Baba Is You
Baba Is You is a puzzle video game created by Arvi Teikari (known professionally as Hempuli), a Finnish independent developer. 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.
Baba Is You

Official GDC (Game Developers Conference) · Official GDC on Flickr · CC BY 2.0
- Date
- 2019
- Publisher
- Hempuli Oy
- Language
- English
- Genre
- puzzle video game · sokoban video game
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Documentary summary
Baba Is You is a puzzle video game created by Arvi Teikari (known professionally as Hempuli), a Finnish independent developer. 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.
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wikidata · Q62061666 · wikipedia · Baba Is You
In this article
The object
The object
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. You received generally favorable reviews from critics.

Arvi Teikari at the 2018 Independent Games Festival Awards, held during the 2018 Game Developers Conference. His game, Baba Is You won Best Student Game and Excellence in Design awards.
Official GDC

Arvi Teikari at the 2018 Independent Games Festival Awards, held during the 2018 Game Developers Conference. His game, Baba Is You won Best Student Game and Excellence in Design awards.
Official GDC · Flickr
Key facts
Key facts
• Title — Baba Is You • Developer — Hempuli • Publisher — Hempuli • Programmer — Arvi Teikari • Designer — Arvi Teikari • Composer — Arvi Teikari • Engine — Multimedia Fusion 2 • Released — Linux, macOS, Switch, Windows13 March, 2019Android, iOS22 June, 2021 • Genre — Puzzle • Modes — Single-player
Gameplay
Gameplay
• Illustration — Baba (the white sheep-like creature) is assigned as the player character by the phrase BABA IS YOU. The three blocks reading WALL IS STOP create a rule that prevents Baba from crossing wall tiles. Once the rule blocks are separated, the rule is no longer enforced, and Baba can pass through walls. 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 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 and, linking operators such as and, and descriptive tiles determining the properties of these objects (such as, 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 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 and 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 rule (i.e. an active player-character) occupies the same tile as an object that is the subject of an rule (i.e. an active goal), or by itself (i.e. the same object is the player and the goal); conversely, levels are never explicitly failed, but if there are no more objects left (or there is no 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 objects (such as MOVE or SHIFT) to create a setup where an 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 IS (i.e. BABA IS FLAG would replace any Babas on screen with flags.) This can be prevented through IS (i.e. BABA IS BABA overrides all BABA IS commands and would prevent the aforementioned transformation from occurring.) The game contains 481 levels, spread across 3 level packs, with 231 in "Baba is you" (The base game before the "Baba make level" update), 88 in "Museum" (A collection of unused/scrap levels which were reworked and polished), and 162 in "New adventures" (Purely original content added in the "Baba make level" update). At the late-game stages of both "Baba is you" and "Museum", the player gains access to the noun LEVEL, from which point map screens in which levels are selected become levels in and of themselves, with the player transforming levels into objects and manipulating rules around the map screen to progress.
Development and release
Development and release
• Illustration — Arvi Teikari accepting his Independent Games Festival Award in 2018 The theme of the 2017 Nordic Game Jam was "Not There", which prompted Teikari, a student at the University of Helsinki who had previously developed the Metroidvania-genre game Environmental Station Alpha, to envision a game concept based on manipulating logic operators. He pictured a block of ice standing next to lava but not melting, protected by the phrase "ICE IS NOT MELT". This sparked the idea of creating a puzzle game where the player would push words to form rules. Initially, each object was supposed to have intrinsic properties (e.g., ice would melt in the presence of lava) that could be disabled using the word "NOT". However, Teikari later concluded that the game would be more interesting if objects had no default properties. He explained that levels were often created by brainstorming a "cool" or "amusing" solution, and then coming up with how the player would accomplish it. Teikari noted that "the most satisfying moments in puzzle games are those which present the player with simple but hard-to-wrap-your-head-around situations, so that solving the puzzle is about figuring out that one neat trick/twist". As with his previous projects, the game was developed using Multimedia Fusion 2, and a Lua scripting plugin; Teikari credited his friend Lukas Meller for help with the Lua implementations. Teikari wrote on Reddit that the naming of the characters Baba and Keke was inspired by the bouba/kiki effect. Teikari stated in 2017 that he planned to release the full game in 2018, and placed a development version of the title for download at itch.io. After Baba Is You won at the Independent Games Festival in March 2018, a clone of the game was released by a French publisher on the App Store, using nearly the same graphics and calling itself the same name. Teikari worked with the French division of Apple to remove the offending app. The game, and a Nintendo Switch release, were focused upon in a Nintendo indie games showcase presentation on 31 August 2018. Baba Is You was released on 13 March 2019, via Steam for Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS, and on Nintendo Switch. A cross-platform level editor, with online level sharing, was added to the game on November 17, 2021, as a free update for the personal computer and Switch versions. This update included 150 additional levels in two new level packs, and added various new rules, art, and soundtracks. Alongside programming the game, Teikari also composed the soundtrack using OpenMPT. Shortly before the release of the level editor update, he released the music project files via the official Baba Is You Twitter account. Mobile versions for iOS and Android devices were released on 22 June 2021.
