Blackjack Roulette Review (PC)

I’ve pulled the joker into a battle of the wits. Armed with a revolver, two eights, an ace, and a wildcard, I can sense that we’re edging closer towards the final stretch, and that it’s all or nothing. There’s one final move that I can make—to draw another card from the deck, or to shuffle the bullets in the chamber to boost my odds of firing a blank. There is no going back, and there are no second chances. If I pull a four, then I might just survive long enough to see the other side of the execution chamber. But if I withdraw a five, or if the joker pulls a reverse card that fabricates the rules, then it’s game over. A life is on the line, and I’m slowly beginning to realize that it’s mine that’s on the brink of succumbing to the bitter taste of a weighty revolver.

If this was just an ordinary game of blackjack, then I’d have no issue with pulling a fifth card. I’d be out of my pocket, true, but I’d also be in with a chance to earn some of it back in the next round. But in Blackjack Roulette, there are no second chances to lean on, and there are no penalties for bad decisions. There is only one drastic consequence: a bullet to the temple. Heck, it doesn’t even matter if you have a good hand or a trick up your sleeve, either, because it there’s one thing that I’ve come to learn from Blackjack Roulette, it’s that there are no winners — only losers who can prolong an inevitable outcome long enough just to get the final laugh.

While blackjack isn’t a traditionally difficult game by any standard, Blackjack Roulette does make it so that the conventional practice is a lot tougher to wrap your head around. For instance, rather than simply finding twenty one and relying on dumb luck to prosper, the game forces you to seek out alternate paths to usher the game towards its dismal conclusion. Due to it fostering a plethora of trump cards—mid-match perks or game-changing curveballs that can either elevate your performance or put the proverbial spanner in the works, to be more precise—no game is ever as simple as barking “hit me” or “I’ll stay” until all cards have been revealed. No, because if it was just that, then it wouldn’t be a blood sport with bitter rules; it would be a laid-back game of blackjack, nothing more, nothing less. And nobody wants that.

Thankfully, the aim of the game remains the same: get as close to twenty one as possible, whether it’s by pulling more cards, or keeping to the existing hand in the hopes that your opponent has a lower number at the end of the round. The catch, however, is that each player has the opportunity to develop their own rules and alienate their rival, either through wildcards—items that allow for fewer bullets to be placed in the chamber, or even for players to peek at another deck and analyze their opponent’s cards, for example—or through good old-fashioned double bluffing. Either way you cut it, the goal is simple: try not to die when the revolver finally turns to you to squeeze the trigger.

Although the concept itself doesn’t leave too much to the imagination, Blackjack Roulette does leave a good amount of creative space to allow you to tailor each session with a solid variety of random trump cards and distinct enemy types, as well as tough boss battles that foster their own unique play styles, strengths and weaknesses. There might not be a huge roster of folks to battle against—a handful of characters and that all-important Joker boss fight, of course. However, where Blackjack Roulette fails to deliver a meaty campaign with a ton of twists and turns, it does make up for with a secondary 1v1 multiplayer mode. The same rules apply, for sure, but its inclusion of a PvP option does make it so that players have a little more to venture back to once the final card has been pulled from the Joker’s deck. It has replay value, is what I’m saying — and that’s good.

Thanks to both blackjack and roulette being incredibly easy games to learn on the fly, you don’t need to arm yourself with a wealth of knowledge to understand most of the basics that make up Blackjack Roulette. All in all it’s an easy game to slip into and play on a whim. Again, it might not have the same amount of depth as other PvP games that feature various modes, arenas, and customization tools and what have you. That being said, it’s a means to an end—a quick and efficient way to curb your boredom for twenty or thirty minutes between strenuous activities and loftier RPGs. Honestly, that’s worth the price alone. It might not be the best PvP roulette game on the market, but it ought to provide you with enough ammunition to keep your finger on the trigger.

Verdict

Blackjack Roulette is the bullet to the heart that you want it to be. It’s quick, competitive, and above all, an incredibly easy way to replenish your dopamine levels for whenever you’re feeling the urge for something lightweight and accessible. It might not boast the best gameplay facets in the world, but with a good amount of characters and boss battles, as well as a personal 1v1 multiplayer mode to keep your itchy trigger finger happy, you might just find that there’s enough here to keep you mulling over the deck of cards for hours.

Let’s put it this way. If you’re growing weary of the same old blackjack experience and want something with a little more bite than bark, then you should consider putting your money (or your life) where your mouth is in Blackjack Roulette. Heck, you might just find that there’s a lot more to gain when there’s a revolver resting against your forehead.