Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning

Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning, retrospectively known as Baldi's Basics Classic, is a 2018 horror game developed and published by Micah McGonigal. Disguised as an educational game, Baldi's Basics is set in a schoolhouse, where the objective is to locate notebooks and avoid being caught by Baldi or other NPCs. The game became popular for its difficulty, nostalgic gameplay and graphics and elements of surreal humour and simplicity. It parodies 1990s educational games by deconstructing their elements into metafictional horror.

Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning
Developer(s)	Micah McGonigal[a]
Publisher(s)	Basically, Games!
Engine	Unity
Platform(s)	Windows macOS Linux Android iOS
Release	March 31, 2018 Windows, macOS, Linux WW: March 31, 2018 Android, iOS WW: December 17, 2019 Baldi's Basics Classic Remastered Windows, macOS, Linux WW: October 21, 2022
Genre(s)	Horror puzzle educational
Mode(s)	Single-player

Gameplay

A screenshot of Baldi's Basics Classic Remastered before the player collects any notebooks. Baldi, the game's titular antagonist, stands in the distance.

Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning intentionally misleads first-time players into thinking it is a children's educational video game, with its main screen resembling a children's educational video game. Baldi's Basics follows a student who enters a schoolhouse. There are two modes available, Story Mode and Endless Mode. In Story Mode, the player has to locate seven notebooks scattered around a schoolhouse without being caught by Baldi. The first notebook will be three simple arithmetic problems. However, the following notebooks contain only two simple arithmetic problems, and an unsolvable problem that must be failed to progress the game. As the player continues to fail the impossible problems, Baldi moves faster and becomes harder to avoid. Additionally, the player has to face six non-player characters: It's a Bully, Principal of the Thing, Playtime, Gotta Sweep, 1st Prize and Arts and Crafters. After collecting all notebooks, the player then has to locate all four exits to complete the game.^[1]

If the player gets all of the math problems wrong, a secret ending will be triggered in which they meet with a character named NULL, who warns that the game must be "destroyed". NULL is also heard after the player collects all notebooks, screaming "get out while you still can" over Baldi's voice.

In Baldi's Basics Plus, there is more content, including characters such as Cloudy Copter,^[b] Chalkles, Beans, Mrs. Pomp, The Test, Dr. Reflex, Johnny, other unnamed students, multiple procedurally generated floors, a Challenge Mode, Field Trips, and more.^[2]

Development and release

Baldi's Basics was created by Micah McGonigal, and it was initially made as an entry in the 2018 Meta-GameJam on Itch.io,^[3][4] where it placed in second. In an interview with Game Developer, McGonigal cited the 1996 game Sonic's Schoolhouse as his main inspiration.^[5] The game used the concept of using video games and other entertainment mediums of education for kids.^[6]

McGonigal launched a Kickstarter campaign, where he announced that a "full game," titled Baldi's Basics Plus, would be released in early 2020 as an early access title.^[7] In late 2019, the original game was ported to iOS and Android under the title Baldi's Basics Classic.^[8]

Reception and legacy

Cultural impact

The game became an online success for its absurdist humor, difficulty, and nostalgic gameplay. Several YouTubers such as DanTDM, Markiplier, jacksepticeye, PewDiePie and CoryxKenshin have made videos on the game, which have gained popularity on YouTube.^[9][10] Various other content created by fans of the game, including a song adaptation by video game musical group Random Encounters, further contributed to its popularity.^[4][11]

Notes

1. Known online as "mystman12" and "Basically, Games!"
2. Originally introduced in Baldi's Basics – Field Trip demo: Camping