Balatro vs Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era
One is a fast-paced roguelike poker builder; the other a slow-burn turn-based strategy revival — choose based on your patience for randomness.
Definitive deck-building poker roguelike that holds up past 100 hours, with free Friends of Jimbo updates adding new collab card packs.
Captures the HOMM3 magic with modern polish, but multiplayer's broken — skip for PvP until patches land.
Steam popularity
Shared scale — sparklines are directly comparable across both games.
Balatro
Jun 2026 peak CCU 9,277 ↓ 20% MoM
All-time peak 43,825
Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era
Jun 2026 peak CCU 17,792 ↓ 71% MoM
Key differences
Game length per run
Balatro runs last 15-30 minutes, encouraging quick replay and endless experimentation with joker synergies.
Olden Era campaigns can take dozens of hours per map, with slow tactical turns and deep exploration of continents.
Multiplayer stability
Balatro is single-player only, so no network issues; all focus is on deck-building and high scores.
Olden Era multiplayer is broken at launch, making its PvP component unplayable until patches arrive.
Randomness impact
Balatro's joker and card draws heavily dictate each run; adapting to chaos is the core skill.
Olden Era relies more on strategic positioning and army composition, with randomness on battlefield dice rolls.
Which one is for you?
Pick Balatro if
- You enjoy short roguelike runs where each hand shapes a new synergy.
- You prefer single-player focused games with no online dependency.
- You want a highly rated title with deep replayability past 100 hours.
Pick Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era if
- You crave classic turn-based strategy with faction variety and map exploration.
- You are willing to wait for multiplayer patches to enjoy competitive play.
- You like slow, tactical combat decisions over fast-paced card interactions.
Bottom line
Pick Balatro for immediate, polished roguelike fun; pick Olden Era if you're a Heroes fan willing to wait for critical updates.