I think I’ve found it lads. I think I’ve found the game that’s broken me. I’m not sure who I am anymore. Am I me? Am I you? Am I Baba? No, Baba is You.
This is Baba.
Baba is a good boy. Baba solves puzzles. Baba is not what makes me want to throw myself off a bridge. It’s the hardships and puzzles I have to put Baba through because of my own hubris.
Baba is You is one of the most unique puzzle games that I’ve ever played. It’s also extremely PTSD inducing since what the game boils down to is using variables to solve puzzles with pseudo code; the film degree I am working on is now cowering in fear at the thought of my original life’s goal – Which was computer science.
Anyways the game is extremely simple. In Baba is You, you control Baba, and you have to get him to whatever item is classed as ‘win’. Let’s say in this case, a flag is Win… But oh no, there’s a wall in front of Baba and the Flag, and I can’t pass through because Wall is Stop. What do I do? Well, of course, I make Wall no longer Stop by simply pushing the variable away controlling Baba, after all, Baba is You. You move over to Flag and boom, congrats, you won the first level.
You have completed what is essentially the game’s tutorial, and now it’s time to give you a brain aneurysm.
Every single thing that comes after the first level will push the limits of your brain until you just need to get some rest and try the next day. The variable puzzle solving system is so diverse in what you can do with it, and with the tools provided that you can solve a majority of the puzzles in the game with multiple solutions.
You have water that sinks and destroys objects, but also dissapears when it comes in contact with you. You have times where you have to question your very existence itself and maybe think, “Should I really be Baba? Or should I be Wall?”… Lo and behold, you can control the wall if you choose to do so.
…And I know that me rambling about this game isn’t going to help you out very much in visualising what the puzzle-solving process is in this game, and I think that’s for the better. I just encourage you to check it out yourself; there are so many surprises in the game that you’re actually going to shit yourself. That’s right. You will defecate in your pants when you play this game.
That just might be me though…
…But still, some of my favourite moments in gaming have happened this year because of Baba is You. It’s something you can just throw on in front of a friend, and watch them slowly lose their mind for Baba and yet slowly fall in love with Baba at the same time.
That adorable fucking sheep rabbit thing keeps me up at night, thinking if I should go to sleep and give up, or keep trying to solve one last puzzle.
And it isn’t just me talking about this game; a bunch of streamers have been playing it and it’s all because of how accessible and unique it is.
It’s easily one of my favourite puzzle games of all time!
P.S. This game will absolutely shit on your vocabulary after you’re done with it.
…But that’s all I’m gonna say. Go play it, and let me know in the comments what you think of it.
Salman is Bye.