Developer: TrampolineTales
Publisher: TrampolineTales, FanGamer
Platform: Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Android, iOS
Tested on: Switch
Luck be a Landlord – Review
When we first read Luck be a Landlord’s title, our mind immediately went to the classic tune from Guys and Dolls, but the game itself had nothing to do with Marlon Brando singing. Instead, we found a deck-building slot machine game about paying rent, which is a combination of words we didn’t ever expect to write. Should we consider ourselves lucky to have played Luck be a Landlord or did we want to evict it from our Switch library as quickly as possible?
Story
Welcome to your new apartment! It has all the amenities you’d ever want, like a customizable slot machine, which you can use to earn money and pay your rent. That’s the gist of Luck be a Landlord’s story. Every month you get an email from your landlord, informing you just how much rent you owe him. Over the course of 12 months, you’ll need to earn more and more money in order to afford the place, by strategically playing the slot machine. If you can’t make it, you’re kicked out. There’s also a shady organization committed to helping you out, but Luck be a Landlord doesn’t really expand on that part of the plot as far as we could tell.
Graphics
While Luck be a Landlord is ostensibly a game about paying rent, the only things you actually get to see are the screens and menus of the slot machine and the emails you get from your landlord and the shady organization. You never get to see anything apart from what we assume is your computer screen, not even the apartment itself. As such, the visuals are very simple, with the symbols of the slot machine being represented by simple pixel art. Those symbols are essential to Luck be a Landlord, as you’ll need to be able to tell them apart at a glance. The game does succeed in this, because despite how crude the visuals are, it’s clear what they represent. The game’s frame rate is buttery smooth too, posing no issues whatsoever.
Sound
Accompanying you on your rent-paying gambling sessions are the kind of sounds that you’d expect from real-life slot machines as well as a catchy soundtrack. The audio of the game isn’t essential for the experience though, and at certain points, we turned the sound off so we could listen to something else whilst playing the game.
Gameplay
From the story to the visuals, to yes, even the gameplay, everything about Luck be a Landlord is kept as simple as possible. Admittedly, in the case of the gameplay, that simplicity is deceptive. The core idea is that you’re playing a slot machine, and are aiming to earn enough money to make it to the next month, with your target increasing every month. The slot machine itself is highly customizable, and after every spin, you’re supposed to choose a slot symbol to add to the machine. You’re supposed to strategically pick and mix specific symbols so that you can build profitable combinations, but this does require some luck as the symbols are randomized with each run and come in different rarity tiers.
Fortunately, the game isn’t just very accessible, but it’s also fast-paced, meaning a bad run is just as quickly forgotten as a new one is started. After a couple of attempts, you’ll start to figure out viable strategies. Focusing on a specific theme, like miners, ore, and gemstones, provides for good mid-game profits, whereas a rare symbol like a beastmaster works particularly well if you have lots of animal symbols in your slot machine. Of course, the more symbols you pick up throughout the game, the smaller the odds of rolling specific symbols become. There are different ways to destroy unwanted symbols, but utilizing these does mean even more strategizing. In addition to the symbols, you’re also able to pick items that add specific buffs to further optimize your strategies. Some of those items are one-time-use, while others add passive, persistent buffs. We found that these can make or break a game. Without getting too deep into strategies, our first successful run involved both the Deal with the Devil and the Swapping Device. Deal with the Devil allowed us to skip paying rent for a month in exchange for having useless item icons for several turns, and the Swapping Device allowed us to reposition two icons every turn.
After completing that first run, we gained access to a second difficulty level as well as an endless mode, and were also able to see the in-game achievements list. We had already completed several achievements just by playing the game, but seeing which ones were left already had us itching to give Luck be a Landlord another go. And that’s the thing about the game: the overall simplicity and accessibility make it easy to keep playing, although we’d hesitate to call it truly addictive. In fact, we were surprised to learn that Luck be a Landlord received an 18+ rating for offering simulated gambling and supposedly being addictive, even if it is very light-hearted and things are handled in a tongue-in-cheek way. This isn’t a game that is going to completely sink its claws in you and try to drain your wallet with microtransactions. Picking up Luck be a Landlord requires a one-time purchase of €14.99, which we feel is fair. The main difference here is that unlike with real slot machines, there is actual strategy involved, and the supposed addictiveness comes from the game’s deck-building aspect and not the riches you’re being teased with. Still, this is a game that’s easy enough to walk away from, so don’t let that age rating fool you into thinking that this is a gateway to real gambling. It’s ultimately too forgettable for that.
Conclusion
Behind the deceptively simple first appearance of Luck be a Landlord, you’ll find a surprisingly competent deck-building game. The game has a high degree of accessibility, but there are various complex strategies that you’ll need to master if you’re going to make it to the end of the year. And yes, you’ll also need some luck, as indicated by the game’s title. While we wouldn’t go as far as to declare this one a must-have title, it’s definitely enjoyable for at least a couple of hours.
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