The Outlast Trials
The Outlast Trials
Game
Game2025
This Ain’t Even Poker, Ya Joker
Developer Mash
A unique incremental idle clicker where you flip cards to earn money, grow your hand, buy new decks, unlock powerful upgrades, discover new cards, and more. Can you defeat the Jester and escape the carnival? From the Steam store page
274 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky) · newest Oct 30, 2026 · last updated Nov 4, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
73
Fresh
189 positive · 70 negative
95% range 67–78%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 189 | 70 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 2 | 2 | 11 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
768 of 925 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
73% recommend · 185 yes, 67 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 252 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (1,660 of 1,935 positive).
Players describe it as a short, fun incremental game blending card mechanics with idle progression. [1][2][3] Many note the game has limited content, with most finishing in under 10 hours and little replay value. [4][5][6] Some reviewers criticize misleading screenshots and a shallow upgrade tree. [7][8]
Liked
Representative posts
- [7]
I want to like the game but unfortunately it just feels like an initial idea on not much more. There are many potentially progression ideas mashed together and as a total amalgamation they do not make much sense. Some of the screenshots for the game are also not representative of the final gameplay (in particular the upgrade tree), meaning the game is misselling itself as having more depth than it actually does, two …
- [1]
A fun incremental that I recommend for its intro cost with the knowledge you'll probably be finished within 5 hours unless you want to min/max it. I think its also very important there is false advertising occurring with the skill tree in the game pictures. It is not that in-depth and you largely end up done with the skill tree bar one skill relatively quickly. I'm hopeful they might expand it, but currently a fun 5 …
- [2]
if you like idle, incremental games i 100% recommend this game. the game has an ascension system. the pace of the game picks up after you ascend. you can add and remove cards to the deck so you get betters hands down the line. later there is a joker shop so u can build more around your deck and combos (like balatro). and there is still more stuff i haven't unlocked in the ascension system. edit: game is around 7-8 …
- [3]
Good (not perfect) mix between Balatro and Cookie Clicker Short and easy to 100% it, the main difference is that you don't need to spend a whole lifetime to complete it so that makes it more enjoyable. The main con I struggled with is the fact that (at least in my experience) there's no way to know how the card's damage is calculated, otherwise the game looks great, runs almost perfectly on my device and it makes …
- [4]
Recommended! BUT this is NOT a gambling roguelite I was literally the Joker for thinking this was a gambling roguelite, but it actually turned out to be an idle game. But honestly, I don’t mind, it’s still pretty fun and got me hooked The downside is that the further you go, the less replay value it has. Everything just repeats itself, there’s nothing new to unlock, and at that point it’s just numbers scaling up. …
Summarised from 34 of the 268 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 11, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
73% of the 252 Steam reviewers we collected recommend This Ain’t Even Poker, Ya Joker. The complaint that keeps coming up: very short, with limited content and replayability. Deal-breaker or nitpick?
