Baldi's Basics (in Education and Learning), is a 2018 indie horror game created by Micah McGonigal, also known by his handle Mystman12.

You may be familiar with the game as it blew up in the youtube indie horror sphere practically overnight not long after it came out, with very big youtubers trying the game out and helping to launch it into success.

Part of why the game blew up like it did was because of the fact it fell into the category of "rage game" (intentionally or not), which tended to draw in views and was a very popular genre for youtube let's players like Markiplier to play at the time, it also parodied games like Slender and the Eight pages in a fun and refreshing way, which was already a very popular game on youtube in the early & mid 2010s.

I still remember when the game came out, I can't remember for the life of me when, or how, I found out about it.. But I used to be obsessed with creepypastas and random indie horror games as a young teenager (I think I was about 16 when it came out), so I probably found it through Markiplier, or Game Theory; or one of those adjacent channels. I was really interested in the game though, I know I watched a few minutes of Markiplier's video on it just to get a good look at the premise and thought it looked interesting so I downloaded it..And.....Literally could not beat it. I got jumpscared within like, 3 minutes of playing and it startled me SO badly that I was anxious for the remainder of my attempts to play it, I was pretty convinced the game was either unbeatable or too difficult for me to even fathom beating, so I just kind of put a pin in it to revisit later (which took like, 6 years for me to try it again.)

I did keep up with the game for a little while after this, Though. For about that first year or so around the initial hype of the game because I assumed it was going to be lore heavy like Fnaf was, the parody aspect of the game completely missing me (I was never a very bright child and my critical thinking didn't develop until way after puberty lol). But eventually I completely forgot about it and moved on. It did remain in the back of my head, though, and it would cross my thoughts occasionally, but this time in my life was tumultuous and I didn't have time nor energy to play games myself and didn't feel like getting invested in a youtuber playing a game that I could experience.

I don't know what put the game back on my radar, honestly. Sometime over the summer of 2024 I downloaded the game again because something had reminded me of it, And I'm not entirely sure what it was. I had gotten into Roblox games at this time because my friend wanted me to play Dress to Impress with him, So I feel like it was either something on Roblox that I saw, or maybe a CaseOh clip because he was also playing both of those games at the time. Twitter was flooded with those Baldi memes around then too, so it's entirely possible seeing the memes also sparked a renewed interest in trying the game again. I stream games for my friends to watch on discord and am always looking for new things to play, especially games that are scary or funny and Baldi is Definitely both of those things so that was my main motivation for playing it.

For whatever reason, I had decided to unmute myself while playing it. And I absolutely never unmute myself on discord. I just don't see the need to when I'm streaming a game, And it makes it harder for me to focus. I was a little bit anxious about playing it, I am definitely not one to scare easy nor be startled easy by games; I've played a lot of horror games in call with my friends before and not a lot of them scare me or make me anxious but I was GENUINELY scared to play this but I didn't think it'd ACTUALLY be scary or anything so I tried to ignore the fact it was making me anxious. Which immediately backfired, by the way. As soon as Baldi began chasing me I was frightened and confused, the rythmic slapping being so consistent and also being your primary method of locating Baldi builds a really good tension that feels unique, compared to other horror games I've played. Like mentioned previously, I knew how the game worked, so I was aware of what was going on but I still immediately panicked and got pinned by Playtime and proceeded to mess up every single jump and get caught by Baldi and it scared me SO badly, Like irrationally so, that I had screamed so fucking loud on call that I woke up my entire household, and begun crying at my big age of 22, and had to close the game. Which I thought was funny then in the moment, and still find hilarious now like as soon as the shock wore off I was laughing about it. None of the people who witnessed this or heard the scream have let me live it down and honestly I hope they never do.

This Experience cemented in me that I HAD to beat this game, like, this made me cry in front of my partner and best friend. It was simultaniously just as humilating as it was funny and I wanted revenge. I revisited it again later that week and still could not get over the panic it induced in me but the more I played it the more interesting I found the game and it's world.

It's odd, but I think I know why the game made me so upset the first few times I played it. It's very personal and very embarrassing so bare with me about it; The fact that it's a game about math.

Yes, the mere subject of math being in this game made it scary, sue me. But growing up, math was a very traumatic subject, I had a learning disability (I don't know what it was, but I assume dyscalculia), and struggled with it so badly. I was homeschooled, and my mom did not see a problem with me struggling with math so badly so she did not intervene, and if I struggled or couldn't pay attention I was forced to do the same basic problems over and over again as if it would suddenly make a concept I could not grasp click. She held me back a lot growing up. Just making me repeat the same basic additions and multiplication problems for years. I HATED math because it meant I wouldn't be able to do anything else all day besides something I literally, could not comprehend no matter how hard I tried, how many times I did it, or how it was explained to me.

