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Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by NegativeMP1 (talk | contribs) at 19:53, 19 July 2025 (not sourced in the article body, closest thing is that a port was called baldi's basics classic, but the game itself isn't retroactively named this in full). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning
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 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.

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" and "Basically, Games!"

References

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ 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). Retrieved September 4, 2023.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ Bycer, Joshua (September 20, 2019). Game Design Deep Dive: Horror. CRC Press. p. 85. ISBN 9781000451016.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ Andre (December 30, 2019). "Basically Games veröffentlicht Baldi's Basics Classic" [Basically Games publishes Baldi's Basics Classic]. Pixel (in German). Retrieved September 4, 2023.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ "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.
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