Baba is You - Game Review

Baba is You is a 2D puzzle video game made by Arvi Teikari, a Finnish indie developer or better known as Hempuli. In Baba is You, you get to manipulate the game physics by moving word objects and connecting them together which bends the rules of the game world to the players will and however he sees fit and chooses to play it as, with the ultimate goal being to reach an ending flag to progress to other levels. The game was released on 13th March 2019 for the Nintendo Switch, Linux, macOS and Microsoft Windows.


First Impressions and Gameplay

In Baba is You, you play the role of a bunny named Baba travelling through the game world and its different levels. Each of the levels contain different "word" tiles, creatures, obstacles and an objective flag that you need to reach in order to proceed to the next one. In order to progress through each level the player needs to control or move different word tiles that control the game world and its mechanics. Each different world tiles behave differently when the player pushes and connect them for example connecting the words "Baba", "is" and "You" together makes the player push obstacles and objects around. Pushing and disconnecting the words "Wall" "is" and "Stop" makes the walls non-functional making the player pass through it easily and reach more difficult places, connecting the words "Flag" "Is" and "Win" makes the ultimate level flag goal visible and reachable for the player to win the existing level. The player can also combine different words such as and, Grass, Lava, Push, Sink and so so in order to manipulate the world around him. Baba is You has 200 levels to play through with the ultimate goal  being to reach the end of the game world.



Development

The game Baba is You is based on a theme called "Not there" from the 2017 Nordic Game Jam event. Developer Hempuli thought through the theme and decided to make a game world where players can manipulate the objects around him and bend the rules of the world. He came up with various "well-thought" solutions for different levels of puzzle solving with twists but something that will be rewarding to play through. The game is created using Multimedia Fusion 2 engine with a scripting plugin known as Lua. Game development started back in 2017 with developer versions shared in other DRM platforms such as itch.io. Shortly after winning an award in 2018 from the Independent Games Festival, the game faced intellectual properly theft where the concept was stolen by bootleg French publisher but was later dealt with after developer Hempuli raised his voice and worked against it. The game was showcased at Nintendo indie games event on August 31st 2018. Baba is You released on March 13th 2019 for Switch, macOS, Linux and Steam platform.



Verdict

The game garnered positive ratings with over 99% positive reviews on Steam and an 88 Metascore on the Nintendo Switch. Baba is You won first place at the 2017 Nordic Game Jam event, received multiple nominations and won the "Best Student Game" and "Excellence in Design" award at the IGF Awards in 2018. The game is a one of a kind puzzle plat former with interesting mix of things never seen before with soothing cute background music to keep the players accompanied for enjoying hours of the game's content. The game is highly recommended if you're looking for a new one of a kind indie game puzzle experience and art style.

Thanks for the review, I am excited to play it