Original demo of Balatro was cracked to unlock the full game using Windows Notepad

As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. TweakTown may also earn commissions from other affiliate partners at no extra cost to you.

Balatro likely needs no introduction at this point - it's a roguelike deck builder that takes poker and runs in a very different direction than the traditional card game - and we've just discovered that it initially got off to a seriously stumbling start.

2

It's poker, Jim, but not as you know it (Image Credit: Playstack / Valve)

As PC Gamer reports, the first Balatro demo (which emerged back in 2023) had an embarrassing hole in the code that meant the entire game could be unlocked using Notepad.

Wout Van Halderen, who is communications director at Playstack, the game's publisher, admitted this in a talk at GDC. Apparently, it really was the case that editing a game file in Windows Notepad could get you access to the full version, rather than the limited 50 rounds of play that the demo was restricted to.

As you can imagine, back at the time, the discovery that Balatro had been cracked in such a manner was the cause of some consternation at Playstack. How did the publisher respond to this seriously alarming development?

Van Halderen told PC Gamer:

"We did want to bury it as soon as possible, because the whole game was available ... So making sure there was a newer, shinier version of the game too - it was very important to do that quick, and to make sure it was better than the cracked version."

So, later in 2023 (in September), a new and improved demo was put out there, with tightened security so it couldn't be cracked using a trusty lightweight text editor.

The tales of Balatro being so incredibly addictive have led me to swerve away from the game, for fear of it being too much of a time-sink (hell, I lost way too much of my life to Hearthstone before I made myself quit).

Maybe one day, though, I'll take the plunge, and I'm certainly fascinated by the meteoric rise of this highly praised deck builder that came out of nowhere.