Review Is You And Review
Has
Text
And
Move

Picture this. You materialize in a world full of text dictating the laws of physics as an unsupervised toddler where a gear can move on its own and take hold of your soul by replacing your name with his next to the "You" component. Well, still preferable to materializing in Ohio.

It's during the 2017 Nordic Game Jam that humble gamer Arvi Teikari has an eureka moment and finds LE gimmick that he decides to cook, and after simmering down he decides to go for seconds and make 200 levels. A lot of these are carefully crafted to lead you to eureka moments and they are not as linear as they may seem... all the while humbling, because a concept entailing a lot of freedom ends up used for a restrictive design of high level puzzles constantly shattering the rules of game design. That can be frustrating. You know what to do but unsure what you are allowed to do to make it happen.
Guess we reached the end then.

End Has Words On God
Is
Defeat
And
Idk you get the gist of it

I booted up this cute little comfort indie game about puzzles and was left bald. Every hair was torn out of my head, phasing into dust as my body aged past it's corporeal prime and sent my mind spiraling into enlightenment, shattering into psychopathy.

You recognize that the puzzles are simple boolean swaps on paper and think grammar is so easy, until you realize that the music has been drawling for several minutes. There's a very specific cadence in the soundtrack that reminds you of ticking clocks, or a slow heart rate. It's now been 45 minutes and you still haven't solved the puzzle.

Your brain is leaking liquid out of your ear and you swear that you've tried every possibility that could be possibly imagined. Once you beat the game, you realize that there's 100 more puzzles.

You have died.

Baba is masterpiece.
No tengo dudas de que Hempuli es un tipo realmente inteligente, porque el nivel de creatividad e ingenio que se muestra en los niveles de Baba is you es absolutamente admirable.
El juego se presenta de forma muy sencilla y con unas reglas muy fáciles de comprender, pero progresivamente introduce nuevos elementos basados en esas reglas sencillas, y que dan como resultado niveles terriblemente complejos y difíciles. me encanta como en todo momento el jugador sabe que tiene las herramientas necesarias para poder resolver cada puzzle, pero que simplemente no es capaz de unir los elementos de la manera correcta para dar el resultado necesario.
Es un juego muy atrapante y divertido, además que el ofrecer distintas opciones de niveles me parece una gran idea para poder dejar apartados algunos niveles que terminan siendo más complicados de resolver. La dificultad llega a ser realmente elevada en la segunda mitad del juego, y no me quiero ni imaginar lo complicado que debe ser el post-game.
Un problemita que le veo es que algunos niveles introducen palabras sin llegar a dejar del todo claro exactamente como funcionan, por lo que termina requiriendo varios intentos para llegar a agarrarle la mano.
Visualmente es un juego muy bonito, aunque creo que le faltarían acompañar con algunos efectos de sonido para los distintos objetos o situaciones que aparecen.
Igualmente tampoco es como si esto se fuera a interponer significativamente en el disfrute del juego. Baba is you es una gran experiencia para cualquier amante de los juegos de puzzles, y si bien la dificultad puede llegar a ser muy elevada, es un juego que le recomendaría probar a todo el mundo, aunque sea con ayuda de alguna que otra pista, porque la sensación final tras completar cada nivel es sumamente satisfactoria.

How does one review Baba is You? This is a game about rules that constantly sees you breaking them in order to progress. Well, you're not actually defying the rules, but the game intends to make it seem you are.

I'm still playing Baba is You. I've gotten the basic ending but there's more to see, and I've only made a small dent in New Adventures, the game's additional level pack. There's a peculiar atmosphere here, each song establishes a new, weird vibe for the various worlds. The visuals are sparse, building clarity between objects and the background; the empty space serves another purpose, though. The levels are solitudinous, you're alone in this world. Even when you can take control of other characters or force them to move, it never ends up feeling any less lonely. There's beauty in this isolation and I often got lost in the ambience.

As an aside, I don't know why people bothered to continue designing characters after Baba's inception. As a species, we peaked in 2019 and it's just been downhill ever since.

Baba is You is baby's first programming game, which might imply that the game is easy. This couldn't be more wrong. While the building blocks are simple to understand and fun to play around with, the contraptions present in this game are frankly diabolical. In other games, you'd be presented with a small set of tools with basic functionality, therefrom slowly fabricating more complex interactions until you have a encyclopedic knowledge of how everything works and can string it together in clever ways. In Baba is You, it almost feels as if knowledge is a detriment. Rarely will two levels in Baba is You require a similar thought process. Each one will have you rethinking the very foundations the game is built on, asking you to jump to brand new conclusions on how to utilise its many, many idiosyncratic nouns, operators and properties. So often will a solution seem simple only for you to test it and find out it cannot work, tinkering with it over and over before realising you needed to throw out the book altogether.

This fundamental design is both Baba is You's strongest boon and greatest detriment. There's a fine line between the eureka moments and the moments where you feel like a caveman, bashing your head against every object in the level without even an inkling of how to progress. As for myself, I managed to beat the game without hints, but I've decided to continue playing using Baba is Hint, an excellent site which should keep the game more fun than infuriating. It's also worth noting that there are some brilliant surprises and subversions of your understanding, namely to do with a certain Level noun.

