i have mixed feelings about the game, but for the most part i still quite like it!!
the aesthetics are based on old educational computer games (like sonic's schoolhouse), which i ADORE. the game is fashioned after such an obscure style that i have a particular affinity towards. there's always been something so.. eerie about many old children's games and surreal experience of playing them during childhood, and the game captures it well. however, i really wish this was further expanded upon. i would LOVE to see another horror type game in this style because i've literally never seen any other game do it (seriously if no one else does then i'm gonna have to do it).
the game is so short and simple, but not to its advantage. it left me feeling underwhelmed and wanting more out of the concept of a creepy educational game. in a way, i really enjoy the metaphorical aspect of the game, intentional or not. i don't know if anyone interprets the game this way, but let me explain. baldi's basics seems to be representative of the education system and how it hurts children. the environment is cold and unforgiving, and when the player fails a math question, their failure is treated with scorn rather than encouragement, thus failure is meant to be feared instead of embraced. the fact that the game forces you to fail with the glitched questions strikes me as particularly emblematic — the school system can seem to be set up for a student's failure at times. again, i really wish this game did more with its ideas because the concept is truly interesting and so much could be done with it.
as a horror game, baldi's basics didn't strike me as particularly scary, excluding the initial scare of the music pausing and baldi slowly frowning because that was downright spooky. it definitely wasn't made to be taken completely seriously though, there is plenty of humor scattered about that i enjoyed seeing. i'm the the minority in that i actually love jumpscares, if they're well done and not just for the sake of cheap fear (which isn't often). as with any slender-type game, the feeling of being chased is adequate to build up enough tension for the jumpscares to work well, but i feel it's a bit overdone at this point and i would've loved to see more scares outside of just that, especially because there are so many really neat scares that could've been done with the idea of a creepy educational game. this game could've been truly nightmarish if there was just more content to it.
that being said the joke stuff was actually pretty funny, i love the stock image principle floating around and that weird robot that asks to marry you is the most adorable thing ever. the playtime is very cute/spooky too.
in conclusion, AMAZING concept, mediocre scares, fun goofs