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Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning

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Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning
The original cover art depicting the game's title screen, and the main character, Baldi
Developer(s)Micah McGonigal[a]
Publisher(s)Basically, Games!
EngineUnity
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)
Mode(s)Single-player

Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning[b] is a 2018 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 and escape the school to take them to player's friend who lost them, while avoiding being caught by Baldi. The game features many game modes that changes gameplay subtly or drastically.

It was developed for the Meta-GameJam in 2018, and released on Itch.io. The game's main source of inspiration during its development was Sonic's Schoolhouse (1996). It was positively received upon release. Following its success, the game was expanded upon in the form of successors such as Baldi's Basics Plus in 2020 and Baldi's Basics Classic Remastered in 2022.

Gameplay

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A screenshot of the beginning of the remastered edition. Baldi, the game's titular antagonist, stands in the distance.

Baldi's Basics is a 3D puzzle horror game that satirizes 1990s educational games.[1] The player has to locate seven notebooks scattered around a school;[2] they belong to the player character's friend, who cannot retrieve them to avoid being late for "eating practice".[3] Each notebook contains three arithmetic problems within the mathematics subject, but after the first notebook the third question becomes unsolvable. As the player continues to fail the questions, of which some are impossible, Baldi becomes more aggressive, moves faster and becomes harder to avoid.[4] Baldi hears every sound that the player makes,[1] 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.[4][5] If the player gets caught by Baldi, they are jumpscared, resulting in a game over.[4]

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 that will take one of the player's items upon interation, and if he have none he'll start bullying, blocking a path. And Playtime forces player to jump rope for a certain amount of time.[5][6][7] Items are scattered around the facility, which the player can use to defend themself,[6] like from Playtime using scissors to cut her rope.[7] After collecting seven notebooks, the player has to find all four school exits to beat the game, without been caught by Baldi.[2][6] 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.[1][8]

Other versions and releases of the game, such as Baldi's Basics Birthday Bash and Baldi's Basics Classic Remastered, include additional features such as randomly-chosen items.[2][1] The latter game features a "Demo" mode, which blends the original with the elements from Baldi's Basics Plus.[1]

Development and release

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Baldi's Basics was created by Micah McGonigal as an entry in the 2018 Meta-GameJam released at March 31, on Itch.io,[5][9][10] where it placed in second.[1] In interviews, McGonigal cited the 1996 video game Sonic's Schoolhouse as his main inspiration. While he never played it, he chose it due to unsettling visuals of the game, with its poor and inconsistent blend of 3D and 2D elements.[11][12] Music for the game was produced using MIDI.[7]

Following the game's popularity online and now that McGonigal was considering a job as a video game developer viable,[13] he launched a Kickstarter campaign on July 24, 2018, where he announced that a "full game," titled Baldi's Basics Plus, would be released by August 23 with a funding goal of US$50,000.[13][14] Alongside a demo titled Baldi's Basics: Field Trip,[15][16] which is set in a field trip in the middle of a forest; Baldi tasks the player with keeping a campfire going by searching for firewood before a timer runs out. Failing results in Baldi chasing the player; a game over follows suit.[15][17] The campaign succeeded, surpassing over half of its initial goal, by August 3.[18]

On April 1, 2019, for the first anniversary of the game, a birthday-themed version titled Baldi's Basics Birthday Bash was released. It added randomly-chosen items, two of which introduced in this version, as well as birthday decorations and costumes for the characters.[2] Later that same year, the original game was ported to iOS and Android under the name Baldi's Basics Classic.[6][8] With a planned release date of December 2019,[14] which later became early 2020,[8] Baldi's Basics Plus was eventually released as an early access title on June 12 2020.[7][19] Teased in April 2021, Baldi’s Basics Classic Remastered was released on October 21, 2022; the game remakes both the original and the Birthday Bash, and adds a mode that blends elements from the original with Baldi's Basics Plus.[1][20]

Reception

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Cultural impact

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The game became an online success for its absurdist humor, difficulty, and nostalgic gameplay. Several Let's Play YouTubers such as Markiplier and PewDiePie have made videos on the game, which gained popularity on YouTube.[10][21][22] 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.[2][9][22]

Notes

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  1. ^ Known online as "mystman12"
  2. ^ Also known as Baldi's Basics Classic

