When you openSteam, you’re bombarded by all the biggest and most popular games that are on the platform. With thousands of titles vying for attention, it can be easy to overlook the smaller gems that are hiding in the storefront’s darker corners.
Babbdiis one of thoseoften-overlooked quiet hits.Created by the brothers Sirius and Léonard Lemaitre,Babbdiis a free experience that’s unlike any other on Steam. If you’re looking for a game that’s verydifferent from the mainstream hits, step into thebrutalist, surreal world ofBabbdi.
Babbdi Is A Surreal Dreamscape You Can Wander for Free
A Brutalist, Atmospheric World To Explore
The Steam description forBabbdidoesn’t give much away, simply calling it a"short, first person exploration experience.“And that’s exactly what it is: an experience centered aroundexploration and discovery.
Babbdiisn’t a game in the traditional sense. The game centers around the titular town, a “foresaken district” located just outside a large urban center. You load into a concrete apartment building that’s sparsely populated by odd-looking characters who all seem to dream of leaving Babbdi.
From there, you can walk, run, and jump across agray landscape of buildings and industrial structures, discovering what the stark city has to offer. While there are no real quests or goals inBabbdi,there are 21 secret objects to collect and several achievements you can earn. These range from climbing to the highest point of the city, to “Get hit by a train.”
But these achievements aren’t the point, anyway;the whole point of the game is the experience itself. Find quiet moments of joy in the otherwise bleak environment, like rolling a big boulder around for seemingly no reason, or crashing a garbage-fire dance party in the sewers. All the while, be on the lookout for a train ticket, which is your literal ticket out of this desolate city.
Babbdi Is One Of Steam’s Most Captivating Hidden Treasures
The Surreal Cityscape Makes A Lasting Impression
It’s hard to describeBabbdito someone who hasn’t experienced it, and it’s even more difficult to explain what makes it so captivating. A review byRiverBankHanksimply states,“This is the loneliest a game has ever made me,“which is the most accurate description I’ve seen.
Babbdiis an avant-garde, surreal title that feels like walking through a dream you may’t wake up from. It leaves you feeling bleak and, yes, quite lonely as you wander the industrial, concrete streets and walkways, even when there are other characters nearby.
But it’s also an oddly hopeful, atmospheric environment thatdelights in finding beauty in the mundane. The experience gives players and residents a sliver of hope: No matter how stuck you may feel in life, if you look hard enough, you may find the ticket to help you escape.
Babbdiis not a game that everyone will enjoy, butsince it’s completely freeonSteam, you have nothing to lose.
