When this game is really humming, it manages to hit a fantastic balance point where the levels are open-ended enough to feel like a tactics game where you're adapting to circumstances rather than a puzzle game where you're finding the One Right Approach, while still having just enough puzzle seasoning to scratch a similar itch as Baba Is You. There are times when it strays too far from this one way or the other (usually in the direction of getting too puzzly and putting me off in the same way Baba always does), but when it hits it hits. The visuals and writing are also extremely charming, particularly the concept that every being in this world has a mech which is just exactly a copy of them at a much larger scale.

idk if Hempuli took pity on us and made an easier game but I'm taking the change quite healthily. It means the strategy for each puzzle is less streamlined and yada yada. They dropped dialogue for Baba and they thought we wouldn't notice (said character has the speech patterns of a Pokémon, who's surprised?). There are also other colored... folks. And a worm. You can freely pick characters sometimes and I wouldn't be surprised if success was possible with every combo. With the worm only existing as "hard mode" because he serves ZERO purpose. Bait to one turn the final boss?? Maybe if he had drip shoes on he'd be cooler idk only speculating.

The game is a crossover no one asked for. It's not a quip I just don't think anyone specifically thought about these two games merged together but the result is quite fun. Mobile Suit Baba is a heck of a name although the game isn't on mobile (yet), clear oversight. Your characters occupy diagonal tiles and they can be easy to misclick so it's handy to have an undo function just for that (you know it does exist for that purpose alone). Havent checked out the other game that crosses-overs with Baba so idk if they just ported that "feature" or maybe I'm just being mean at a game I haven't played, which no one in Backloggd has ever done so I'm very sorry

What a delightful little Holiday gift this was.
My gift to you is that this review will be well under a thousand words because really there is not much to say about Mobile Suit Baba that isn’t quite obvious.

First of all, I love the name. Mobile Suit Baba is brought to you by the creator of the word-pushing puzzle game Baba Is You, starring the same characters from that game and some of its mechanics.
Those unfamiliar, Baba Is You centred around pushing words to create simple sentences that would change the rules of the world. X is Y.
This would allow for many head scratching and chin rubbing moments as you were not just trying to move your character to their goal but changing what the goal was, what its properties may be, what even you are.

Mobile Suit Baba takes these mechanics and characters and places them in a familiar looking place of another Indie standout. Into the Breach.

Into the Breach, for those unfamiliar with that game, is a roguelite strategy game with mechs.
Rather than all out destruction being the mission, the game revolves around protecting cities, outlasting enemy invasions and usually doing so with clever manoeuvring more than death.
A lot of the battles would see your mechs flinging and pushing each other and enemies into advantageous positions and traps, playing keep away or simply some complete misdirection.
A key mechanic was seeing the turn order before you made your moves, this would create much more interesting scenarios than just the one push, and likely cause a chain reaction to create the perfect outcome.

Now simply, think about how both these games work. Take their mechanics and combine them and you have Mobile Suit Baba.
Movement and maps are very much ITB style but turn limits are much more about solving a BIY puzzle than surviving.
Baba and friends are protecting fruits against an evil that as the plot moves on, progresses through the map adding new characters with new mechanics along the way.
The game is a decent size, there are 43 stages in all and most of them allow a decent amount of creativity in getting your solution, even in some cases picking which line up of mechs you want to bring.

The story is fairly basic, silly, fun but the writing is decent and it never really interferes if you’re not interested.

All in, an easier and less stressful time than either BIY or ITB but probably the better for it.
The only real difficulty and perhaps frustration is that there are no hints, this is most likely down to their not typically being one way to solve a puzzle but with the fairly limited branches in stages it does mean if you’re stuck you’ve got little else to do.
Occasionally some death situations are not explained and although the game does involve trial and error, the second of cheapness can hinder what is otherwise a very smooth ride.

Mobile Suit Baba is definitely worth playing, it’s pay what you want and whilst I downloaded it for nothing I gave money afterwards because it had definitely earned it.
It’s good, it’s a clever mash-up of two games that ends up not being quite as good as either but I am certain Hempuli is more than aware of that and it is nice to just see a dev make a game, show their inspiration clearly and exclaim their love for another modern classic.