Baba Is You is a puzzle video game created by Finnish independent developer Arvi Teikari (known professionally as Hempuli). The game centers around the manipulation of "rules"—represented in the play area by movable tiles with words written on them—in order to allow the player character, usually the titular Baba, to reach a specified goal. Originating as a short demo built for the 2017 Nordic Game Jam, the game was expanded and released on 13 March 2019 for PC and Nintendo Switch. Mobile versions were released in June 2021. A free update titled "Baba Make Level" was released on November 17, 2021, featuring 250 new and previously unused levels and a level editor with online sharing. Baba Is You received generally favorable reviews from critics.
Gameplay
In each level, the player is presented with a one-screen puzzle consisting of various objects, characters, and movable word tiles. The player is given control of one or more characters or objects on the screen (most often, the player controls a character named Baba, a white sheep-like creature). The word tiles consist of nouns corresponding to specific types of objects and obstacles on the field (such as Baba itself, the goal flag, walls and hazards, and other creatures), verbs such as IS and HAS, linking operators such as AND and NOT, and descriptive tiles determining the properties of these objects (such as YOU, which makes all instances of the object become controlled by the player; PUSH and PULL to make them movable; STOP to make them impassable; and WIN to specify the goal object).
When three or more word tiles (minimally consisting of one object, one verb, and one property or object) are aligned vertically or horizontally into a valid syntax, they create a rule that determines how the object behaves and that will be enforced until the string is broken up. For example, the goal can be changed by moving IS and WIN blocks to apply to another object, and the player can pass through objects by removing the STOP trait from them. Specific rules for a level can be placed in a way that the tiles cannot be broken up (for instance, by having the rule placed in an inaccessible corner), committing that rule for the entire level. The player completes a level when an object that is the subject of an IS YOU rule (i.e. an active player-character) occupies the same tile as an object that is the subject of an IS WIN rule (i.e. an active goal), or by itself IS WIN (i.e. the same object is the player and the goal); conversely, levels are never explicitly failed, but if there are no more IS YOU objects left (or there is no IS YOU rule) the player may be unable to proceed and have to undo or restart. It is, however, possible to use certain properties that function even without IS YOU objects (such as MOVE or SHIFT) to create a setup where an IS YOU rule is broken, then put back together later on or even at a separate location.
Objects can also be transformed into each other through the syntax
