The Shadow Realm, Balatro, and The Insidious Double Standards of Microtransactions

Welcome to “Siliconera Speaks Up,” our newsletter for the site! This’ll be a summary of the past week’s anime or gaming news, a little reminder of things to come, and our insight on what games you should pick up next. Without further ado, let’s get into it!

Speak Up Sesh

Exactly a year ago, in 2024, a little game called Balatro hit the world, pulling millions of players into the metaphorical Shadow Realm where they literally could not stop playing this game. Though it looks and sounds complicated, the roguelike poker-themed card game is surprisingly easy to get into, and was well-received by both fans and critics alike. It even received a nomination for the Game of the Year in 2024. Pretty crazy for a solo developer from Saskatchewan, especially when you consider the other nominees included games like Black Myth: Wukong, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and Metaphor: ReFantazio.

Granted, one of the other games in that nominee list was a DLC…

Recently, Too Kyo Games released its demo for The Hundred Line - Last Defense Academy - and as someone who played it, I urge everyone who likes visual novels or SRPGs (or both) to give it a try. It’s surprisingly good—a sentiment that a lot of other people echoes if the reviews and comments at Kodaka are any indication. I’m not quite sure what I was expecting, which is where my surprise came from, but it pulled me in a lot quicker than Rain Code and even the first two Danganronpa games did.

Tribe Nine from the same studio also came out, and it’s a F2P gacha game. Though I’ve gotten it in my library, it seems that a lot of the complaints about it stem around the absolute stinginess of the gacha. Since I haven’t gotten a good look at it yet myself, I can’t personally attest to how F2P friendly it is, but it’s hard to write off this many negative comments as just “non-gacha players complaining about how gacha works.” On the bright side, though, most people seem to agree that the story is good, so that’s great, I guess?

Considering Too Kyo Games went into debt to develop The Hundred Line, this could be a good way for people who like the studio to offer some financial support. But it being gacha can understandably leave a bad feeling in players’ mouths. Hopefully, more updates down the line will fix this issue and make it easier for those who can’t or don’t want to open their wallets.

RNG lootboxes (gacha) and microtransactions are kind of everywhere. Even as someone who openly plays gacha games and whales in them, it’s insidious how people complaining about this practice are yelled at when it really is quite the predatory practice, especially in F2P games that have a low threshold of entry. Yes, F2P games require gacha to survive since they’re not earning money any other way. But it’s funny how PEGI slapped Balatro with an 18+ rating because the poker theme was too reminiscent of gambling…yet is perfectly fine with actual gambling in games that feature lootboxes.

I remember how angry people were when companies like EA introduced microtransactions via the Sims 3 store, and now people are dropping $$$ on Sims 4 packs that only contain a fraction of an expansion from 2 and 3. The desensitization occurs so slowly that it really takes something like a PEGI-Balatro incident for some people to go, “Hey, wait, this is really messed up.” when it’s been messed up for a long while now.

Top 10 Stories From the Past Week

1. Next Sanrio Hatsune Miku Figure Pairs Her With Kuromi - They both have a matching rose theme!

2. Hello Kitty Boba Variety Pack Appears in Costco Nationwide - Boba in cans? Hopefully they’re the smaller kind to make them easier to drink.

3. See Fire Emblem: Three Houses Byleth, Dorothea, Hilda Figures - To be clear, we’re talking about F!Byleth here.

4. See the Yakuza Kiryu, Kasuga, and Majima Nendoroids - Majima won’t come with a pirate hat.

5. What is the Best Strategy Game or Strategy RPG? - Does anyone else differentiate between SRPGs and TRPGs?

6. Review: The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II Struggles to Move Forward - Note that the review contains story spoilers!

7. Jiangshi Hatsune Miku Figure Is Lurking About - The nails in the hair buns are a fun aesthetic choice.

8. Best NieR Automata Figures You Can Buy in 2025 - The 9S chibi figure with the stars in his hair is SO cute.

9. Phoenix and Edgeworth Get Big Shoulders in Ace Attorney Merchandise - Dem ol’ yaoi shoulders.

10. My Nintendo Gold Points Program Ending - To be honest, I never really earned enough in the amount of time needed to use them, but it’s still kind of a shame.

Upcoming Releases

• Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii - PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PC (February 21)

• Yu-Gi-Oh Early Days - Switch, PC (February 27)

• Danmachi Fulland of Water and Light - Switch, PC (February 27)

• Monster Hunter Wilds - PS5, Xbox Series X, PC (February 28)