Baba is You is boundlessly creative. An engaging test of your ability to problem solve, specifically using out-of-the-box alternatives to pre-established norms. It's an ethereal experience that, even after bouncing off several years back, I was compelled to restart and see it through to the end. Don't be fooled by its exterior, though. Baba is You might be one of the most brutal puzzle games I've ever played, which will always make it a little too prickly to recommend to everyone.

Baba Is A truly scandinavian experience. A cozy game on the surface, with soft visuals and rubbery sound reminiscent of the Mumins. The abstract level scenarios hint at the simple, natural pleasures in life - rivers and sea, windswept valleys and forests full of flowers, quiet playtime with friends. Sometimes they branch out into edgier territory, but remain innocent by coming across as Super Mario references - volcanoes, outer space or mountaneering.

But that surface is skin deep. It doesn't take long for one's interactions with the game to bring about senses of identity disorder and nihilism. From the low hum one hears when nothing on a level IS YOU, to how almost no object has inherent properties. The cold and unflinching λόγος of this world, only a fraction of which the player has control over, the way the game begins and ends... If Sören Kierkegaard saw this shit, he'd probably ask to tone it down a peg.

I love this game. It captured my heart instantly and proceeded to melt my mind during those lonely quarantine nights. I don't want to describe any of its mechanics, because discovering and understanding them is a part of gameplay. But the rabbithole to descend into here is very well lubed. Each verb gets a bunch of levels dedicated to it, slowly ratcheting up the complexity of required solutions. It all culminates in the endgame, which provides one of the best hidden and most satisfying secrets you can find in games.

At time of writing I have completed every level in the base game, but since then Hempuli the Legend has provided a whole new level pack called New Adventures, which I've only nibbled at a little. I don't like all of it, 3D gimmick didn't do it for me, neither did the arcade recreations, but they're free and in the spirit of this game's gonzo creativity. There's also a level editor which I really want to dig into and test out my ideas, so I'm never going to be done with this game.

The success on display here is simply inspirational. The idea that this can be what you do to provide for yourself makes my jaded tear ducts unclog. Maybe one day I can make it too.

Sights & Sounds
- Cute pixel graphics imitating a child's doodling are the entirety of the visuals. I think it works pretty effectively here
- The music will be stuck in your head for days. You'll hear it while you sleep

Story & Vibes
- Rose is red
- Violet is blue
- Flag is win
- Baba is you

Playability & Replayability
- Hundreds of soul-crushingly difficult puzzles. They feature some of the most unusual, sometimes oblique solutions I've ever seen in a puzzle game. Some of the solutions (usually the ones where I stumbled into some of the correct steps) blew my mind. It's incredible that block pushing and formal logic could be combined to such effect
- I think 100%ing this game is for more persistent people than me. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong to not unlock the "Not Baba" achievement. I got to the "meta" levels, but my achievement didn't pop. I poked around and tried to figure out what I was missing with a walkthrough, but no luck
- Not sure it's a game I'd replay, but I appreciate the challenge it posed
- Remember: experimentation is your friend! You won't get far in this game unless you're willing to try a lot of different possibilities, even if it seems like they lead nowhere

Overall Impressions
- It's the hardest game you'll ever play. You'll think about it when you're trying to sleep or when you're daydreaming
- This is definitely a game for people who chase those "eureka" moments; that rush of dopamine that floods your brain when the solution finally presents itself
- Definitely a fun game for programmers who enjoy finding abstract solutions through lateral thinking

Final Thoughts
- 9/10. Smash your brain against this. There's no shame in using hints, but I'd really recommend at least beating the main game on your own before resorting to a walkthrough. You'll miss out on the enjoyment of figuring it out yourself if you do

Oh my god, my brain hurts.

It’s hard for me to talk about my experience with Baba is You, the same way it was hard as heck to complete the game. Playing Baba is You was a humbling experience as a creator because this is one of the most groundbreaking games I have ever experienced in terms of what even a ‘game’ is. Initially, it seems to be a nice puzzle title with a rather unique gimmick but after some hours it evolves into an absolute madness.

Arvi Teikari managed to come up with extremely clever uses of the game’s concept and the core mechanic gets expanded to an unexpected degree, and in the end you play not just by messing with words, but with characters, levels and even abstract concepts too (heck, even with the map itself!). I have never seen an approach like this to puzzle games before but I am so happy the creator decided to go all out with the gameplay concept since it gave birth to an exceptional videogame that has a lot to learn from.

Baba is You keeps breaking the classic concept of what a game is by allowing you to change its rules and hack the game’s behaviour in brilliant ways. It takes some time to get used to, but once you understand that you must be constantly thinking outside the box and forgetting how a game is traditionally played, you are in for plenty of surprises. Fortunately, the game is very forgiving and you can always undo unintended actions and keep trying instead of being forced to restart the puzzle from scratch.