Reactions
60 of 274 · most liked firstIf you liked Balatro, then it doesn't matter, because it's completely different game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I want to like the game but unfortunately it just feels like an initial idea on not much more. There are many potentially progression ideas mashed together and as a total amalgamation they do not make much sense. Some of the screenshots for the game are also not representative of the final gameplay (in particular the upgrade tree), meaning the game is misselling itself as having more depth than it actually does, two hour game tops.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A fun incremental that I recommend for its intro cost with the knowledge you'll probably be finished within 5 hours unless you want to min/max it. I think its also very important there is false advertising occurring with the skill tree in the game pictures. It is not that in-depth and you largely end up done with the skill tree bar one skill relatively quickly. I'm hopeful they might expand it, but currently a fun 5 hour time sink priced accodingly and then you'l llikely forget this game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Bought it for poker. There’s no poker. There’s only chaos. I don’t understand the rules. The rules don’t understand me. Help. Ya Joker.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A bit short in my opinion, which is alright-not every game needs to last 200 hours. But the last segment of the game feels completely disjointed from the majority of the rest of what you've been building for the entire game so far. I thought it was leading into a new area of incremental growth, but it just... ends.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I find it hard to review clicker/idle games because they really dig their claws into me, even if I'm not particularly loving them. If i had to describe this game in one - albeit uncharitable - word, it would be dopamineslop. I finished the game in a single sitting in a glazey eyed haze but I think there's a lot of design decisions that could be better It's a fun concept, and I do like an incremental game with a short run time instead of something that asks months of my time, however some of…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →its fun but its only about 3 hours or so long and the "endgame" isnt exactly engaging. If you think about melvor or NGU that constantly add content over time and after playing for weeks sometimes youre still unlocking new things to do. That is not the case here. You'll see everything the game has to offer before the refund window ends. Most importantly to me there isnt even the possiblilty of more content later as its been 3 months of radio silence as far as updates go. Kind of a shame because…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not a lot of content. Got 100% Achievements in under 4 hours and didn't rush through the game. Not for the average player wanting to play a long incremental game, fun to 100% though as it is quick. Probably not worth it for most people unless on sale, and even then maybe not, there are many more incremental games for heaper that are longer lasting.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →haven't played too many idlers but the gameplay seemed shallow and like the ascension loop wasn't well balanced. only had to ascend like 3 or 4 times before I had everything I needed to beat jester easy.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →✓ Idle Game with a Final Boss: A 5-Hour Timer. ✓ Most idle games go forever. This one has a definite endpoint. You play, ascend, and build up for about 5 hours. Then, BAM a complete reset, and the real challenge begins: a timed speedrun from scratch. It’s a fulfilling, short-burst idle experience with a novel goal. Well worth the five bucks. Really hope the devs build on this solid foundation with updates.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Let's Go Gambling!...aw dang it. Humble Game Bundle: bit.ly/4p4Ccve Cumulative all-time low: $34.82 $12 for 8 games (includes lower tier) - Dicey Dungeons - Dicealot - Pip My Dice $7 for 5 games - This Ain't Even Poker, Ya Joker - SuperTaxCity - Dice of Kalma - Explosive Odds - Treasure Tiger
neutral · AI labelView post →It's not quite there. The screenshots don't match the game in its current state (there aren't that many nodes on the passive tree). The ascension bonuses are good in the first half then really bad in the second half, so the gameplay starts to fall off a cliff after about 3 hours. It's fun for those first three hours, though! And the price is alright for what you get, especially if the dev puts a little more into the balance and progression.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Starts way too slow IMO, until you reach the first billion, then it absolutely explodes with two different tech trees, and it suddenly becomes a roguelike where you restart your runs for chips, then trade those chips for different bonuses, which let you start much faster and have more quirks and stuff. You start struggling to make that first billion, then the further you get you blink and you make a billion a second. Wish there was a mixed review option though, whereas Balatro's sound effects…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This most certainly is not poker but pure dopamine insanity, between the coins flying, the lights flashing, the card hunting and exploding, the NEED TO GET A BIG BIG HAND. It's all just so glorious for less than a cheeseburger. 10/10 would hang out with Lester the Jester all day.