Today, Nintendo’s Indie World Showcase opened with a treat for Balatro fans. The game is getting collaborations with four exciting properties later today in the new Friends of Jimbo update: The Witcher, Vampire Survivors, Dave the Diver, and Among Us.
The collaborations appear to contain themed decks with cards styled after characters from each game, potentially with exciting new effects. The Dave the Diver deck, for instance, changes the number cards to fruit, and the Among Us deck seems to include death animations for playing certain hands. Given the nature of Balatro, it’s possible that some of the new additions are cards with interesting twists.
The trailer was short, so it’s not quite clear the extent to which each theme shuffles the deck, but given that it’s a free update, no strings attached, it’s an exciting little bonus for folks already excited about the most addictive card game of the year.
Balatro came out on all major platforms back in February, and was immediately lauded as a critical and commercial hit. In our 9/10 review, we called this twist on poker “the sort of fun that threatens to derail whole weekend plans.” A free “major gameplay update” is expected for Balatro in 2025 according to the official X/Twitter, which will “bring new ideas and strategies to the game.”
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.