Aliosso

A good Balatro-inspired roguelike that will scratch the itch of a big numbers game, def worth it!

Worth it

This review is specially made for those who like to get all the achievements in games. Minor spoilers ahead. Aliosso is a “balatro-like” indie deckbuilder with similar mechanics and even a few similar cards (=jokers) where the goal is reaching a score target by making combination of tiles (instead of cards) but you only can do pair based combinations so there aren’t any Straights or Flushes. The final stage is a Djiin where you need to defeat 3 enemies without “spells” and without visiting the shop between battles. Initially a lot of items, characters and deck are locked and need to be unlocked by completing specific tasks and only with these new unlockable content will you be able to complete the game, and only with the stronger ones you will be able to complete the game on the maximum difficulty. The graphics are very simple and perhaps the weakest point of the game, the 2D pixel art backgrounds, mostly desert inspired, and the characters only serve as a background and are mostly static apart from slight “breathing” animations and particle effects when scoring the tiles and when you destroy the enemies. Despite borrowing some things from Balatro, the game adds a lot of new tile effects, more decks and characters and some new systems like “water” which can used to cast “prayers” which are repeatable spells that initially only can be used during battles but later on can be used to heavily manipulate your deck, duplicating tiles or items, increasing or transferring score values, and many other effects. Another difference is how strong the “events” (=skipping battles) are: some of them when paired with specific cards will make the rest of the run fairly easier on their own, like the one that increases the odds combined with the cards with 1 in 4 initial chance of getting an extra X1. The other super useful one increases all hand levels by 2 and is always a must pick for me. Regarding the achievements, discovering the entire collection takes some time and effort because some of the cards require very hard to get conditions like getting 4 or 5 very specific tiles in the same deck and force you to play entirely for it, often ruining runs to get those tiles, but it’s easier than getting the gold stake in all jokers in Balatro. The Challenges are similar to Balatro but there are a few special ones that completely change the way the game is played and involve making right decisions to win it besides some luck. Defeating the Djiin in Infinite mode will also be a challenge, but if you do it on the easiest difficulty and save “Essence” to spend it afterwards on a particularly great run, it’s achievable. [b]In a perfect run, like one I had with the Archer, you can even break the game and the scoring system. I documented this on the check you can check [u][url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3675333852] here[/url][/u][/b]. The hardest one is completing runs on the max difficulty with every deck, which will take some time and persistence, since there are a lot of them. When I first got the key and together with other players, we convinced the Dev to make this easier by unlocking part of the ladder for the other decks of the same character after you win a run on the max difficulty with that character, but even with this feature you will need to win a lot of runs and the higher difficulties the win rate isn’t high, depending on luck and skill. To help you, I figured out some “flaws" of the game, most already worked on balatro too: [spoiler]In the shop, the game only saves if you do a reroll, so if you buy something by mistake you can leave and come back to undo that. The same happens when you score a hand, quitting before the enemy attacks back will undo that attack.[/spoiler] [b]Achievements:[/b] [b]How many:[/b] 26 Achievements. [b]How much time:[/b] I needed 140 hours, no guide was used. [b]Game difficulty:[/b] Medium, but gets easier for balatro veterans after some key unlocks. [b]Achievements’ Difficulty:[/b] Hard, completing everything will require time and commitment, but also some luck and good decision making otherwise more time will be needed. I also published a guide for anyone having problems defeating the Djiin in infinite mode. [b]Overall opinion:[/b] Aliosso is a fun and challenging balatro clone with familiar gameplay but its own mechanics, different “jokers” and a wide variety of decks with their own special tiles and will keep you engaged for lots of hours despite being visually simple. [b]Join and follow my group [u][url=store.steampowered.com/curator/42556190-Ribbon-Hunters/] Ribbon Hunters[/url][/u] for more suggestions and reviews of easy indie games to get all the achievements.[/b]