History of the object
Dated record
History of the object
The full dated record · 2 entries
2019
Baba Is You published.
2019
Baba Is You is recorded as published in 2019.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- Finland
Reception
Baba Is You won first place at the 2017 Nordic Game Jam. It was nominated for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize and won awards for "Best Student Game" and "Excellence In Design" at the 2018 IGF Awards. It was also nominated for "Best Indie Game" at the 2019 Golden Joystick Awards, for "Indie Game of the Year" at the Titanium Awards, and for "Best Independent Game" at The Game Awards 2019. In addition, it was nominated for "Gameplay Design, New IP" at the NAVGTR Awards, for "Game Design" and "Original Property" at the 16th British Academy Games Awards, and for "Best Indie Game" at the Famitsu Dengeki Game Awards 2019. Baba Is You won the award for "Outstanding Achievement in Game Design" during the 23rd Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, as well as for "Best Design" and the "Innovation Award" at the 20th Game Developers Choice Awards. The PC version of the game was among the best-selling new releases of the month on Steam. Baba Is You received "generally favorable reviews", according to review aggregator Metacritic. Fellow review aggregator OpenCritic assessed that the game received "mighty" approval, being recommended by 89% of critics. Polygon considered it "one of the best puzzle video games in years", with the reviewer observing that it "asks me to toss my assumptions about how rules in video games work, to analyze how and why they exist in the first place. And that sort of reprogramming of my brain, oddly enough, happens best when the game is turned off". Pocket Gamer was similarly positive, describing it as a "ridiculously complex puzzler that has you questioning not only every decision you make, but how anyone managed to think up something so bizarre", and concluding that it was one of the "most inventive, exciting puzzle games you will ever play. It's beautifully simple in its graphics and its core design, but it'll make your brain hurt with how nonsensical the solutions appear to be". A criticized aspect of the game is its level of difficulty. Game Informer expressed dissatisfaction with the overcomplication that arises from the compounding of variables in later stages of the game, which often resulted in "exhausting and unsatisfying" gameplay. GameSpot also criticized the increasing difficulty of later puzzles caused by the language of the operating words, saying that "as the language involved gets more complex, words are ushered in whose meaning seems vague and whose purpose remains hazy, and that can make certain puzzles infuriatingly obscure".
Where the work is held
Holdings and surviving copies
Where material relating to Baba Is You is held.
Literature
Literature
Literature
Baba is You is Undecidable, 2023 IEEE Conference on Games (CoG), 2023.
Doing Things With Words, Loading, 2022
Scholarly footprint
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Baba is You Entry 2018. Independent Games Festival. 12 October 2017.
- 2.Lambie, Ryan. Pushing boundaries with Baba is You. Wireframe. March 7, 2019.
- 3.Ryan Young. Baba Is You Developer Arvi Teikari Talks Indie Innovation, Influences and Puzzle Design. The Indie Game Website. 2019-07-19.
- 4.The Making Of. Baba Is You. Edge. September 2019.
- 5.Couture, Joel. Road to the IGF: Hempuli Oy's Baba Is You. Gamasutra. 15 February 2018.
