BABDDI is a first person exploration game created by Sirius Lemaitre and Léonard Lemaitre. The game was released on Steam in December 2022. The narrative of BABDDI is told by exploring an abandoned city, talking to NPC inhabitants, collecting objects, and unlocking abilities. The goal of BABDDI is to escape the abandoned city, but the fundamental dynamic of BABDDI is the story is tells.
BABDDI starts in an unknown abandoned city where you can move using the arrow keys, use objects with the mouse, or interact with NPCs and objects using keys. The game tells a story using the mechanics of light, obscurity, and sound. The landscape of BABDDI is an apocalyptic abandon
ed city with brutalist architecture. Most buildings are comprised of rectangular blocks of concrete, the ground is a dull combination of concrete, gravel, and grass, and NPCs are loosely-contoured blobs with demonic faces. While the materials in the world are all shades of gray and dull color tones, BABDDI employs properties of light to add dimensionality to the game. Shadows, lamps, flashlights, and mist play fundamental roles in shaping the city landscape and telling the story of escaping the city. Furthermore, the obscurity and scarcity of the world of BABDDI allows the city to gradually become painted by context provided by playing through the story. Such a design allows the landscape to evolve as the story evolves. Lastly, sound is a mechanic of BABDDI which contributes to the storytelling dynamic. Dialog with NPCs are text-based and there are no artificial sources of sound. The sound of the player walking down echoing hallways contrasts with the sound of gravel underfoot. A dog barking in the distance or a flock of birds flying away prompts the player to explore a new crevice of the story.
One element of BABDDI which some may see as a failure in the design of the game is the lack of a direct narrative or “goal”. At times it seems like the game is too scarce and the lack of momentum at the beginning of the game might lead to some players “just not getting it” and quitting. The walking simulator is closely coupled to a narrative of escaping a brutalist abandoned city, but the balance between the two is dead even. There is no doubt that BABDDI is a niche game which is not meant to prompt players to follow a strict script. Instead, the story is constructed in a way where every player experiences the game in a unique way. If I were to change one element of the game, I would add some context as to why the city is abandoned to a degree which supplements the narrative, but doesn’t give the player bias as to what order they should play the story.
