ReMix:Baba Is You "Liquid Puzzles" 3:46

We just had Amiga love, and now it's time for indie game love, as Gaspode adds some nice heft to Arvi "Hempuli" Teikari's music for the puzzler Hempuli also designed, programmed, and published, Baba Is You! Gaspode gave a tip of the cap to the game's flummoxing powers:

"Sadly, I didn't play »Baba Is You« very far, because the puzzles were too hard for me. :o)

But the soundtrack of the first subworld, »The Lake«, immediately got stuck in my head.

I love the strange sound of the melody and decided to make a version with a lot more energy."

The game's conundrums may have put Gaspode off, but we're thankful that the musical spark was at least lit with this first in-game theme. Judge MindWanderer commiserated with Gaspode, for he too fell victim to Baba Is You's difficulty level:

"You're not alone in struggling through Baba is You. My most common complaint with puzzle games is that they're too easy. This game kicked my ass backwards and forwards. Still haven't finished it.

This is a very difficult source tune to remix. It's weirdly toneless and very long. I think I caught enough connections to qualify, though.

Very basic, old-school sound palette, but the soundscape is full and the tones are used appropriately. It's very '80s without quite being synthwave. The leads sound a little thin at times, but overall it works."

It's thin but it's fierce! ;-P The kicks brought in at :27 are beefy though. Ain't nothing wrong with that throwback palette; the textures aren't too complicated, which means you can appreciate the character of each individual line on repeat listens. Interesting choice building original writing on top of the source tune arrangement from 1:02-1:37. The source does meander a lot, sure, but y'all get why, don't be dense; it takes time to solve (or futily attempt to solve) those puzzles. :-D Judge prophetik music broke it down a little further, pointing out several arrangement and sound design highlights:

"intro is simple but the rhythmic elements are real nice. the beat that came in at 0:26 was surprising, but again i liked the rhythmic elements and the focus on the off-beat. 1:02 brings in some new instrumentation. i think that the lead here could have used some dynamic programming so it's not just sustaining long notes without moving much, but the lfo element on the tone itself was appreciated.

1:38 is a tonal shift, adding new rhythmic elements via stuttered and delayed synths. the original continues to be clearly evident through this section. there's a dropout at 2:32, and it builds back around to the instrumentation of the beginning. this is very similar to the opening, but there's some additional reinforcement in synths to make it not quite copypasta though close. this progresses through with some new countermelodic material until a fairly abrupt ending.

this is pretty straightforward but a great rendition of the original, nice work."

The lead notes being what they are is purely keeping with the style and function of the original theme, so I don't mind the arrangement adhereing to that same feel. The overall flow's a lot like the original in terms of different lines weaving in and out, only, in the case of Gaspode's track, you have wholly original compositional ideas as well that were part of those weaving parts. It all clicks nicely here while presenting a different, more active flavor. :-) The decision to grab Gaspode's Baba Is You track is nowhere near as confusing and befuddling as the game can be, so go ahead and dive into the liquid!