Wow, I played something other than Baldur’s Gate 3! What a twist! So, on a recommendation from VICE’s own Shaun Cichacki, I bought and played Dungeons and Degenerate Gamblers. It seemed like the perfect option! I enjoy Balatro, and I’m a lover of roguelike card/dice games! (Which reminds me, I may have to do one of these for Wildfrost soon.)

I played around four hours of Dungeons and Degenerate Gamblers, and, boy, do I have some thoughts. So, as is tradition, what the hell is the game about? Well, put in its most reductive form: D&DG is Blackjack Balatro. You start with a standard playing deck, defeat anyone insane enough to challenge you in a spirited game of Blackjack, and ascend to the status of Card Game God.

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Along the way, you’ll receive new cards with various effects, enabling you to synergize a deck that can hopefully withstand the rockiest of encounters. You’ll also bump into the occasional event where you can remove cards, gain new cards, or have some completely off-the-wall situation take place that throws your strategies into disarray. So, all that being said: did Dungeons and Degenerate Gamblers rock my world from the four-hour sampler I played?

‘dungeons and degenerate gamblers’ has the juice to contend with the big boys

To make one thing clear: D&DG deserves so much better than being potentially disparaged and written off as a Balatro clone. Yes, they’re both roguelike card games. However, Dungeons and Degenerate Gamblers has its own style, substance, and cadence! Balatro is slower-paced, allowing you to meticulously plan out your next move. D&DG is anything but slow.

When you’re just starting out, sure, the game tricks you into thinking it’s not going to be chaotic and unhinged. However, once your opponents increase in skill and it’s your deck synergies against theirs? The game moves at almost a breakneck speed. Admittedly, I found myself wondering what the hell was going on during some moments because the game went from casual jog to Sonic the Hedgehog.

But, I love Dungeons and Degenerate Gamblers so far. I still have to acclimate to all the available cards and their effects to see what “builds” I can rock with. These are good issues to have, though! Plus, there’s a hilariously not-so-subtle overtone of “Hey, gambling actually sucks — and so does capitalism, for that matter!” throughout the game that I appreciate! The fact that four hours just breezed by without my knowledge says all you need to know about the game’s early greatness!

If you want to see what Dungeons and Degenerate Gamblers is all about but find yourself still apprehensive? Go and play the Steam demo! Trust me, you won’t regret it!