if it had looked like this game I bet it would not be enjoying the success it has.

[henrebotha]

Lmao I think the game looks great

[ktur]

By 2024 graphics should no longer be (and should never have been) the main thing to judge games by. It's your right to decide that it doesnt fit you enough to play it, but please stop acting like every game needs to pay too much attention to graphics.

(personally I like how it looks, but I also understand that it's not something appealing to everybody)

[LeftPaw]

Originally posted by ktur:

By 2024 graphics should no longer be (and should never have been) the main thing to judge games by. It's your right to decide that it doesnt fit you enough to play it, but please stop acting like every game needs to pay too much attention to graphics.

(personally I like how it looks, but I also understand that it's not something appealing to everybody)

I am a pixel art fan, good pixel art. Pixel art made to look as close as possible to the real thing, so you have to be skilled as well as artistic.
Then you have splatter pixel art which is not really art but more like vandalism.

[ktur]

Wanting art to be as close to real thing as possible is probably the worst metric you can come up with. (You can look at how paintings coexist with photography just fine, for example)

[The Renderer]

I think Balatro looks worse than Slice&Dice. That said, I still play them both because I don't care (as long as the UX doesn't suffer).

[Zanaki]

Its a phone game, it was designed to be on the phone. Not much more discussion to be had here, go play it on phone and you'll see it looks just fine.


Yeah, on pc it 'might' be a bit ugly to some, but when you realize its a mobile port you should be like 'ahh yeah this is not bad then'

[Myno]

Originally posted by LeftPaw:

I am a pixel art fan, good pixel art. Pixel art made to look as close as possible to the real thing, so you have to be skilled as well as artistic.
Then you have splatter pixel art which is not really art but more like vandalism.

You have absolutely no knowledge or respect for art if you think that it has to replicate reality. What you said is just so wrong; I'm struggling to find the words. For your sake, I hope this is just a troll.

And what do you mean "squinting" at the screen? What could be clearer and more precise than being able to make out each individual pixel? There is something to be said for conveying as much information as possible with as few pixels as possible; that itself is an art, and I think they have done fairly well. I have very little issue with visually comprehending this game.

I'm all for trying out different styles, but I hope they always keep this minimalist approach as a supported option.

[TrainedToTroll]

I think the pixel art is good. My only gripe is the pixel font and pixelated user interface. I know he was going for a style here, but the UI can be, at times, difficult to read at FIRST glance.

Gameplay its 10/10 in my book. Lots of fun!

[Zeel Ara]

Random internet stranger thinks their personal taste is indicative of universal truth. More at 11.

[talkslow4me]

Its a <GREAT> game mechanic minus any actual game. Something of a "proof of concept"
I was hoping after playing this game in 2021, to see some quality of life elements added wayyy in 2024.
Maybe some sprite characters, monsters, plot or story, progression mechanics. Considering this I am not surprised the devs didnt take any effort to improve on the pixelated graphical interface.

[henrebotha]

Originally posted by talkslow4me:

Its a <GREAT> game mechanic minus any actual game. Something of a "proof of concept"
I was hoping after playing this game in 2021, to see some quality of life elements added wayyy in 2024.
Maybe some sprite characters, monsters, plot or story, progression mechanics. Considering this I am not surprised the devs didnt take any effort to improve on the pixelated graphical interface.

Nice bait. Plenty of UX improvements have happened. You are making the mistake of assuming that the art style is a compromise. It is not. The game looks great. It is functional, usable, and beautiful. The only problems with the visuals are things like accessibility concerns around the pixel font, which hopefully we'll see some changes for.

[Misguided]

Is there a game on Steam with more progression mechanics than this? What a strange criticism.