Tag: Baba Is You

Baba is Not You in Tip of the Icebug’s Silly Sokoban

This was the first video game I finished in 2020 because it was only ten minutes long! More people make ten minute games please.

If you played Baba is You, this is like that but without the programming languages rearing their indecipherable heads. Developer Jon Topielski sticks you in a big Sokoban grid and has you maneuver yourself to the exit while both utilizing and avoiding the obstacles along the way. It’s certainly not as unique a concept as Baba, but if we’re grading on that curve our expectations might need some readjusting. No, this time instead of moving the literal, tangible phrase BLOCK = BAD around a maze in some interesting way, we’re simply heaving that bad block out of the way ourselves.

The Baba is You influence is readily apparent, but the What the Golf? nod had me intrigued. Turns out, yeah there’s a bit of that DNA here as well! If this were ever to be fleshed out into something larger, the silly surprises of What the Golf? would add a lot of identity to an otherwise pretty simple Sokoban riff. Just in the first handful of levels (I think there’s only six or seven total), the silly surprise of taking control of a random stage object instead of the main character still hasn’t lost the charm since What the Golf perfected the concept last year.

The visuals are just enough not-Baba to get the job done. The elevator / carnival-lite music is also pretty chill while not doing anything to stand out. For what it’s worth, the one looping track works just fine as background music to walk around the house and eventually write this post to. The central concept is good and the ancillary stuff just works! I hope we get to see Topielski experiment further with blending puzzle genres, because after my ten minutes was up I was ready for more. Also, adding a dash of What the Golf’s manic brilliance into every genre should be industry standard going forward.

Go enjoy your ten minutes of puzzling on the game’s itch.io page!

February 2, 2020
Baba Is You And Baba Is Brilliant

I miss Games of the Month!!!! I’m gonna bring it back, kind of!!! Soon!

School is a lot as usual, but taking things slowly is the best I can do for now. I haven’t played as much as I would’ve liked, but we’ve still had some real killers in early 2019. First off? Baba Is Goooooooooooood.

I already called Baba is You “2017’s best puzzle game” when it was just a genius half-hour bit of puzzlecraft. Now that its ten-ish levels have grown to two-hundred-ish? Uh, you should probably toss your $15 at Arvi “Hempuli” Teikari” as soon as possible.

Part logic puzzle, part light programming, Baba Is You won’t fail to make you feel like a genius, then a complete moron, then the smartest human being who ever lived dozens of times over. You physically move the rules of the game around the screen with a Sokoban-style grid, and whatever you spell out becomes the law of the land. Push the word “Wall” away from “Wall Is Stop” and then enjoy your new ability to walk through walls. Tired of playing as Baba? Spell out “Rock Is You” instead, and live out your dreams as a rolling stone.

It’s an incredible mechanic that I’ve never seen anywhere else. It’s also a mechanic that makes so much sense as soon as you see it in motion it’s impossible not to want to try it yourself. Every person I’ve shown the game to has been able to dive right in an begin enjoying puzzles within a minute or two of figuring out what they’re looking at.

Every level in the game is either teaching you a new mechanic, or testing your knowledge of a previous one before building something brand new on top of it. If you decide the puzzles involving robots aren’t for you (I’m bad at them!), just skip onto one of the other dozen or so levels you have available at any one time. There’s a shocking amount of variety here that brings me back to my old Super Mario 3D World point: it’s never afraid to have a good idea and toss it away for another one. After several hours I’m still hitting breakthroughs with puzzles and stumbling into stunning realizations about the limits of the game. Baba Is You isn’t for everybody, but if you’re willing to really stretch your brain across some creative puzzle solving, you’ll find a lot to love.

If you want to feel like a super genius, check out Baba is You on the game’s site or on the Switch eShop.

April 6, 2019
Baba Is You Is 2017’s Best Puzzle Game

Remember that feeling we had when everybody played the first SUPERHOT demo? Baba Is You reminds me a lot of that.

It’s a simple idea that’s so creative I don’t know how we haven’t seen something like it before. You’re asked to move a small creature named Baba around a space, and spell out your own game rules and win conditions using words in the environment. You might see “Rock is Stop” and “Flag is Win” but the flag is blocked by a wall of rocks that ‘Stop’ you. How do you get around them? Push the word “Stop” away, and “Rock Is” will be left behind, not activating any game rules, and the rocks no longer block your way. I promise it sounds way more complicated than it is.

If you enjoy the feeling of solving a brilliant puzzle and feeling equally as brilliant as a result, Baba Is You will be right up your alley. Even solving the easiest puzzles in Baba gives an intense feeling of accomplishment simply because you’ve never, ever solved a puzzle quite like it before. About halfway through there’s an extremely satisfying moment where you realize the rules can be bent even more than you expected, and it’s one of my favorite things I’ve discovered in a puzzle game this year.

If you’re ready to bend your brain and make your own rules, give Baba Is You a shot on Hempuli’s itch.io page.

May 31, 2017