- Rich content, offers great value.
- Passionate development provides continuous updates.
- Superior evolution of Baldi's Basics concept.
- Unique roguelike edutainment horror experience.
- Difficulty can be overwhelming, causing frustration.
- Some find content and replayability limited.
Emotions
Players are satisfied by the game's continuous evolution and high quality, offering substantial content, replayability, and value for money. They appreciate the fun, strategic, and often challenging gameplay, along with frequent updates and a supportive modding community that enhance the overall experience.
Excitement stems from the game's active development, new features, and ongoing updates that introduce fresh content and dynamic gameplay. Players are thrilled by the game's chaotic and intense survival courses, often anticipating the full release and future additions, enhancing its moddability and replayability.
Joy is primarily derived from the game's genuinely fun, chaotic, and often humorous gameplay, enhanced by its unique characters and entertaining mechanics. Players experience happiness from its addictive nature, ability to alleviate boredom, and the overall positive and sometimes even impactful experience it provides.
Frustration arises from the game's perceived unfair difficulty spikes, particularly on certain levels or due to RNG-based mechanics and disruptive NPCs. Players also express annoyance over game-breaking bugs, loss of progress, and challenges with mod installation or specific design choices.
Players find enjoyment in the game's fun, addictive, and often chaotic gameplay, which frequently incorporates challenging elements. The unique characters, procedural generation, and appealing retro aesthetic contribute to a highly engaging experience, often making players return for prolonged sessions despite or because of the difficulty.
Verdict
Mostly positive
Summary
Positive 93% · Negative 7%. Score: 7 / 100
Positives:
- Players consistently praise the game for its vast amount of content, including diverse characters, items, modes, and challenges. Frequent updates continually add new features, ensuring the game offers significant replayability and is well worth its price, even in Early Access.
- The game is widely seen as a product of passion, with the developer consistently delivering high-quality updates and actively listening to community feedback. This dedication has led to continuous improvements, making the game better with each new version.
- Players view the game as a significant and superior evolution of the original Baldi's Basics, expanding on its core concepts with many new features and mechanics. It evokes nostalgia for the classic while offering a fresh, enhanced, and more polished experience, making it the definitive version for fans.
- The gameplay is lauded for its dynamic, chaotic, and unpredictable nature, which keeps players engaged and requires fast thinking and strategic mastery. This blend of humor and intense challenge prevents monotony and provides a deeply addictive and fun experience.
- The game is celebrated for its distinctive genre blend, combining elements of a roguelike with retro-styled edutainment horror. It masterfully balances humor, satire, and genuine tension, creating a unique and often scary atmosphere that stands out in the indie horror landscape.
Negatives:
- Many players find the game's recent updates have made it excessively difficult and frustrating, leading to a less enjoyable experience and burnout. Specific issues include overly complicated mechanics, unfair moments, and a feeling of being constantly overwhelmed. The game's current length is also deemed too long for casual play.
- Players feel the game lacks a compelling story, proper ending, and meaningful long-term objectives, especially for an early access title. The current game modes are perceived as too few and repetitive, offering limited replay value once completed, which contributes to boredom over time. Achievements are also desired to enhance engagement.
- A significant number of players believe the current price point of the game is too high given its present content and early access state. Many suggest a lower price would be more appropriate for what the game currently offers.
- Players struggle with inconsistent difficulty spikes, particularly on later floors (e.g., floors 2, 3, 4, 5), and feel there isn't an accessible easy mode for new players. The main game mode lacks customization options, and the endless mode doesn't offer enough variety, making it hard to progress or enjoy.
- Specific characters like Playtime, Arts and Crafters, the Principal, and Dr. Reflex are frequently cited as frustrating due to their disruptive mechanics, unfair interactions, or ability to ruin player runs. Players express a desire for these characters to be less punishing or more forgiving.
Gameplay:
- Players are relentlessly chased by Baldi, an angry bald teacher, who becomes faster and more aware as notebooks are collected or mistakes are made. Strategic use of items and navigating the maze-like school are crucial to avoid his ruler attacks and the interference of other characters.
- The game offers an accessible tutorial and basic controls, making it easy to pick up. However, mastering it requires significant strategy, quick reflexes, and adapting to tough, randomized mechanics, leading to a challenging experience that ranges from simple to very difficult.
- The game features multiple floors (up to 5 in story/hide & seek modes) with increasing difficulty and new mechanics, along with a variety of game modes like Endless, Hide and Seek, and Explorer. Each floor is procedurally generated, offering fresh challenges and extended playtime.
- The game is fundamentally a randomized stealth roguelike, featuring procedural level generation and RNG elements that contribute to high replayability. Players often die repeatedly, learning and adapting strategies in a mild horror setting.
- The primary objective involves collecting notebooks found by solving math and memory puzzles, often under time pressure. The number of notebooks needed varies by floor, directly impacting progression and Baldi's behavior.
Performance:
- Players frequently praise the game for its minimal PC requirements, noting that it runs exceptionally well even on older or low-end hardware, often referred to as 'potato PCs'. This ensures broad accessibility and a smooth experience across various system configurations.
- The game is consistently reported to have very few or no bugs, with many players stating they encountered a smooth, glitch-free experience. This indicates a high level of polish and stability in the game's development.
- The game performs great on the Steam Deck, providing a smooth and optimized experience for players using this portable gaming device. This expands the game's reach to handheld users without compromising performance.
- Players noted the game's distinct low-bit audio design. This is perceived as a deliberate stylistic choice rather than a technical flaw, contributing to the game's unique aesthetic.
Recommendations:
- Many players strongly recommend the game, often citing its high quality, engaging replayability, and strong value for its price point. While many enthusiastically urge immediate purchase, some advise considering sales if the initial price is a concern, expressing overall satisfaction with their investment.
- The game is currently in Early Access, with many players expressing high anticipation for future updates and its full release. There's a common sentiment that the price will increase upon leaving Early Access, with some encouraging purchases now to support developers and benefit from current pricing.
- Feedback indicates a desire for refined gameplay balance, with some players finding the difficulty challenging. Suggestions include adjusting the difficulty curve or adding new gameplay mechanics and easter eggs to maintain player engagement and interest.
- Players recommend the game to those who enjoy niche genres such as roguelikes, mild horror, stealth, and strategy, or those seeking an absurd, creative, and unconventional gaming experience. It's also highlighted as suitable for speedrunners and horror game YouTubers.
Miscellaneous:
- Players are highly anticipating the game's exit from Early Access, looking forward to version 1.0, and expecting numerous future updates. There's significant excitement for new content, features, and the game's evolution, understanding that it is still in active development.
- The game is strongly associated with the original Baldi's Basics, drawing in a fanbase familiar with its 2018 release and evolution. Some players express strong sentiment towards Baldi himself, even suggesting playing as him or removing him, highlighting the character's central role.
- Players have varied opinions on the game's genre, particularly whether it qualifies as a horror game. Initial impressions range from 'boring' to 'very cool', ultimately settling on 'okay' to 'pretty good', indicating a generally positive but not universally thrilling experience.
- Reviewers acknowledge the game's significant evolution since its original release and appreciate updates. Some express a desire for major gameplay updates and, in some cases, even a way to revert to older versions, indicating a dynamic relationship with the game's development.
- The game includes elements like flashing lights, loud noises, and jumpscares, leading to concerns for some players who did not read warnings. There's also feedback on its suitability for various age groups, suggesting it appeals to teens and adults but can also be enjoyed by slightly older kids.
