Baba Is You is a 2D top down block pushing puzzle game for PC, the Nintendo Switch, and mobile. In it you play as a sheep/hamster/child's drawing named Baba (except when you aren't) who's trying to get to the Flag (Except when he isn't) in order to Win the level. It's an uncomplicated formula. What is complicated is the way your going to go about doing this. See each level has text blocks that you can push around to form new statements. For instance:
Baba Is You
This statement makes the player's avatar Baba. If You is not assigned to anything in the level then the player has no way of acting on the environment. This is a lose condition in almost all circumstances.
Flag Is Win
This statement makes reaching the Flag the win condition. Having the player on the same square as the win condition wins the level. This includes making the player avatar Win. Many levels have the player changing the Win object and others just have them trying to circumvent barriers to get it. This brings us to:
Wall Is Stop
Stop prevents you and other objects in the environment from moving onto the squares occupied by the Stopped object. Objects that have no verb attached are non entities and can be treated as scenery and don't interact with the player or anything else. If an unattached object is on another objects square and gains a property that would normally prevent them from colocating they'll remain like that until something happens to separate them at which point they act like normal.
Rock Is Push
Pushing objects around the level is the player's main way of acting on the environment. All Text blocks can be pushed by default. This let's the player change objects properties, create spacial arrangements, and otherwise play the game.
These are only the most common verbs and nouns that you'll see throughout the game. Sink, Melt, Defeat, Move, Hot, and like a hundred others grant a wide range of options. Is is not the only operator, objects can be made into other objects by statements like Baba Is Rock or made unalterable with statements like Baba Is Baba. If at any point you had the thought "that looks like assignment from programming" then you got it. Baba Is You is a puzzle game with several of the core concepts from programming baked into the game play. Push blocks, assign attributes, create simple automata and send them to do thing's Baba can't, etcetera.
Is it fun? For a certain value of fun, yes. Every level falls into two categories; trivially easy and utterly impossible. The latter tends to become the former hinging on a single epiphany. That's pretty much the whole experience of the game. If the feeling of an epiphany is worth a lot of time and frustration to you then you need this game. I don't think most people chase this feeling so I'm reticent to recommend it too generally but as puzzle games go this is top notch.
I'm presently still pretty far from beating this game. It's not for lack of trying as it's one of my most played games but it's pretty hard. Most sessions are opening the game, starting a level, spending all of five minutes trying to solve it, and quitting. I think that's more of a me thing, but it takes a bit of effort to shift into the mental gear to play with any level of skill. For all of the frustration and boredom I've experience playing this I would still recommend it. If I ever beat it I'll count it as a major accomplishment and probably one worth the effort. Find it here.
IRON NODER XIV: THE RETURN OF THE IRON NODER