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.