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is an incremental game with a whiff of Balatro in it. You start with a few 52 card decks, change their cards, upgrade hands, and then see how far you can push your score before a prestige style reset to do it again with even more bonuses. The unfortunate thing about this game is that it has a good core idea. Manipulating 52 card decks to give you better hands is kind of fun. Problem is that this game moves way too fast, gives you way too much money, and doesn't reward build variety at…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →if you like idle, incremental games i 100% recommend this game. the game has an ascension system. the pace of the game picks up after you ascend. you can add and remove cards to the deck so you get betters hands down the line. later there is a joker shop so u can build more around your deck and combos (like balatro). and there is still more stuff i haven't unlocked in the ascension system. edit: game is around 7-8 hours for full completion. the game is structured in 3 sections, i found them…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hey, for the price... it gets the job done. No, you wont be putting in hundreds of hours. You see it all after about 8-12 hours (some even faster Ive seen) But for the price, its worth it. A fun game similar to cookie clicker mixed with Balatro. I quite enjoyed it! 100 percented it in about 12 hours.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Recommended! BUT this is NOT a gambling roguelite I was literally the Joker for thinking this was a gambling roguelite, but it actually turned out to be an idle game. But honestly, I don’t mind, it’s still pretty fun and got me hooked The downside is that the further you go, the less replay value it has. Everything just repeats itself, there’s nothing new to unlock, and at that point it’s just numbers scaling up. But based on my personal experience, I think the current price is fair Also,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Didn’t expect much, there’s always something to do! (....but those Egyptian symbols in late game confused the hell out of me) But the game was lit fire
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This Ain’t Even Poker, Ya Joker is a refreshingly original incremental game that cleverly blends card mechanics with progression and mystery. Flipping cards to earn money feels immediately satisfying, and the constant sense of growth, expanding your hand, buying new decks, and unlocking powerful upgrades, keeps the loop engaging. What really sets the game apart is its atmosphere: the carnival theme, strange cards, and the looming presence of the Joker create a surreal and slightly unsettling…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This Ain’t Even Poker, Ya Joker does not have a fishing minigame :(( #thisaintevenpokeryajoker #indiegame #gaming #videogames #fishing #fishingminigame
negative · AI labelView post →Game itself is alright just loses how fun it is very quickly, scaling doesn't seem to be too good even when taking full houses of cards out of each deck. If you're bored and want something to play cheap for an hour or two its worth it but apart from that i'd just leave it
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great visuals, addicting gameplay like a solid incremental game, only con is the one and only background tone, gets annoying with time. Solid price.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Wasn't the typical idle game I'd usually play, but its pretty well made. I wish it wasn't the one single song though.... Had to mute for my sanity.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →100% completion took just under seven hours, playing at a moderate pace. There have been no updates since a few days after release, but the game is in a good enough state to play. I tried to play on Deck at first but there are just too many small buttons to press and shift/ctrl + click are necessary to upgrade quickly. Other than that it would be a great game on Deck. Upon game completion, many upgrades are left unpurchased and seems that it would take at least twice as much time to purchase…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →there is not enough content to justify the price imo given how many free games of this type offer 100 times more content. After beating the boss there is nothing other than a time trial, no new bosses no need to buy all the upgrades on the attacks, no "oh that wasn't really me but a clone or something" and offer like most clicker games would many many more opponents with increasing strength.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is fun. If you like these types of games, you will enjoy it, for about 6 hours. That's it, don't buy it. And here's why. -The dev for this game has POOFED, no updates, no patches, no communication for many months. -The games pace is terrible. At first, it was OK, but then after unlocking the second skill tree, everything is just bad. Upon unlocking the THIRD skill tree, it got me thinking that there was more to the game than i imagined, and then it was over before i even filled…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good (not perfect) mix between Balatro and Cookie Clicker Short and easy to 100% it, the main difference is that you don't need to spend a whole lifetime to complete it so that makes it more enjoyable. The main con I struggled with is the fact that (at least in my experience) there's no way to know how the card's damage is calculated, otherwise the game looks great, runs almost perfectly on my device and it makes you want to stay and progress. I just had to idle it once to farm a lot of runes…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very short game and low replayability within game. You get ascensions, but doing them 3 times is all you need: 1 to see how it works first time, 2nd to collect 240 chips,3rd to come up with strategy that is easy to do from scratch. Upgrades in ascension are meaningless for the most part: you can easily get them so reading what they do is not required. Game doesnt feel balanced. In early game <3 Rare joker that gives x60 multiplier will outplay most of legendairies and epics. Rune upgrades…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →>Trapped in table with Jester >Play Poker with Jester >Jester keeps moving goalposts to keep me in for longer >Beat Jester at own game >Jester lets me leave ... >Decide to stay a while longer