And Baldi felt like that all over again. Solving the problems in the You Can Think Pad while Baldi was getting closer puts a pressure on the player, which builds GREAT tension for the game, it's part of why the game is so thrilling to me now. But even now as an adult, I struggle badly with very basic math. I cannot count or add unless I use fingers a lot of the time and I need a calculator for everything else. It's something that is very embarrassing to me, but it made the game so nervewracking to play because the first few times I tried it, I didn't know Baldi stopped approaching you while you were in the yctp. So I was rushing to figure out math problems I didn't understand on a basic level with the fear of being punished with an unexpected jumpscare if I messed up.

But, over time, the more I played the game the easier this got, I wasn't so anxious about how long it took anymore and, ended up memorizing a lot of the problems the game gave to you during the process of trying to memorize the best way to beat the game in general, as it's both a very luck, and map memorization heavy game. Baldi's Basics was teaching me math better than anyone else who ever tried. Because I was afraid to get jumpscared. And not only that, I started playing Plus over the fall, and I play it regularly, It's not just me memorizing certain problems, It actually taught me to do math quicker and comprehend the logic of math better. I have noticed this improvement in every day parts of my life, too, not just me improving at how I play the game.

But that's not the only thing it did for me; a couple years ago I caught covid, no this was not Baldi's fault, I'm getting there. I was one of the people who was badly affected by the virus and I believe I now suffer from long covid. One of my main symptoms is memory loss, I now struggle with memorizing really basic information, I forget common words and how to spell them, if I'm doing a task I'll forget what I was doing in the middle of it, etc. I'm not 100% sure that this is what's going on as I've had migraine disorder my whole life so some of these could be related to that I guess, but it lines up really well with me catching covid so I've been operating on an assumption since. Either way, I now struggle with a new slew of things.

As you may know, one of the things that are suggested to help people with memory issues, as well as other things such as attention span issues, and post traumatic stress are logic games. Most of the time this usually means stuff like Tetris, Rubiks cubes, Doctor Mario, Sudoku, Chess.. But I feel Baldi's Basics has had this same effect on me that these same things also had. And really, it makes sense; think about it, Baldi's Basics as a concept revolves around memorizing the map (and in the case of Baldi's Basics Plus, the maps are always different as they're procedurally generated, meaning you can't just google the map and item layout and beat it by memorizing a single reference image, AND a single game of BB+ has multiple floors, so it's going to be a different experience entirely each time you play), And adapting quickly to environment changes like characters disrupting you, having to manage items, and again in the case of BB+; random events. All while having to quickly solve random math problems, In BB+ the method of solving math problems is different from the classic Baldi's Basics, meaning you have to work quicker or he WILL catch up to you, you don't get a reprieve like you did in the original game! So, I mean, really, it requires you to pay complete attention to it, you have to memorize an evershifting map, solve math problems, and think quickly to get yourself out of situations. It's a great contender for a logic game as a result of all of these factors. And it's genuinely helped me with a lot of my memory issues, when I'm having a day where I just can't think clearly, I just play Plus for a couple rounds and my mind genuinely feels sharper, which is very similar to the experience many people with memory loss have with games like Tetris.

Besides what Baldi has done for me in these regards, the story behind it's creation is so inspiring to me. Its world is so colorful and fun, and as someone who grew up with the edutainment games it parodies as well as a passion for things of that era, it's familiar and nostalgic and it has a comforting affect to it. I genuinely love this game.

As a result of playing both Classic/remastered and Plus SO much, I don't find it very scary anymore, rather I find the tension it builds to be thrilling and engaging. I have formed a lot of pleasant memories with the Baldi games in the last year. Me and my partner got together officially not long after I first played it so the memories of the early moments of our relationship are deeply attached to the game, and I stream it to him often, hell when we had our first date I played it for him on my phone while we were cuddling. It got me through some really stressful times with my rescue snake, it's been the thing to calm me down after a long day, I play it when I need a pick-me up or a laugh (because Gotta Sweep's obnoxious yelling or.....Everything about Dr. Reflex's sprites will always make me giggle), It's only been in my life for a year at this point but it's been a long year and I don't see this game being something that leaves my routine anytime soon.

I doubt Mystman12 will ever find this little page on my obscure personal website, but if it ever does find it's way to him, I want you to know how much I thank you for making this game. It's dramatically helped improve my quality of life in regards to my memory loss, and it's nothing short of a small miracle that it helped me understand the logic of math (at least to me). I find this game and it's development story incredibly inspiring as a fellow creative, and I love that Baldi and a lot of the elements of his world come from your childhood creations and experiences, it's genuinely comforting to see someone continue to nurture their creativity and creations like that. And you really have created something special with this game, It's going to always stick in my mind and it truly changed and improved my life for the better.

I'd like to talk more about this game in the future, as I do have more things to say about it, but for now I think I'll relegate anything else I have to say to a new page. In the future I would like to make another website just about the game actually, like a nonfiction website that treats it as a real edutainment game rather than a horror genre parody.

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_{Last updated: 7.2.25.}