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Basically Games Announces Baldi's Basics Classic Remastered is Available now, October 21, With a New Trailer". Game Developer. October 24, 2022. Archived from the original on January 18, 2024. Retrieved July 31, 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e "PC download charts: Why are 'Baldi's Basics' and 'Totally Accurate Battle Simulator' so popular again?". Philippine Daily Inquirer. AFP-Relaxnews. April 9, 2019. Archived from the original on February 21, 2025. Retrieved March 3, 2025.
  3. ^ Micah McGonigal (mystman12). Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning (2018) (Windows, macOS, Linux). Level/area: Menu (How to play). Oh noes! [sic] School is out, but your friend has a Problem! [sic] He left all of his notebooks in school, but doesn't have time to go get them, becasuse [sic] if he does he'll be late for eating practice. To help him out, you have to go back in school and find all his notebooks for him.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ a b c Jackson, Gita (April 12, 2018). "A Free Game That Makes Math More Scary". Kotaku. Archived from the original on October 12, 2022. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
  5. ^ a b c Faribeault, Francois (October 13, 2022). "Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning, le jeu qui mélange éducation et horreur" [Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning, the game that mixes education and horror]. Konbini (in French). Archived from the original on August 30, 2023. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d Andre (December 30, 2019). "Basically Games veröffentlicht Baldi's Basics Classic" [Basically Games publishes Baldi's Basics Classic]. Pixel (in German). Archived from the original on August 30, 2023. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
  7. ^ a b c d Kurosawa, Yuki (June 13, 2020). "サイコ90年代教育ゲーム風ホラー『Baldi's Basics Plus』Steamなどで早期アクセス配信開始。インターネット老人会を恐怖させるローポリ教師との鬼ごっこ" [Psychological 90s educational horror game "Baldi's Basics Plus" now available on Steam and other platforms. A low-poly teacher terrorizes the internet senior citizens' club.]. Automaton.com (in Japanese). Archived from the original on June 14, 2020. Retrieved August 2, 2025.
  8. ^ a b c Bald, Cameron (December 23, 2019). "Baldi's Basics Classic, a mobile version of the game, creeps onto Android and iOS". Pocket Gamer. Archived from the original on October 5, 2021. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
  9. ^ a b Zarzycka, Agata (2022). "Ridiculing the Player: Live-Action Visualisations of Game Experience in YouTube Parody Videos as an Ambivalent Strategy of Self-Fashioning". In Giappone, Krista Bonello Rutter; Majkowski, Tomasz Z.; Švelch, Jaroslav (eds.). Video Games and Comedy. Palgrave Studies in Comedy. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 226–230. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-88338-6_11. ISBN 978-3-030-88337-9.
  10. ^ a b Wöbbeking, Jan (June 8, 2018). "Baldie's Basics in Education and Learning: Bizarrer Überlebenskampf in der Edutainment-Schule". 4Players (in German). Archived from the original on July 10, 2022. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
  11. ^ Couture, Joel (August 13, 2018). "How Baldie's Basics taps into the real horror of '90s edutainment". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on May 3, 2019. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
  12. ^ Cameron, Phill (August 13, 2018). "How Baldi's Basics taps into the real horror of '90s edutainment". Game Developer. Archived from the original on August 27, 2021. Retrieved July 27, 2025.
  13. ^ a b Truong, Momoka (July 25, 2018). "Baldi's Basics becoming a larger, more complete game through Kickstarter campaign". Rely on Horror. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved August 3, 2025.
  14. ^ a b Deogracias, Elisha (July 26, 2018). "No running in the halls! Baldi's Basics gets a Kickstarter campaign, aims for full release next year". Gaming Trend. Retrieved July 30, 2025.
  15. ^ a b Nguyen, Keoni (July 25, 2018). "Baldi's Basics is becoming a full game and a brand new demo for it is out now". Kotaku. Archived from the original on July 26, 2018. Retrieved July 31, 2025.
  16. ^ AFP Relaxnews (August 8, 2018). "Weekly PC download charts: 'No Man's Sky', 'Monster Hunter: World' depose 'PUBG'". INQUIRER.net. Archived from the original on July 29, 2025. Retrieved July 31, 2025.
  17. ^ Nguyen, Keoni (July 25, 2018). "Baldi's Basics is Becoming a Full Game". Kotaku UK. Archived from the original on May 3, 2019. Retrieved August 2, 2025.
  18. ^ Deogracias, Elisha (August 3, 2018). "You call hamburgers steamed hams — Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning creator on development, burgers". Gaming Trend. Retrieved July 30, 2025.
  19. ^ Pearson, Ryan (May 11, 2020). "Baldi's Basics Plus Enters Early Access June 12". Niche Gamer. Archived from the original on December 3, 2022. Retrieved August 2, 2025.
  20. ^ ""Basically Games Announces Baldi's Basics Classic Remastered is Available now, October 21, With a New Trailer"". Games Press. October 24, 2022. Archived from the original on October 28, 2022. Retrieved July 31, 2025.
  21. ^ Nguyen, Keoni (June 25, 2018). "A Fake Edutainment Game Is Now A YouTube Hit". Kotaku. Archived from the original on July 11, 2022. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
  22. ^ a b Conville, Caitlyn (May 15, 2018). "'Baldi's Basics' Brings Nostalgia for Millennial Gamers". Study Breaks. Archived from the original on February 28, 2022. Retrieved August 3, 2025.
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