Latest hit indie is Balatro mixed with Buckshot Roulette, but with a bit more gambling

There have been two “not gambling” games that left a strong impression on me. One is Balatro, a poker roguelite known to almost everyone for its addictive gameplay and endless builds. The other is Buckshot Roulette, a game with a darker setting, where you take turns firing a shotgun in the hopes of surviving. But what if you combined the two? Then, you get CloverPit.

CloverPit is a slot machine roguelite, and per its description, is a “demonic lovechild of Balatro and Buckshot Roulette.” It changes the rules of a traditional slot machine by introducing various items, buffs, and probabilities. You have to find synergies between different items to earn more coins, all while locked up in a cell with an ATM and a hatch below that’ll drop you into the pit for not meeting the deadline.

This game has two parts: the Balatro side and the Buckshot Roulette side. The Balatro side is all about buildcrafting, which includes increasing symbol probabilities, pattern multipliers, and overall Luck. To do that, you have charms (think Jokers), phone abilities, and memory cards.

You can focus on a specific symbol, pattern, or even jackpots. One of my favorite ultimate risk and reward builds leans into jackpots with the seven symbol. It uses charms like the Seven Picture to make sevens appear more often, as well as Disc A, Disc B, Rotated Hamsa, and a couple more for Luck.

The main issue is that you need many stars to align to get all the necessary items, and the same is true for other builds. Considering the vast variety of charms that can appear in your shop, especially as you unlock more of them, many of my runs end up being resets simply because nothing can push me forward fast enough to meet deadlines.

The Buckshot Roulette side, despite having a strategic element, is in its sinister setting. You’re stuck in a room where all you can do is use the slot machine to feed the character’s gambling addiction. The game constantly reminds you what will happen if you don’t earn enough coins, and the recycling bin under the slot machine that contains what seems like human intestines isn’t reassuring either. Devil’s presence is depicted everywhere: on posters, on the phone, and on the slot machine itself.

CloverPit may not necessarily have the horror element present in Buckshot Roulette, mainly due to art style differences (and nothing beats nightclub’s music), but it gets fairly close when setting the overall tone for the story. And yes, there’s a little bit of story and meta progression in CloverPit.

Without spoiling too much, there’s a door in the room that you can eventually open. What happens behind that door and how to open it, that’s up to you to discover.