If you enjoyed Balatro, then there’s a good chance you’ve already tried – or at least have eyes on – new Steam roguelike Dungeons and Degenerate Gamblers. The indie deckbuilder has been affectionately described as ‘Blackjack Balatro’ (although Balatro creator ‘LocalThunk’ is quick to remind people that DnDG was actually playable first, and that they highly endorse it). While it’s a ton of fun and has received mostly positive reviews, the most common complaints at launch center on it feeling a little too tough, with some opponents feeling unfairly strong or having too much potential to scale out of control.
The first Dungeons and Degenerate Gamblers update, then, aims to make your life feel a little easier, with developer Purple Moss Collectors noting that balance “has been significantly overhauled” alongside tweaks to address many of the other points of feedback. The best roguelike games make smart use of random elements without being completely dominated by them, after all, and so you should find life a little smoother without relying on coming across the perfect cards to win each run by pure chance.
Several enemy decks have been adjusted with some of the more problematic cards removed to help them feel more well-suited to the point you face them in a run. In certain cases the order you’ll encounter enemies has also been switched. You should also see fewer instances of enemies scaling out of control, particularly with respect to shields.
Crucially, your opponents will now also hit before you at the start of fights, which should both increase the strength of some cards that might otherwise have no valid targets if you draw them first, and also mean you’re less likely to be disrupted after you’ve already committed to standing on your current total.
Several events have been adjusted in cases where they felt too punishing or not rewarding enough for completing. You’ll no longer see negative cards as encounter rewards in the Tavern, which should help you build out some early deck synergies quickly, and cards such as Wheel of Fortune and Terminate the Tower will now display the possible rewards they can offer.
Purple Moss Collectors also notes that in some cases, the changes made to enemy decks will only apply when you’re playing at the lower difficulties. Once you get to the Quadruple Down and All In difficulties, you’ll have to face the more challenging variants, and the latter difficulty setting will also mandate that the player hits before their opponent once again.
This first Dungeons and Degenerate Gamblers balance patch is out now for public beta testing. If you want to try it out, simply right-click the game in your Steam library, head to properties and then betas, and select ‘public_beta’ from the drop-down menu.
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