Baldi’s Basics

Baldi’s Basics is a puzzle horror game developed and published by Micah McGonigal. Disguised as an educational game, it parodies 1990s educational games by deconstructing their elements into metafictional horror. The game is set in a schoolhouse, where the objective is to locate and collect notebooks, escape the school to take them to the player’s friend who lost them, and avoid being caught by Baldi. The game features many game modes that change gameplay subtly or drastically.

Baldi’s Basics is a 3D puzzle horror game that satirizes 1990s educational games. The player has to locate seven notebooks scattered around a school; they belong to the player character’s friend, who cannot retrieve them to avoid being late for “eating practice”. Each notebook contains three simple math problems, but after the first notebook, the third question becomes unsolvable. As the player continues to fail the questions, some of which are impossible, Baldi becomes more aggressive, moves faster, and becomes harder to avoid.

Baldi hears every sound that the player makes and chases them with his wooden ruler. As he moves, he smacks the ruler, making a sound to alert the player as to the approximate location of Baldi. If the player gets caught by Baldi, they are jumpscared, resulting in a game over. The player may encounter other characters that can be used to their advantage or should be avoided, such as Principal, Bully, or Playtime. The Principal locks the player in detention for a short period of time, which increases with every visit, after breaking one of the school rules.

Bully, a naughty student who will take one of the player’s items upon interaction, and if they have none, he will act as a human barrier, blocking a path. Playtime forces the player to jump rope 5 times in a row. Items are scattered around the facility, which the player can use to defend themselves. For example, the player can use safety scissors to cut Playtime’s rope, temporarily preventing her from stopping you. After collecting seven notebooks, the player has to find all four school exits to beat the game, without being caught by Baldi. The original game features both a story mode and an endless mode; in the latter, the player must keep collecting notebooks until Baldi catches them.