After waking in a blood splattered prison cell, you’re presented with a slot machine and informed that to earn your freedom you’ll need to win big, reaching increasingly exorbitant debt deadlines to survive. That’s the premise for CloverPit, a new gambling themed escape room roguelike influenced by Vampire Survivors just as much as the poker based Balatro.
CloverPit is able to hook instantly due to its easily understandable concept. You spin the reels, cross your fingers for a big pay-out, and then deposit said winnings into an ATM – which also doles interest. This formula doesn’t change from start to finish. However, debt soon become so high that the deadlines appear to be unobtainable. This is where manipulating the reels, ergo the roguelike elements, come into play, forming the ‘meat’ of the experience.
It’s also worth noting grimy the low-poly PS1 aesthetic, which contrasts well with the light horror themes, such as being plunged into the titular pit after failing to cough up enough cash.
Reel manipulation works a little differently from the similar slot machine roguelike Luck Be A Landlord, as you aren’t switching or introducing new reel symbols, but rather altering the pay-out values and spawn rates of existing ones. This is achieved by purchasing ‘lucky charms’ – with a small re-rollable selection always available. Charms may increase luck, double spawn rates, boost multipliers for certain symbols, or expand shelf space, and each requires Clover Tickets to purchase. One early trick to latch onto is that paying a debt early grants a repayment bonus, seeing extra Clover Tickets come your way.
On top of this, a red phone rings between deadlines, in which a mysterious caller provides three perks. They might offer to make symbols appear more frequently, apply positive traits, or double a value of a symbol for a round. Occasionally they will offer to double your current coin or Clover Ticket stash too, so there is a (admittedly small) incentive not to cash them in instantly. You will eventually learn however that the caller cannot always be trusted, as indicated by light environmental storytelling. Other distractions within the cell are limited to simply using a filth-encrusted toilet. How’s that for realism?
After failing to hit deadlines countless times over, new ‘lucky charms’ unlock and increase the available pool. This means that after a couple of hours of play you’re able to formulate strategies to win big, picking a couple of charms that impact certain symbols, along with a multiplier or two. Draw spaces also unlock, allowing surplus charms to be stashed away until when they’re needed. To reach the ending (with both good and bad examples to discover) you’re going to need to fail dozens upon dozens of times to unlock the rarer charms, meaning that nobody going straight into CloverPit is going to emerge victorious in the space of an hour. You’ll need to endure countless trips into the pit before that moment of glorious victory comes.
It’s a good thing, then, that CloverPit is just as addictive as Balatro, Vampire Survivors – which also featured slot machine style mechanics – and the recent Ball x Pit. It forces you to formulate strategies that pay-out big, making every charm count while trying to figure which are worth investing in. From hitting a winning streak and having enough cash to pay off debts early, to barely reaching the next deadline, it knows how to keep you coming back for more. In the end, the only major downfall is one that comes with the premise – you’re going to need luck as well as solid strategies to survive.
Future Friends Games’ CloverPit is out now on Xbox One and Xbox Series. A PC version launched earlier this year. Published by Panik Arcade.