The best games for laptops

We’re still helplessly obsessed with Balatro, and that’s in no small part due to how easy it is to play on every platform it’s on. Laptops in particular make taking this hit poker roguelike anywhere for a few hands. The basic idea is to make traditional poker hands — pairs, straights, flushes, etc. — which are then given chip values and multipliers. You need to earn a set number of chips to beat each round in a given number of hands to move on and earn money to buy Jokers. Jokers are what add the roguelike elements by altering the value of different cards or hands to change what type of hands you want to go for. It’s turn-based, round-based, and easy to pick up and play. Just try not to let it consume you too much.

This will be the last roguelike on the list, but we couldn’t leave off the final version of the game that reinvented the genre for the modern era. The Binding of Isaac: Repentance represents over a decade of iteration and support for not only one of the first roguelikes to hit it big but one of the first indies as well. Its first form was a flash game that controlled only using the keyboard, and that remains up into the latest version. All you need is your four directional movement and attack buttons, plus another few for abilities and items. Speaking of items and abilities, there are thousands of them in this version that all interact with each other to ensure no two runs are ever the same, though it can be a little frustrating not knowing if an item will end up being terrible until you pick it up and find out.