- 6.Hempuli. Hi, I'm Hempuli, the developer of Baba Is You. Ask me anything!. r/NintendoSwitch. Reddit. 2019-04-18.
- 7.Wawro, Alex. IGF Award-winning Baba Is You cloned before it was even released. Gamasutra. 2018-04-04.
- 8.Fogel, Stefanie. Nintendo Holds Nindies Showcase Summer 2018. Variety. 2018-08-28.
- 9.Bolding, Jonathan. Baba is You has a cross-platform level editor coming. PC Gamer. November 17, 2019.
- 10.Nightingale, Ed. Level editor coming to Baba Is You in free update. Eurogamer. November 12, 2021.
- 11.People have requested the project files for the Baba Is You music; well, here you go! Please give credit if you use them or make remixes!. 1459308752251801604. 2021-11-12.
- 12.Madnani, Mikhail. The Brilliant Puzzler 'Baba Is You' from Hempuli Just Released on iOS and Android with over 200 Levels Included. Touch Arcade. 22 June 2021.
- 13.Red Ventures. Baba Is You for Switch Reviews. Metacritic.
- 14.Red Ventures. Baba Is You for PC Reviews. Metacritic.
- 15.OpenCritic. Baba Is You.
- 16.Hilliard, Kyle. Baba Is You Clever Puzzles With Too Many Variables. Game Informer. 2019-03-25.
- 17.Marsh, Calum. Baba is You Review - Game-Changer. GameSpot.
- 18.Borvo974. Test Baba is You: Un jeu simple mais pas simpliste. Jeuxvideo.com. 2019-03-23.
- 19.Grassl, Zion. Baba Is You Review (Switch eShop). Nintendo Life. 2019-05-24.
- 20.Ronaghan, Neal. Baba Is You (Switch) Review. Nintendo World Report. 2019-03-15.
- 21.Warr, Philippa. Baba is You review. PC Gamer. 2019-03-15.
- 22.Madnani, Mikhail. 'Baba Is You' Review – Easily One of the Best Puzzle Games of All Time. TouchArcade. 2021-07-07.
- 23.MacLeod, Riley. A Puzzle Game Where You Rewrite The Rules Of Each Level. Kotaku. 2019-03-13.
- 24.Donnelly, Joe. Night in the Woods tops IGF Awards, student game Baba Is You wins big. PC Gamer. 2018-03-22.
- 25.Tailby, Stephen. Days Gone Rides Off with Three Nominations in This Year's Golden Joystick Awards. Push Square. 2019-09-20.
- 26.Titanium Awards 2019. Fun & Serious Game Festival. 9 March 2017.
- 27.Winslow, Jeremy. The Game Awards 2019 Nominees Full List. GameSpot. 2019-11-19.
- 28.2019 Nominees. National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers. 2020-01-13.
- 29.Stuart, Keith. Death Stranding and Control dominate Bafta games awards nominations. The Guardian. 2020-03-03.
- 30.Sato. Here Are the Winners of the Famitsu Dengeki Game Awards 2019. Siliconera. 2020-04-18.
- 31.Van Allen, Eric. Untitled Goose Game Wins Top Bill at the 2020 D.I.C.E. Awards. USgamer. 2020-02-14.
- 32.Makuch, Eddie. Untitled Goose Game Wins Another Game Of The Year Award. GameSpot. 2020-03-18.
- 33.Valve. Best of 2019: New Releases. Steam. 26 December 2019.
- 34.Plante, Chris. Baba Is You review: one of the best puzzle games in years. Polygon. 2019-03-13.
- 35.Cowley, Ric. Baba is You Switch review - 'Puzzling perfection in every way'. Pocket Gamer. 2019-03-13.
- 36.Valve. A Look Back - The Best of 2019. Steam. 2019-12-26.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 3
- Forney, Dillon. Rose Is Red / Violet Is Blue / Flag Is Win / Baba Is You: A guide to the single-player puzzle game Baba Is You. Games World of Puzzles. 46. 3. 34–37. April 2022. 1074-4355.
- Gordon, Lewis. Indie game makers open up about the money they actually make. The Verge. 2019-10-09.
- Teikari, Arvi. Reading the Rules of 'Baba Is You'. March 20, 2020.
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