I must admit that I had some tough times near the end, though, as the secret levels become insanely meta and obtuse, and had to look up some of the unlock steps, but they are just there for the most avid players that want to squeeze the gameplay possibilities and go through every level and Achievement by themselves so I didn’t feel too bad about it.

However solving all those demanding puzzles is a very pleasant experience thanks to its charming visuals and soothing music. The levels are just a joy to look at despite the simplicity of their graphics; the few recurring characters and items are both quirky and lovable and there are some brilliant visual jokes in some levels that put a smile on your face and are super fun to mess with. The soundtrack makes for a good company while your brain is melting trying to figure out what to do, it is never intrusive but helps keeping the boredom away.

If you like puzzle games, you’ll love Baba is You. Just don’t expect a simple and easy game and you’ll be delighted.


PUZZLE IS HARD
GAME IS BUY
BABA IS YOU

CHEATER IS ME

It's so hard, it made me feel so stupid, so many times. I always had my suspicions I was dumb, thank you for proving it to me for good finally.

So, I finished the game but ONLY because after a third of the game I started looking up stuff on the "Baba is Hint" site (they are great, because you get nudges and vague hints, no solutions). But then near the end I needed full on video-walkthroughs. Even just following those step by step turned out to be tricky at times!!

The thing is, it is probably the best puzzle game of all times, BUT the "game" part of it (enjoyability and playful learning curve) remains a moving target here or is just non-existent in some levels. Maybe it's just because I feel so embarrassed but the rules and verb-dependencies often felt off, confusing and retro-designed, so cracking them asked endless trial and error and sometimes just dumb luck. Some puzzles I solved without really knowing how I did it. Some levels were so impossible and specific, that I became scared of those mighty intelligent brainiac-geniuses who actually managed to play through this game. They are close to some Prof Xavier or singularity or some sht.

Bye Baba, you humbled and broke me.

Baba is You
Baba is Love
Baba is Dense

It's difficult to be critical of a game that's so lovingly crafted by a team so clearly passionate about a strong fundamental concept with a brilliantly unique core, especially when the end result really is a truly gorgeous little gem. There's not much to dislike, if anything at all, but I feel the need to indulge in nitpicking just a smidge.

There's a certain line that this game likes to toy with; it dwells in the place where abstract and absurdity begins to blend with logical through lines and deductive reasoning that creates a beautiful sense of chaos. The game has many memorable "A-hah!" moments where things just click into place, but as the game gradually progresses with a constant trickle of new rules to introduce it begins to supplement itself with a much less satisfying "A-...huh?" moment on occasion. There are times where the abstract logic required is demanding in its expectations; it asks of you to not just to think outside of the box but even beyond the scope of the yard that surrounds it, and to chase into the woods beyond.

While this is far from an offensive trait for a puzzle game to have, I find that the issue for myself is an agitation produced as a byproduct of this detail married with just how long the game's run-time is for full completion. Some puzzle games pride themselves on being dense with challenge but relatively short and with focused execution, and others indulge in a more leisurely stroll through a game densely packed with content that typically explores different ideas, story themes, and difficulty configurations. Baba, resting on the third hand, is a game that continues to escalate its difficulty without giving the player a chance to rest on their laurels and take a breather, nor does Baba dare to introduce any spice to the formula across its runtime.

Each new rule introduced builds, but never branches, thus providing the experience of a solid foundation that offers exactly the same experience from the ground floor up. The quality does not diminish, and the view at the top is awfully rewarding once you've conquered the climb, but for me the pace of such a restlessly vertical experience inevitably began to feel like a slog by the midway point. Each new puzzle steadily demands more of the player as the solutions begin to become more delicate and precisely crafted, often having just one solution and one path to attain it through the tedium of reset after reset. The puzzles are brilliant, especially at the end of the game, make no mistake, but the journey to that peak can begin to feel lethargic once you've realized that you're only on floor 100 of 200 and the climb promises to only get longer as you go higher.

This is an incredible treat for the completionist fanatical about the game's content, as they will not be left with the want to fill a Baba-sized hole in their heart by the end. Too much content is hardly a bad thing, especially for those content with the journey. For me though, my enjoyment began to wane as soon I realized in the back half of my playtime that I was left only with some sense of obligation to see the game through to its final achievement - and that I no longer had that spark of wonder that led me to experiment through those early levels. New rules and words were not enough to break the monotony for myself.

Yet Baba is not a game that I think should be changed for anything. Baba is not even a game that I would consider to have any flaws, or at least not flaws that could be easily or objectively measured, but I also can't say that Baba is a masterpiece of gaming. Of course, it doesn't need to be; masterpiece is not a win condition here, it's superlative.

Baba is Baba, and that's great.

Ever wanted to lose your mind in real-time?

Portal may be the perfect entry to puzzle games but this is the peak. The single most complex and incredible puzzler ever made. play this game to blow your mind on every single level.

it will also make you babble nonsense at your screen so do not play in public.