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Baba Is You

Baba Is You

Hempuli Oy · released Mar 12, 2019

IndiePCNintendo SwitchiOS (iPhone/iPad)

Baba Is You is a puzzle game where the rules you have to follow are present as blocks you can interact with. By manipulating them, you can change how the game works, repurpose things you find in the levels and cause surprising interactions!

Steam page ↗OpenCritic ↗Metacritic 84 · users 7.9 ↗
91
VGC Score
■Stablehigh confidence
94%
At launch
98%
Steam all-time
84%
Press
85%
Player sentiment
95%
Recent sentiment

Screenshots & trailers

Review sentiment over time

Weekly positive-review rate (green) and review volume (bars). Dashed lines mark significant patches; the amber line is the start of the current scoring window. Hover the dots to see what drove a dip or a jump.

How this score was computed

The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.

ComponentPositiveQuality (0-100)Weight (pseudo-reviews)
Press reviews (OpenCritic)–8413
All-time Steam reviews98%931000
Metacritic user ratings–8325
Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted)95%8950
Calibration prior (typical game)–7250

Acclaim gate: the raw blend lands at 92.0, but scores above 88 must be earned in front of a mass audience; this verdict rests on 24,763 player reviews, a largely self-selected fanbase. As more players weigh in, the ceiling rises (full scale unlocks at 100,000 reviews).

Scoring window: last 30 days (no significant patch detected) · 143 reviews sampled · 139 total reviews in window · weighted 106.2 up / 5.7 down · computed 1h ago · full methodology →

Press & Creators reviews (43)

Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.

  • 80
    FintendoFintendo
    trust 69Mar 27, 2019

    “"Rules are meant to be broken."”

    read full review ↗
  • 100
    3DNews3DNews
    trust 69Mar 24, 2019

    “Baba Is You is an elegant puzzle game, and one of the best in years. Simple in visuals, but really, really deep from the gameplay perspective.”

    read full review ↗
  • 80
    Nintendo LifeNintendo Life
    trust 68May 24, 2019

    “Baba Is You is like a compilation of gift shop brain teasers; they’re not for everyone, but some people can’t get enough of them. And while it may sound like just another sketchy smartphone game, it’s surprisingly one of the most unique puzzlers you can find on the Switch and the way in which it encourages you to break its rules and create your own ones is refreshing and unique. Its sudden difficulty spike and lack of a hint system could easily discourage some from continuing, but if you enjoy a good brain teasing, you could easily spend hours getting lost within Baba’s puzzles. Just make sure to take a break or two, or you may forget which Baba is you.”

    read full review ↗
  • 85
    Nindie SpotlightNindie Spotlight
    trust 65Mar 13, 2019

    “Why settle for going the normal route and following the game’s rules to win when you can simply look for ways to change the rules instead? This simple but smart premise is central to Baba Is You and will have you playing with each stage’s rules that are represented as words on the screen that you can move around and reconfigure...”

    read full review ↗
  • 90
    NintendoWorldReportNintendoWorldReport
    trust 64Mar 13, 2019

    “Logic puzzles don’t come more clever or rewarding than Baba Is You, and with that in mind, this is one of the best of its kind in recent memory. It just might stump you a lot.”

    read full review ↗
  • 100
    Checkpoint GamingCheckpoint Gaming
    trust 63Mar 21, 2019

    “Baba Is You is genuinely impressive. Changing the rule set of the game as you play is a powerful and compelling tool.”

    read full review ↗
  • 90
    Pocket Gamer UK
    trust 63Mar 14, 2019

    “Baba is You is a smart, silly, brilliant puzzler that demands your attention - ignore it at your own risk.”

    read full review ↗
  • 70
    The Game is a LieThe Game is a Lie
    trust 63Jul 2, 2019

    “Baba is You has very high peaks, especially in the early stages and in the introduction of new rules, but its lows are terrible. Trying to be extremely difficult, it ends up with a bad, frustrating, and stale level design. The game seems to have forgotten that less is usually more.”

    read full review ↗
  • 80
    EurogamerEurogamer
    trust 63Mar 15, 2019

    “Sokoban and coding collide in this clever puzzler.”

    read full review ↗
  • 70
    GameSpotGameSpot
    trust 63Mar 24, 2019

    “Baba is You is among the most seriously arduous games of its kind I’ve played, and when its rules are clear and its instructions legible, it’s gratifying in a way only hardcore suffering can be.”

    read full review ↗
  • 100
    GameLusterGameLuster
    trust 63May 26, 2019

    “Enjoy a relaxing puzzle game that innovates game mechanics in an easy and accessible way that doesn't lose the challenge that makes puzzle games entertaining.”

    read full review ↗
  • 90
    Metro GameCentralMetro GameCentral
    trust 62Mar 17, 2019

    “A hugely original puzzler that relies on raw logic in a way only a video game could, providing some of the most satisfyingly open-ended challenges of the generation.”

    read full review ↗

…and 31 more tracked reviews.

Patch history

  1. Version 481d
    Jan 2, 2026
  2. Soundtrack numbering adjusted
    Dec 6, 2024
  3. Version 478f
    Oct 20, 2023
  4. Version 477c
    Mar 13, 2023
  5. Build 475
    Jan 8, 2023
  6. Build 474
    Dec 15, 2022
  7. Build 473
    Sep 27, 2022
  8. Version 472
    Aug 30, 2022
  9. Build 470
    Jul 20, 2022
  10. Build 469
    Jun 12, 2022
  11. Build 468g
    Jun 9, 2022
  12. Version 468f
    Jun 8, 2022
  13. Version 468e (IMPORTANT FIX)
    Jun 7, 2022
  14. Build 467
    May 21, 2022
  15. Build 465
    Apr 9, 2022
  16. Build 464
    Mar 28, 2022
  17. Version 462d
    Mar 10, 2022
  18. Build 462
    Mar 6, 2022
  19. Build 461c
    Feb 28, 2022
  20. Build 461b
    Feb 26, 2022
  21. Build reverted
    Feb 26, 2022
  22. Version 461
    Feb 26, 2022
  23. Build 460c
    Feb 21, 2022
  24. Build 460
    Feb 21, 2022
  25. Build 459
    Feb 21, 2022
  26. Version 458b
    Feb 19, 2022
  27. Version 454
    Jan 16, 2022
  28. Version 453
    Jan 7, 2022
  29. Version 451c
    Jan 1, 2022
  30. Reverted back to 449b
    Dec 31, 2021
  31. Version 450
    Dec 31, 2021significant · resets scoring window
  32. Version 448
    Dec 5, 2021
  33. Version 446b
    Dec 3, 2021
  34. Version 445
    Nov 30, 2021
  35. Version 443
    Nov 28, 2021
  36. Version 442b
    Nov 27, 2021
  37. Version 442
    Nov 26, 2021
  38. Version 441e
    Nov 25, 2021
  39. Version 441b
    Nov 24, 2021
  40. Version 440b
    Nov 24, 2021

…and 47 earlier patch announcements.