YMMV / Baba is You

• Awesome Moments: Some people have managed to turn this Programming Game into a programming language with the help of the Level Editor. This video, for instance, adapts Conway's Game of Life using the commands of Baba is You.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Anni, who only appears in one level of the game, and is not controllable, seeming to be a reference to someone who helped work on the game (more information in the Heartwarming Moments section), is a commonly loved character just for how interesting and underutilized she is, especially with how adorable her character design is. She's also the only character to get the "BEST" property, which seems to do nothing outside of emit particles, leading to more intrigue and love from the community just because of how weird her placement is, even if the context is just a special thanks.
• Funny Moments:
  • Level Meta-10, "Just No," has NINE "NOT" operators for you to work with. It's a simple level, but it's sure to elicit a laugh when you see the truly absurd number of NOTS.
  • The Level Editor has a "rebellious teen" version of BABA named BADBAD, which has an ear piercing, red roller skates, Angry Eyebrows and the ability to say darn 3 times a day. Yes, it's every bit as ridiculous as it sounds.
  • Hempuli went on to make a Baba is You XTREME version. It looks just like the first few levels of the game... but all objects are not bound by a grid and can slip, slide and spin.
• Genius Bonus: Why the main characters are named "Baba" and "Keke" might seem like just another quirk of an already quirky game - unless you know the Bouba/Kiki effect. Indeed, the effect and its general implications on word/property association end up explaining not only the character names, but also the game's core premise of joining words with properties to solve puzzles.
• Heartwarming Moments: Rocket Trip 02 (Lonely Flag) has the rule "ANNI IS BEST" isolated away in the upper-left corner. While it's not out of place with the game's quirky humor, a look at the credits shows "Encouragement, Feedback and Support" credited to Anni Leskelä.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: BABA NUMBER FIVE
  • It's relatively popular for people to recreate other memes, but with the style and syntax of phrases made in Baba is You, such as "Virgin vs. Chad◊", "Bart, I don't want to alarm you", "Bro you just posted cringe◊", "Loss◊", "(chuckles) I'm in danger"...
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The "Infinite Loop", caused by the game trying to process too many rules in a single turn or when attempting to create a set of rules that irresolvably contradict themselves (e.g., setting up "ROCK IS WORD" and then using a literal rock to set up "ROCK IS NOT WORD" simultaneously). If triggered, the entire level is suddenly erased and a loud sound resembling a deformed "rule formed" sound emits before going into Drone of Dread. What furthers the creepiness is an eerie and foreboding "INFINITE LOOP" forming on the screen in red text.
  • In a similar vein, the "Too complex!" screen, which shows up when too many objects are created or try to move in a single turn. Its appearance is nearly identical to the infinite loop, complete with the same level destruction and demented sound effect, but this time there's nothing but the red text in the center of the screen, arguably making it even creepier. The fact that the message ends with an exclamation point almost gives the impression that the game itself is calling out the player for breaking it.
  • The true ending. The normal ending can be reached not long after beginning the game, but if you decide to venture deeper into the game including through three extra worlds, you will come to the true finale where you get to erase the world. By far the most unsettling aspect of the "true ending" is the credits. You get to see the text of the credits scroll just float around and slowly crumple apart the longer it goes on, almost to the point where it resembles Black Speech.
  • As a lesser example, Meta-10, "Just No," is the only level in the game to use the "ominous" color palette of pure reds and grays, has a wall of skulls right down the middle of the level that will likely be the first thing you see, and uses the unsettling Forest of Fall music on top of that.
  • Any time when there isn't a player-controllable object while playing a level (such as by breaking up the "Baba is You" rule and there is no other similar rule), the background music fades out and gets replaced by an empty, creepy ambience. "Nothing Is Scarier" doesn't even begin to cover it - you literally can't do anything in this state, only see whatever you were controlling become completely immobile as the rest of the level exists and even acts on its own (if there are rules that allow it). It can thankfully be undone, but that doesn't stop it from being terrifying.
• Scrappy Mechanic:
  • The PULL and SWAP rules are not very well-liked, as they tend to be fiddly to deal with. The official Twitter account has poked fun at this.
  • The 3D keyword introduced in the level editor update doesn't get much attention due to the fact it denies you a full view of the level and is very disorienting considering the simplistic art style coupled with the first-person view preventing players from judging exactly where they are. The 3D controls also ultimately make movement much more sluggish, considering you have to turn with the left/right inputs in order to change direction. The keyword's one advantage over YOU—the ability to switch between other entities that are also 3D by pressing down—doesn't even get much focus as the slow and disorientating nature of 3D is more trouble than it's worth. There's a reason why this particular keyword is mostly used for aesthetic purposes or first-person homages, rather than a puzzle element.
• That One Puzzle: While the game as a whole is generally considered pretty tough, some require bigger leaps of logic and/or less forgiving set-ups than others. These puzzles go above and beyond what the game usually asks of you:
  • "Prison", the puzzle that introduced overlapping objects. The level featured Baba and Keke trapped inside of an impassible Wall formation, with the Flag on the outside of confinement. The player was given very few options on what to do, and was seemingly unsolvable, unless you, for some reason, chose to sandwich "WALL is STOP" between Baba and Keke, then pushed it up/down, causing it to overlap with one of the characters and letting them push the rule apart. This eventually got nerfed in an update; "Prison" now has a far simpler solution, and the old layout has been moved to an optional level named "Dungeon".
  • "Scenic Pond", a level so challenging that it reappears twice throughout the game just to mess with you. This level requires you to engage in complex shenanigans using the Has and TEXT keywords in order to breach the pool of Water and the Skull, forcing you to juggle various words and their positions to figure out what to do. While the puzzle is at least a little forgiving in places, the harder variants remove what little hand-holding there is, making it far easier to screw yourself out of the solution.
  • "Guardians" requires the player to understand how "EMPTY" and "PULL" works. Not only that but the player needs to find the right setup to execute the main solution of the level.
  • "Crushers" can be "won" easily at a glance, but your real goal involves tight maneuvering and clever manipulation of the "SHIFT" command to get the pieces in order. This is a level where many would get stuck at.
  • "Booby Trap" has many possible "solutions" besides the "WIN" command, and you're going to need to revisit it a lot of times, each for a different solution, to progress.
  • "The Box" seems simple at a glance - all you have to do is maneuver some rocks and create a win condition using the "FLAG" keyword. This is deceptive - the level is literally unsolvable, and clearing it mandates a tactic so logic-defying that anyone who figures it out on their own ought to get a prize for it: you have to make the level next to "The Box" on the overworld into a Flag, then change the "FLAG is WIN" rule into "LEVEL near FLAG is WIN". While the solution is usually regarded as extremely clever and funny, it's also nigh-impossible to figure out without a guide due to how out there it is.

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