Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning

Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning is a 2018 horror game developed and published by Micah McGonigal. Disguised as an educational game, the game is set in a schoolhouse, where the objective is to locate and collect notebooks, while avoiding being caught by Baldi. It parodies 1990s educational games by deconstructing their elements into metafictional horror.

Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning
Cover art depicting the game's title screen, and the main character, Baldi
Developer(s)	Micah McGonigal[a]
Publisher(s)	Basically, Games!
Engine	Unity
Platform(s)	Windows macOS Linux Android iOS
Release	March 31, 2018[not verified in body] 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

The game became popular for its difficulty, nostalgic gameplay, graphics and elements of surreal humour and simplicity.

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 is a puzzle horror game which satirizes 1990s educational games. The player has to locate seven notebooks scattered around a school without being caught by Baldi. Each notebook typically contains two simple arithmetic problems using the mathematics subject, but the third question is unsolvable in the second notebook onwards. As the player continues to fail the impossible questions, Baldi moves faster and becomes harder to avoid.^[1]

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,^[2][3] where it placed in second. In an interview with Game Developer, McGonigal cited the 1996 game Sonic's Schoolhouse as his main inspiration.^[4] The game used the concept of using video games and other entertainment mediums of education for kids.^[5]

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.^[6] In late 2019, the original game was ported to iOS and Android under the title Baldi's Basics Classic.^[7]

Reception and legacy

Cultural impact

The game became an online success for its absurdist humor, difficulty, and nostalgic gameplay. Several YouTubers such as Markiplier and PewDiePie have made videos on the game, which have gained popularity on YouTube.^[8][9] 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.^[3][10]

Notes

1. Known online as "mystman12"