I don't normally play puzzle games since I find them uninteresting, repetitive, and (eventually) too difficult but not in an interesting way (even if it is in an interesting way, typically too difficult to bother with).

This game doesn't struggle with that, though. I've beaten almost the entire game (though you could say I already beat it technically). Each level feels very distinct. The gimmick is extremely unique but also super intuitive and versatile. It is amazing how many different levels the game manages to have without it ever feeling like solutions repeat. Each level almost feels like its own little game, thanks to how much potential the gimmick offers.

The game really understands how much potential the gimmick has. It goes really far with it. And it does get pretty difficult (from pretty early on, honestly), but in a way that doesn't make me feel like I'm completely stuck and the only way I could beat the level is through trial and error or having a very specific mental skill.

So many puzzle games feel like they're just spatial management. No matter how cool their mechanics seem, the puzzles just boil down to "You gotta push this thing over here first, then this, then this, and yay you made a path without getting blocked!!"

This game doesn't, though. It does have some of that, but only in small doses; the overall solutions for levels require something that feels creative, not just something that feels like "oh so that's the order that makes it work I guess..."

For me, a good puzzle is one where if you get stuck, when you read the solution you'll go "ooooh I see, that makes sense!" It feels like you could've (at least hypothetically) gotten that if you thought about it enough (not with trial and error/mental mapping). Spatial management puzzles don't do that for me, but this game's puzzles do (mostly). Which, yeah, I've looked up the solutions to a couple of them, but I'm usually still satisfied in those cases because, ya know, I get to see a solution that's actually cool and interesting.

This kinda turned into me just ranting about why I don't enjoy most puzzle games and how this one is not that, but yeah, it's super good and interesting. Even if you aren't great at puzzles and will end up looking a lot of answers up, I recommend trying it out.

Also, I like the visuals.

With its cute little rabbit-esque protagonist, pastel, hand-drawn colors, and progressively divergent, iterative, and complex puzzle sequences which soon fold into themselves like ouroboros, Baba is You soon challenges the self-sovereignty of character and player alike as rules are altered, switched, combined, and destroyed with simple movements in order to reach a variety of win states. This unique experience develops further and further to involve Baba and her many friends (and interactable objects) until either the game or the player breaks—sometimes both. The intelligence of the design overall and its easy to grasp concepts, barring a few late game additions (and two expansion level packs which seem unnecessary in comparison to the base game), shifts a self-reflexive focus on the puzzle/video game in playful ways which have only been matched by the likes of The Witness. Baba is You And Good.

GAME is CLEVER and has DIFFICULTY

MECHANICS is FUN

CONCEPT is SIMPLE and not EASY

Baba is You is a creative and adorable little programming puzzle game. Block pushing puzzles quickly evolve into mind-bending, level destroying programming challenges. While it is initially fun to reconfigure obstacles to your liking, the game quickly becomes overly restrictive with its ruleset. This attempt to maintain difficulty stifles player expression and makes solutions a lot more deterministic. If every level had a consistent framework the difficulty could be offset with familiarity, but the only consistency is that there is no consistency - every level requires internalizing a new set of rules. Certainly great fun for a certain type of mind, but it feels like homework to me.

It's the most puzzling puzzle game I've ever played. Many levels give you that mental "oomph" and are satisfying to solve, which is an indicator of a good game. There are levels, however, that, once solved, cause even more confusion. Simply put, some levels demand too much time to solve and are too cryptic. The biggest problem, I think, is that there is too much freedom with what you can do, and it is often unclear what you can and what you can do because the tutorial is very sparse.
This is the only problem that I can find in a game that can be called even somewhat objective. Everything else negative comes from my reluctance to dedicate this game too much of my time. Nevertheless, it is still a good game and a person dedicated enough might find this game as one of his favorites.
Grade: 7,4/10