Baba Is You & Party House - Bitewing Preview
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Transcript
Welcome to Board Game Animal. My name is Justin, and today we're talking about the two latest games from Bitewing. Baba Is You and Party House. Now, both of these are based on pre-existing video games that I knew absolutely nothing about. And going into this, I chose to keep it that way and not delve into their source material at all because I want to approach it from the perspective of just someone who likes games. In a vacuum, I wanted to see what these games brought to the hobby in and of themselves. And just as a quick heads-up, please be well aware that everything you're about to see in this video is from prototype, so the components and the delivery of the form factor is not final and absolutely subject to change even compared to what you may see on the crowdfunding page. But, let's get to it.
Baba Is You is an unusually puzzly little brain burner where the puzzle isn't just challenging, it's something that you are constructing as you're playing it. You're constantly shifting and manipulating the landscape of what you're trying to accomplish during gameplay. And in a way, you're kind of defining what playing the game means. And that's because you're manipulating literally what things are. You are Baba, or should I say Baba Is You, and your opponent is Keke, or should I say Keke is you. And you add objects to the games and conditions or qualities. Meaning, depending on where the arrows are pointing, you could be rock and flag could be win. And Baba is win, and and you is Keke.
And I am he is you are he and you are me and we're all together. Goo goo goo goo goo goo. No, no, no. I I I know, it's a lot. It's a strange thing to wrap your head around, the fact that both players aren't just constantly vying to win or accomplish something, you're actually changing what the definition of those accomplishments are. I'm fascinated by games where you're not just gaming the game, but you are manipulating what the rules and win conditions of the game itself are. And it makes for a bizarre logic puzzle with multiple layers. And it it's challenging, but really unusually clever in how it all somehow just works. No surprise to me that in a weird way this game reminds me of another really brain-burning two-player game, That Time You Killed Me, because the designer, Peter Hayward, is a designer on Baba Is You.
Both are head-to-head puzzly rules and reality-warping two-player experiences that will leave you questioning your own sanity by the time you're done with a chapter. And that's something that I didn't even touch on yet. You're going to be journeying through chapter after chapter discovering new abilities, rules, situations, and just plain weirdness, and challenge that will sometimes make your brain melt in a little in all the right ways. I don't want to spoil what the game has to offer in later levels, but the landscape and what the game surprises you with is in constant flux. If you often play two-player games with a dedicated game partner, traversing the world of Baba Is You is something really fun to unpack with someone. And it's really worth your time to explore together and continue to be surprised as you're faced with challenges and new around every corner.
And Baba Is You is also cute in its delivery and form factor. Byte Wing has really captured the spirit and vibe of the original game, because I I do know what it looks like, which is really simple, minimalist in some ways, but with quaint, pleasant vibes on top of it, but lying the logical beast that it's hiding within. Yeah, if you want to have your brain melt in a good way, then definitely check out Baba Is You. Party House is a really funny, weird deck builder, because it it has that emblazoned right on there. It's a deck-building game. But it's not something that you'd immediately jump to from say uh Dominion when it comes to what your expectations of what a deck-building game may be. Cuz at the end of the day, what Party House brings to the table is it's a lot of really, really ridiculous fun. I like uh Party House, uh is it a rock tonight?
N- No. N- No, not at all. But isn't there every day I'm shuffling? All right. All right, enough. It's It's just all songs with you guys today. Anyway, yeah, so they're shuffling. In Party House, thematically, you're inviting party guests to your house for a wild, crazy time. But watch out for those troublemakers because too much trouble and your party's getting shut down. This is all flavor for the idea that you will be deck-building a pile of guests, and each turn you're throwing a party, drawing and revealing new guests to said party. Each one has various qualities. Some give you popularity or money that help attract more guests. You buy them, that's the deck-building part, but also many bring a little bit of trouble into the conversation. These are some wild, wacky folks that you're inviting over.
And if you push it too far on your turn as you continually flip cards and and have just one too many wild folks at your party, you're going to bust, essentially take a consolation prize, and proceed. If you like push-your-luck games and the idea of building your own push-your-luck engine, then this one is going to absolutely hit for you. The artwork and characters are fun. It is a really enticing time around the table watching and trash-talking or encouraging others to just try and push it. You can pull off some of the most satisfying combos of card effects and have great entertaining moments as people bust or if people pull off something that seems really impossible and just have a perfect turn. And there's even a really nice, simple solo mode that has almost no overhead, and it delivers the same experience of the game, but just in a single-session, quick push-your-luck deck-building masterclass. And I was surprised at how easy it is then how much of a striking resemblance it still bears to the competitive game, but just with the added pressure of a ticking clock.
Overall, this is a fun time. If you enjoy push your luck games or want deck building that has a very different flavor to it, you check out Party House. I think both of these games deliver really nicely in their respective corners in the hobby, regardless of what your experience is with the IP or the themes. Cuz again, I knew nothing going into these and it didn't hinder my enjoyment of the games. I think both brought interesting things to the table that definitely stand out in my collection. Not to mention the fact that they feel really unique and fresh in Bitewing's catalog in and of itself, while also being fresh and fun in the board game space in general. I think when it comes to games that are inspired by video games, these two will have some staying power and and bring a lot of fun to the table for folks. So, yeah, if you want to try a really weird, wacky, fun deck building game or a so clever that it hurts mind-melty two-player game, then you absolutely have to check out Party House and Baba Is You from Bitewing. The link to the crowdfunding is going to be down below. Make sure you check these guys out.
Thank you so much for Bitewing for letting us come along on this journey. As always, it is super appreciated. Thank you so much for liking, watching, and subscribing. If you have any questions, please leave them down below and don't forget to always play board games like an animal. Um let's see, like um like this guy. He looks like he's having fun.