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.
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.