While it might seem like a developer would have fully completed their own game before releasing it to the world, that isn’t always the case. Balatro developer LocalThunk, for instance, has only just reached 100% completion in the game, well over a year after it originally launched.
LocalThunk posted on Bluesky recently about achieving this goal and unlocking the extremely rare Completionist++ achievement on Steam. Balatro’s extensive sets of jokers, decks, and in-game benchmarks for finishing various types of runs make Completionist++ very difficult to acquire; as LocalThunk’s screenshot proof shows, less than 0.1% of all Balatro players have been able to reach this point.
I have 100% completed Balatro!
Was a ton of fun to hunt for Completionist++. I play a few runs before bed and it’s been a great part of my daily routine. I think it’s also equipped me to better design the 1.1 update
Pumped to do it over again with the new content when it’s out! pic.twitter.com/T8Su601owB— localthunk (@LocalThunk) June 21, 2025
LocalThunk shared that chipping away at his own game had become a consistent part of his daily life; the process has also given him perspective on future development of the game. “It’s also equipped me to better design the 1.1 update,” he wrote, referring to a big gameplay and content overhaul that is scheduled for later this year.
Beyond the upcoming content drop, which LocalThunk has been tight-lipped about, we don’t know much about the future of Balatro. Since its release in early 2024, the poker-style roguelike has been a wild success, racking up awards and being a commercial hit. It’s hard to imagine that there won’t be many more updates and future projects related to Balatro, but we’ll have to wait for the famously secretive developer to reveal more about what he’s been working on.
