Dice a Million
After sinking 150 hours into Balatro and finally beating a deck on the hardest difficulty, I realized I really, really like roguelike games. Steam must have realized this too because they started recommending me roguelikes like crazy.
One of these games was Dice a Million, a "balatrolike" with dice.
Dice a Million's core mechanic is simple. Roll a number of dice and add their numbers. Repeat this a few times per round. If the sum of the rolled dice reaches the round's passing score, you clear the round and move on to the next round, where the passing score is higher.
Between rounds, you're given opportunities to improve your dice. You can get more dice, buy cards for special effects, wear rings that improve rolls, get stamps that multiply certain numbers, etc. Then, every seventh round you find a boss that tests how well you've built your deck of cards—er, I mean, your bag of dice.
In theory, that sounds a lot like Balatro. But Dice a Million has a serious balance problem. Difficulty ramps up exponentially and often unexpectedly, so much so that some bosses feel straight up unfair. Sometimes I can score millions of points, sometimes I can barely clear the first levels. It's hard to feel in control.
If you like Balatro, Dice a Million will scratch that itch, but wait until it's on sale to buy it.