This thread just made me buy Balatro.
So I'm 4.7 hours in and just landed my first winning run. Well, I feel the game is like digital crack and had me playing nearly non-stop.
I've never played poker (which was my initial resistance to buy the game), but I do like some deck-building/trading card games. I mainly play smaller indie titles, with the odd competitive online title:
Balatro grabbed me unlike anything else I've played this year, so I can totally get behind it being a GotY nominee. The game is extremely refined and polished at what it is trying to achieve.
Saying it's just a little time waster (aren't all games time wasters?) and math game, feels like it doesn't do the game justice and reduces it to just poker or solitaire. The excitement in rogue-lites come from the meta game of creating powerful synergies through skills and perks, or in the case of Balatro through jokers in combination with planet, tarot, celestial cards as well specific upgraded cards. The eureka moment when you've found something that works, that could likely win your run, or even break the game, is extremely satisfying. Well, the dev totally knocked that aspect out of the park.
The presentation, aesthetic and (the excellent) main theme blend very well and feels like it's sucking me into an occult-like alternative dimension.
I think the negative sentiment comes from it being nominated at the Game Awards, being a small indie title, potentially snubbing this year's major AAA+ hits. This just comes down to different strokes; how much do you value production and content as a means to decide the 'true' GotY. In terms of replayability/time spent and enjoyment I feel that doesn't matter.
All in all, I definitely do no think it's overrated and it being a nominee feels deserved, but I'll say I'm also biased because I love quality indie titles and rogue-lites.