Balatro's Cosmos Mod Was Released, And Now I Can't Go Back

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It's hard to deny just how amazing Balatro is as a game, but it shines even more when playing on the Steam Deck. I tend to not let myself play because once I start, I usually can't stop. It's so enjoyable that I never even considered modding the game, yet mods do exist, and some of them are cool. The majority of the ones I saw are mostly aesthetic, changing the look of some cards, but there are a couple that go a bit further, and there was a cool one that just released.

If you are looking for a more vanilla experience, the Cosmos mod might be the one to use. It is an ongoing mod where a group of pixel artists are working together to create vanilla-friendly packs of new Jokers to find in the game. I saw the announcement of this pack on Twitter from one of the artists working on the project, NEATO (@NEAT0QUEEN), and it includes a group of 10 Jokers in a holiday theme. It looks like an awesome way to expand the game with new content, but it's also just the tip of the iceberg.

As I said, I never considered modding for Balatro, so I started diving into the world and found a solid amount of really cool new packs. There are ones that add in Pokemon-themed cards with over 200 new Jokers and Decks, movie-themed Jokers, new planet cards, and a new "Card Sleeve" mechanic that adds in new modifiers and special effects. I went so deep into it that I ended up with mods that increased the number of Jokers in my game to almost 600, and it's awesome.

Modding Balatro looked like it would be a bit of a difficult procedure to get up and running, but it was actually much easier than I expected! I went ahead and created a guide to get it set up for yourself, along with some of the mods I am using.

It's going to be very hard to go back to vanilla Balatro without any mods. It feels like there's so much more new content to wrap my head around and new modifiers and mechanics to enjoy. And with how easy it is to install mods, I can only see myself adding more to it.

Balatro can be purchased on Steam for $14.99, and you can download the Cosmos mod on GitHub.

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