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Even for 6 dollars this game is a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, shallow experience. Completely carried by the art. Don't waste your time.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What a nice game, but bro, give me more !!!! 5€ is very low price but the game is very high quality You will need about 5hours to beat it and after that, it's become a speedrun game (optionnal)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun theme but very quickly loses it's welcome. There's no real thought or theme about building your deck or skill trees. It needs hotkeys or automation for upgrades and a better initial prestige system. Too many clicking into other menus to do something and just not fun.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A really good Idle game, for the most part. The games difficulty ramps up considerably after your first ascension but is pretty easy before that. The biggest downside is the upgrade trees are quite sparse so I don't think there is much replayability here in it's current state, but we shall see with updates in the future
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was expecting something more from this game, but it got repetitive real fast. The game basically has no strategy other than picking new available upgrades without even reading them and adding new cards to the deck. The music got so annoying really fast, so I had to turn it off. After getting to the 1 billion coins, you need to start over again with a few new upgrades, runes and jokers. The boss battle could happen right after getting 1 billion, but the "gameplay" had to be stretched even…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →this game is a waste of time even for an incremental game. literally just slop since you just get an upgrade then do nothing for the next hour since the game isn't properly balanced. same with near endgame when you just get 1 upgrade and win in the next 4 minutes. but the game does look nice visually i'll give it that
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun proof of concept. Would recommend except for one huge issue: there is ZERO incentive to seek upgrades. I beat the game after about 4 resets. I beat Lester on the same reset that I unlocked Runes. Here's the issue: the "Common Enemy" Joker is simply too powerful. 100x multiplier on Common cars just means you should never actually get new upgrades. I beat the game skipping the additional unlocks. On top of this, the Streaker Legendary is genuinely broken as well. Again, all this encouraged…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It was fun, but I thought there would be more than 10 hours of content. By the end I had 10 cards, all Mystic / Relic rarity, which all had the best suit (Swords) on them, all cards covering 10+ values, and mostly all joker slots with x1000 score if all cards are above common. Every deck auto-rolling 7 of a kind, or 7 card straight flush, one after another. 10 decks at a time. It's an idle game at its core, with shallow systems and no automation of resets, making it tedious to reset for…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Numbers go up, screen flashing everywhere. Three acts with pretty linear progression curves (even if the second act drags a bit) and rather compact, straightforward upgrade trees and that's it. Maybe a bit short for a clicker but it offers a complete, quick and mostly satisfying experience.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TL;DR: Game is fun, but late game there is so much unintuitive complexity that the game loses all meaning. This is really a side-ways thumbs review. This game is hella addictive and good, but it's also a clear example of extra complexity for the sake of complexity is not always helpful. Here is sort of the way the design felt like. Alright so poker is easy to understand, how do we extend it? Lets add more cards to your hands so you can get 7 card straights. What if we added…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is a perfect example of why a sideways thumb would be a good rating option. At its core, it's a clicker game. But the poker element does make it addictive - personally I found that initial loop better than Balatro. However... Once you prestiege a couple times, you've seen it all. At that point, the upgrades take a wild left turn and start replacing suits with new, random symbols. Why have hearts when you can have a suit of copyright symbols? It's just an odd choice to build up…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fantastic concept, but game so short it's really just a demo. I think i beat it within 2 hours, 2 hit killshot the boss to GG Id recommend avoiding until Dev expands the game. Id recommend to the dev that he makes it into like a RPG, instead of just the 1 boss do multiple enemies and make the final boss fight bigger & longer. This game is worth no more than $2 imo. 2/5 Stars
