Whilst the whole landlord theme doesn’t come across at all, Luck be a Landlord is a fun addition to the growing rogue-like gamble ‘em up genre.
Since the wild success of Balatro, there has been a slowly growing set of gambling-themed rogue-like games. Whilst there aren’t many at the moment, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of the likes of Ballionaire and Luck be a Landlord cropping up over the next twelve months. It may lack the perfect simplicity of Balatro, but Luck be a Landlord is fun and addictive as a gambling rogue-like with a slot machine theme. Having been available on Steam for a little over a year, it’s now on its way to consoles.
There’s a framing at play here, with you apparently living in an apartment and needing to use a built-in slot machine to earn enough rent each day so you can continue onwards. In reality, this is just a target score set for each round, just as the chip targets in Balatro are somewhat arbitrary. Ultimately you’re meant to chase your landlord up the apartment block. Each time you complete a successful run, you unlock the next floor that includes new twists on the base mechanics of the game to increase the challenge. None of this theme comes through, but that’s fine as the game really doesn’t need it.
Gameplay is somewhat like the more recent Ballionaire, with you getting a set number of spins in which to reach your target. After each spin, you get to add a new symbol to your reels so that you have a greater chance of winning big money. This isn’t a standard slot machine where you want to line up a row of 7s to score big though. Instead, much like in Ballionaire, you’ll be adding all manner of bizarre symbols that will often interact with one another to increase their value. You’ll need to find which things work best to try and create a strategy that will result in the maximum number of symbols reacting to rack up money quickly.
Initially it feels like there are a huge number of different symbols to keep track of. This is because there are. There are so many things here that a whole separate article would be needed to list them all. Swathes of different food, animal, and human symbols go alongside gemstones, plants, and cursed runes. Each thing interacts with different symbols too. A miner destroys adjacent rocks to create gems that will be worth more money. Cats are worth more when next to milk. Barmen spawn alcohol whilst dwarves destroy adjacent alcohol for big cash. This is before you even include the bonus items you get at the end of each round, such as one that gives you bonuses when mice and ninjas are next to each other, or a lint roller that destroys rabbits.
It’s a lot to take in, and I would argue too much at times. Due to the sheer volume of different interactions, it can be very hard to actually create a strategy for your run, as there’s a very good chance that you won’t get things that will synergise well, resulting in a run that you can’t even get off the ground. Still, when it does come together, it’s very satisfying to watch all your successes roll in at once. Your cultists all score points together before being eaten by your eldritch monster that also destroys a cursed rune as a wood arrow points at a dwarf that drinks three max-level wines to give ten times their value in cash. It gives you that gambling buzz that probably isn’t all that healthy to enjoy.
Interestingly, you can’t actually place the symbols wherever you want. Nor do the reels work in the traditional sense. You could add a bear symbol that appears on the left reel, but have it appear in the middle on the next spin. I somewhat wish I could have positioned things where I wanted them to be to maximise my success opportunities. On top of this, I think this would have really helped the game lean into a more strategic play style in which you could build the machine to be an absolute powerhouse of profitability rather than still being beholden to the probability of it.
I wasn’t a huge fan of the presentation if I’m honest. The sounds are pretty basic, and the catchy music can only stay catchy for so long before it gets tiresome. It’s the visuals that are a bit of an issue though. So many items look very similar. Different ores aren’t always easy to tell apart, and the humans are tricky to differentiate, which is a pain considering how many different ones there are. Yes, you can highlight and press X on each to check what they are, but Luck be a Landlord really lacks that at-a-glance benefit that Balatro has, and it slows the pace down quite a bit.
In spite of the handful of gripes I have, Luck be a Landlord is surprisingly fun. When things are ticking along well, it’s a treat to watch that account balance skyrocket, and early failures don’t really take up a lot of time once you’re familiar with the different symbols. The increasing challenge as you go from floor to floor keeps things fresh, as do the increasing array of symbols you have access to. Whilst this doesn’t have the staying power of the king of the sub genre, Luck be a Landlord is still worth giving a spin.
Luck be a Landlord is available now on Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
