Baba Is You

. You control Baba. Cute lil pixely pal Baba. In the first level, you’re given some pretty simple prompts. Baba Is You, Rock is Push, Flag is Win, and Wall is Stop. Thankfully, these all seem intuitive. You can’t pass through the wall, but you can push the rock. Moving around with the arrow keys controls Baba. Touch the flag to win.

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Right after A Short Hike won the Independent Games Festival Awards grand prize last night, the Game Developers Choice Awards declared Untitled Goose Game the game of the year. Other games to win prizes Dev Choice Awards include Disco Elysium, Control, and Baba Is You – some good stuff. They also handed the Pioneer Award to Roberta Williams, the Sierra co-founder known for adventure games from Mystery House to Phantasmagoria.

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New puzzles will finally be coming to Baba Is You when developers Hempuli bring a level editor to the game next year, putting control in the hands of players. The unique puzzler that requires players to change rules in order to progress will soon grant them the power to create their own challenges, which they can then share online for others to have ‘fun’ with. Now it won’t just be level designers writing rules for you to rewrite as you play, it’ll people who want nothing more than create the most devious puzzles imaginable and watch the world burn.

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Baba Is You is a push-block puzzler in which words change the rules of the game. Push a baba block next to an is, and then push a you on the end, and now you re controlling a four-legged, long-eared critter. Add another rule, flag is win, and you can beat the level by moving Baba on to the flag.

Baba Is You is therefore a game about creating game logic from language. And it s a remarkable example of the thorny mechanical and metaphysical problems that arise out of trying to encode meaning into words, and then words into a game. These are some that caused its maker, Arvi Teikari, his biggest headaches. (more…)

You can t play everything. Trust us, we ve tried. You can t even take note of all the games that come out in one week. Our mushy human brains can barely keep track of why we re standing in the dairy aisle. Was it milk we’re low on? Or butter? Yoghurt? Hang on, I’m vegan. What am I doing here?

Anyway, you re bound to have missed a few games this year. Luckily the RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show, is here to mention a few puzzle games and town builders that might have flown under your radar. Let’s fire some thick opinion-bullets at them. How else are we supposed to bring them down, so you can play?

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I first saw Baba Is You a year ago during the Experimental Gameplay Workshop at GDC, and was — like everyone else in the crowd — absolutely blown away. But, of course, with these big novel ideas always comes the fear that it might not translate into a coherent game. Some of the stars of the EGW have gone on to be somewhat flat, their hook/gimmick never finding its way to becoming a compelling reason to keep playing. But, hoorah, not this time! Baba Is You is immediately completely superb, a puzzle game where you literally rewrite the rules as you play.

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Please play the prototype demo of Baba Is You, so I’ll have an easier time explaining why the full version – now due on March 13th – is one of the most exciting puzzle games on the horizon. It’s the work of Arvi “Hempuli” Teikari, previously known for tiny but perfectly formed metroidvania Environmental Station Alpha. It’s a puzzle game about re-writing the rules of the game by pushing key-words around like blocks. Lava Is Melt? A quick reshuffle, and Lava Is Float; the previously impassable lake of fire now hovering safely in the air above. Concept Is Brillo. Trailer Is Below.

Update: The level editor won’t be ready in time for launch, but the developer informs me it’s planned for a later update.>

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There’s just one week left until a borderline-biblical plague of developers descend upon Birmingham to showcase their up-and-coming games to all. This great gathering shall be known as EGX 2018 and starts on September 20th, running until the 23rd.

There’s going to be hundreds of games on show there across all platforms, featuring developers of all shapes and sizes – both physically and business-wise. While I’ll be sadly missing out on the fun (someone’s got to man the news desk), here’s a few choice PC games that’ll be at the show, and everyone should be checking out. (more…)

When you go to San Fraaaanciscooo, be sure to wear a lanyard with Media inscribed on it round youuur nnnneck That s what Adam, John and Brendan sang to each other as they gleefully skipped through the streets of California s tram-infested hill city. The crew were in town for the yearly Game Developer’s Conference where they spoke to developers, played games, and gambled on the results of the annual awards show. Now they re back and ready to tell you all about their Stateside adventures on the latest RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show. (more…)

Rad trash mammal simulator Night In The Woods scooped this year’s Grand Prize during the 2018 Independent Games Festival Awards at the Game Developers Conference last night, also lifting the award for Excellence In Narrative. Baba Is You, an upcoming puzzle game about shifting words to change how parts of the levels and game work, also picked up two awards. Looking across all the winners, ah yes, there certainly are good video games going around. (more…)