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a wonderful, short, semi-active idle game. Highly recommended.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good, but kinda hollow. Its like a 1/100th cookie clicker, but for cards. Number go up feel good, very good but it runs outta steam pretty fast Also, please for the love of god. The upgrade that changes 2-10 into wacky symbols. PLEASE let me toggle that ♥♥♥♥ off. Id rather get low score than have to consult a chart every time I want to see if a card is 2-3 or 2-10. Its incomprehensible and frankly I just dont read it. I think any mechanic where the most sane way to deal with it is to not…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After 20hours of grinding this game for 2 days straight i must say it is very addiciting to neurodivergent adhd'lers that love card games and gambling, would recommend. For me worth the 5bucks
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun, short idler. Easy to complete with nice art and effects, upgrades are pretty simple to understand with a good feeling of progression.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very fun little progression "idler". Not really an idler since you have always something to do. Progression feels rewarding. Totally worth its price.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is great fun. One thing i noticed runing on ultrawide. Cant get to settings from the start. Need to uppgrade Freedom! skill makes you able to zoom and drag the camera. Then the settings is i the upper right corner. I am sure this will be fixed soon. Still played all day long and loved it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →🔥🕹️ #ThisAin'tEvenPoker,YaJoker by Mash | @orointeractive.bsky.social #indiegame #indiegames #videogames #gaming
neutral · AI labelView post →What did you expect? a new version of Balatro?! THIS AIN'T EVEN POKER, YA JOKER! This game is awesome, GORGEOUS visual style, music, presentation, all of it is top notch! I love it, fantastic graphics and the cards and other pixel art look great, some serious love and care was put into this and it shows, I LOVE to see developers go above and beyond when it comes to idle/incremental games! The progression here is not too long, simple, easy to understand, great systems, upgrade paths and more,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I thought that I was better then this, I really thought that I would have a high enough standard then to play an Idle game, apparently not.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Initially when I bought this game, I kind of just thought it was going to be a kind of lazy Balatro style game, but honest the progression of this game was really fun, and I definitely had a ton of fun. My only problem is that it's pretty short for an incremental game. I would love to see some DLC for this game that expands on the concepts.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Overall, the gameplay was okish. Overall the gameplay IS entertaining but the core loop doesn't do much to drag you in and uses a lot of flashy but otherwise cosmetic techniques to make the game feel more polished than the mechanics would suggested. Overall the core gameplay loop gets repetitive fast, it's a sllow moving idle clicker more or less. I can't suggest it at all unles you find it on sale for maybe 2 bucks.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Actually a pretty fun take on the Idle game genre. The middle of the game can be a little grindy between power spikes but overall pretty fun. Does the flashy light make brain go brrrrr.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game and I'm having a lot of fun with it, but I wanted to report a serious issue on Linux. System: Fedora 44 KDE AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT (Mesa RADV) Steam + Proton During approximately 3 hours of gameplay, the game crashed 3 times. In all cases I noticed the issue after Alt-Tabbing between the game and the desktop. After checking system logs, the Linux kernel's OOM killer terminated the game because memory usage became extremely high. The game process reached roughly 25 GB of RAM usage…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A super addictive and fun incremental game. I loved the graphical style and upgrade tree. The game ran well and was a delight throughout.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I turned this game on, and suddenly it was 9 hours later, I'd blown off work, I'd cancelled plans, and was practically gooning with the constant dopamine hits. This game is dangerous in the best way, and so well put together. I cannot recommend it enough.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game is too easy and boring, especially in the later parts of the game. The first 60-90 minutes are the best part when you are still figuring things out but, after that nothing changes and you realize there is no reward for finding out "the best" in anything, the game is extremely linear so the best is just the thing the game gives you. There are no interesting mechanics or builds, you just make things better and roll the time gated shop for jokers with the best multipliers. From mid till the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I can't really be assed writing a proper review for this, it's just genuinely the single worst clicker/idle game I've ever played- and I've played looooooaads of the crappy flash ones over the years. Not worth money, wouldn't play it for free.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I mean, I never played an idle game, it was on sale... It only took nine hours to 100% achievement it.... strategy pretty basic. If you like idle games sure go for it but I don't think I'll be grabbing anther idle game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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