Cities Skylines meets Balatro in the absorbing roguelike city builder Combolands
Combolands, a new roguelike city builder from Crux Games, successfully blends the best mechanics from two beloved games: the roguelike structure and combo chains of Balatro and the strategic adjacency-bonus gameplay of Cities: Skylines.
While many developers have attempted to capitalize on Balatro’s phenomenal success, Combolands distinguishes itself by thoughtfully combining proven game design rather than simply imitating Balatro’s formula. The game transforms the adjacency bonuses that are central to traditional city builders into captivating combo chains, creating a gameplay experience that rewards strategic placement and forward-thinking.
The core mechanic encourages players to stack production and resource bonuses through careful city layout, reminiscent of games like Civilization 7. However, Combolands recontextualizes this familiar system through Balatro’s roguelike lens, adding layers of replayability and strategic depth. Each run presents new challenges and opportunities to discover powerful combinations, keeping the gameplay fresh across multiple playthroughs.
Based on the available demo, Combolands appears to have found a compelling sweet spot between the two genres. It avoids common pitfalls that plague other indie games chasing Balatro’s success, instead creating something wholly unique and absorbing. The synthesis of city-building strategy with roguelike deck-building sensibilities creates a distinctly satisfying gameplay loop.