CloverPit Review | Luck Be an Elusive Lady
I’ve never been one for gambling. If I ever play a game with some kind of gambling element involved, I don’t take many risks. But there’s something about CloverPit from Panik Arcade and Future Friends Games that brings something out of me. I take all the risks. I make terrible choices. And, I keep going back.
CloverPit is a rogue-lit slot machine game where you play as a person trapped in a small room and forced to gamble in order to try and survive falling into a terrifying pit. You’re trapped with a slot machine and ATM and must pay off your debt at the end of each round. You only have three goes at the slot machine and if you can’t pay off that debt…well, down the pit you go.
The game is pretty simple at first. There’s not much strategizing that you can do until you’ve unlocked more items, but the main thing is to use your coins wisely. Each round you’ll be told how much you owe and you’ll have to insert that many coins into the ATM at the end of three turns. Of course, it costs a bit of money to use the slot machine itself and, depending on your luck, you may not even be able to get back what you spent on your spins. But, if things go as planned, each turn of the machine will give you coins and you can pay off your debt, moving along to the next round.
Just like a regular slot machine, your goal is to get matches of symbols in rows, columns or diagonals. The more you match, the higher your score will be and the more coins you’ll be rewarded. Each symbol has their own value (these values are shown on a poster on the wall of your cell) and there are ways to try and manipulate the higher value symbols from appearing more often.
Each time you finish a turn, a ticket will be dispensed from the atm which allows you to purchase charms. Charms can be used to manipulate your slot machine. For example, a charm may increase the chance of cherries showing up on the slot machine. Other charms may increase your luck or increase the value of symbols. The more you play the more you’ll learn which charms work well together to maximize your score. Additionally, each round that you survive, a phone will ring allowing you to choose between three upgrades that can widely change your outcome depending on what you choose.
Since the release of Balatro last year, we’ve seen a lot of games similar to CloverPit that have tried to perfect a similar formula. And while Balatro is still incredibly unique, CloverPit does come close in comparison. The amount of ways that you can synchronize charms in order to reach a high score is pretty genius. And there’s many secrets waiting to be discovered that I haven’t mentioned here. And because this isn’t the kind of game that you just “finish,” I’m sure there’s more I haven’t even discovered yet.
Breakdown
Game: CloverPit
Developer: Panik Arcade
Publisher: Future Friends Games
Availability: PC
Reviewed on PC via Steam Deck
Final Thoughts
There’s a reason that games like Balatro and Buckshot Roulette have inspired dozens upon dozens of similar titles - they’re incredibly fun and keep you coming back again and again. And while others have failed to match these titles, CloverPit comes very close. The random chance luck adds even more fun to the mix and the amount of strategy you must use makes things brilliantly unique. Things can be a bit slow moving at first, and you may start to lose hope of ever paying off all those deadlines, but those who persevere will find themselves becoming the master of the slot machine.