Baba Is You (2019)

Baba is You is a monster of a game, an incredibly rich design space combined with puzzles that keep switching up rules, creating new ones, and pulling players in on an exhausting supply of original and unique mechanics.

The game is simple enough - the player starts off controlling a cute sheep-like creature named Baba who must reach a goal. While this starts off as a flag, this goal can change over time, as the rules of the game (what is the win condition, who is the player character, what can the player push, what is an immovable object, what is a fail state, etc) are blocks that can be pushed around to form new statements that are key to getting through the game.

The amount of mechanics that this game features is staggering. Overlaps, creating multiple objects from one, the manipulation of empty space, pushing, pulling, multiplying, controlling multiple objects at once, objects as statements, and the loneliness of being. The game is chock full of secrets as well - while I won't spoil the biggest secrets, pushing through the game to see everything it has to offer opens up new and exciting ways to interpret levels and how to get through them.

The game also has a relaxing presentation along with its mechanics to ease the player into focusing on the tough puzzles at hand. Undos are infinite, there are no lives, and the music is gentle enough to exist as ambience for our hero(es). It can be easy to get text and objects stuck in unwinnable corners so the game enables the player to effortlessly try every single combination they can think of in order to find the solution. The only downside is that some difficulty spikes pop up and puzzles can get needlessly complicated/obtuse, but the community has put together a handy hint system to help players along and players will eventually pick up on all the rules the game offers. Never once did I beat a puzzle and didn't understand the solution - the game is very good at visually communicating its logic.

As for visuals, the game is simple and blobby, with cute mobile sprites (everything feels like a mix of sketched frames constantly playing and shifting) and characters with adorable profiles. The colors are a little more muted than bright for the background but help the brighter game elements to stand out so interactable objects are easily spotted.

Baba is You is a game that's absolutely worth the time and money to struggle through with. While the game can be unreasonably difficult in odd places, the game is fun with friends and a community willing to help push the player along to their goal. Most of the time you'll be opening your mind and doing things you never thought possible!

(This is a mini-review as part of my holiday project to try out as many games on my wishlist during the Steam Sales, and then getting them refunded if I don't think I will play them. In short: demo time!)

Played: 50 mins

Evaluation: OMG this is SO FUN. I felt like a super genius for like 5 levels and after that I felt like the dumbest person in the world. I love logic, I love simple coding and I LOOOOOOVE this game!

Price: 8,74 EUR

Is it a keeper? YES

• Year played: 2019
• Playtime: ~10 hours
• Completion level: About half the puzzles

Baba is You is a game that will have you mumbling to yourself in weird chopped up sentences while gritting your teeth and squinting at your screen. It's a game where you make the rules of the world by pushing word blocks around to form different sentences, which become the new rules of the world. If Baba is You, and Flag is Win, but you can't reach the flag, you could instead push the blocks so that Baba is You and Baba is Win.

Confusing? Yes. Incredibly frustrating at times? Yes (but in a good way). Unbelievably satisfying when it all clicks together and you finally solve it? Absolutely.

I'm clearly not clever enough for this game, and that's no fault of the game's! For someone like me it's a 3/5 'cause the escalating logic challenges become more frustrating rather than compelling.

I found myself getting more and more frustrated to the point where I'd start looking up solutions and still not understanding how I was supposed to reach a conclusion. That said, that's an issue with me and my brain and perhaps for people like me. I can totally see how this game can appeal to people who enjoy these kinds of puzzle box style levels.

I played this game over the past 2 months. Finishing it to 100% completion took me 60 hours, which I was NOT expecting. Every time I thought I was done, or close to finished, it just kept going. And I love it for that. I could not really get enough of this game; it sorta just became a life style in my mind.

From the cute minimalist style, to the music and sound-effects; from the ever-increasing pool of logic, to the satisfying meta-experience it builds up to; this game is one of the tightest, most complete experiences I've had with a game, while still having an innocent indie charm.

In terms of difficulty, I decided from the start that I was okay with not looking up any hints on anything, no matter what. I think the longest I was stuck on a level, at least while actively playing, was 5 hours -- and that's not even including the time I spent just thinking about it.

Usually an "impossible" level would get stuck in my mind outside of the game, and I would play out different ideas in trying to solve it -- stretching my way of thinking as much as I was able to, forcing myself to think beyond the limits I assumed. When I'd go to sleep, my thoughts of it would linger and my attempts would repeat long enough to create a fever-dream-esque experience. This whole independent process of drawn out mind-bogglery made solving them all the more satisfying.

Probably the most significant aspect to my experience with this game is the context it has in my life right now -- how I've been feeling and what I've been going through over the past few months. With a stressful job, trouble quitting coffee, bad sleeping habits, a sketchy financial situation, a less than ideal diet, feeling socially out of place, and many other things that often come with trying to "adult", Baba was the one positive constant in my daily life that pushed me to think more laterally -- always there in the end of the day to say, "Hey, despite all the insanity of life, tonight, Baba is you."

<3