Babbdi

Lore & Background

Babbdi is a 2022 adventure game developed by Sirius and Léonard Lemaitre and published by Lemaitre Bros. It is freeware. The game is set in the titular Babbdi, a city full of brutalist architecture. It is a platform game set in an open world. There are numerous tools across the world to traverse Babbdi, but the player is only meant to hold one at once. The main objective is to obtain a train ticket and leave on the subway. This can be completed very quickly and requires little exploration or interaction with the city, leaving most of the game as optional content. Players are free to explore, speak to residents, and seek out collectibles for a trophy screen, and complete side quests as well as dance with the party people who live in the sewers.

Reader's Guide

Babbdi was released on December 22, 2022, by the Lemaitre Bros. The Guardian likened it to the kinds of games found on PlayStation demo disks and called it 'targeted relief from 2023's anxieties'. Der Standard called it weird and entertaining. PC Gamer praised the platforming elements and level design, stating it is disconcerting but not a horror game, and recommended it to fans of melancholy indie games. Rock Paper Shotgun compared it to Bernband and Off-Peak, calling it a 'weird, unpleasant place' that is fun to explore, and identified it as one of their favorite games of 2023. The game's significance lies in its freeware distribution and its reception as a compact, atmospheric experience that offers optional exploration and side content, including dancing with party people in the sewers. It is noted alongside Straftat, a later game by the same developers.

Did You Know?

• Babbdi is freeware.
• The game's main objective can be completed very quickly, leaving most content optional.
• Players can dance with party people who live in the sewers.
• Rock Paper Shotgun compared Babbdi to Bernband and Off-Peak.

The Brutalist Playground

Babbdi drops players into a sprawling open world defined by its stark, brutalist architecture — a city of raw concrete and imposing geometric forms that serves as both backdrop and playground. As a platform game, it asks you to navigate this environment using a rotating cast of traversal tools scattered throughout the world. However, a key design constraint shapes every moment of exploration: the player can only carry one tool at a time. This limitation forces constant decision-making and reorientation as you move through the city's districts. Rather than a linear corridor of levels, the open structure means you are free to wander, discover new tools, and chart your own path through Babbdi's streets and subterranean spaces. The result is a game that feels less like a sequence of challenges and more like an invitation to lose yourself in a strange, concrete metropolis where every corner might hold a new way to move through the world.

A Ticket Out and Everything Else

The stated goal of Babbdi is deceptively simple: find a train ticket and board the subway to leave the city. What makes this design choice remarkable is how little it demands. The main objective can be completed in a very short time, requiring minimal exploration or interaction with the urban environment. Everything beyond that ticket — the bulk of the game — exists as optional content for those who wish to linger. Players can wander the streets and talk to the city's residents, hunt down collectibles that feed into a trophy screen, tackle side quests tucked into the world, or descend into the sewers to dance with the party people who call that underground space home. This structure positions Babbdi as a game that respects the player's time while rewarding those who want to soak in its atmosphere, treating the ending as merely a door you can walk through or ignore entirely.

A Small Studio's Free Offering

Babbdi is the work of a compact creative team: developed by Sirius and Léonard Lemaitre, and published under the banner of Lemaitre Bros. The game launched on December 22, 2022, and was distributed as freeware — a deliberate choice that removes any financial barrier to experiencing the project. This free-to-play model, combined with the game's modest scope and open-world structure, suggests a studio that prioritized accessibility and creative expression over commercial scale. The Lemaitre Bros have continued their output beyond Babbdi, with Straftat arriving as a later title from the same developers. The fact that a small team could produce a complete, polished open-world platformer and release it at no cost speaks to a particular indie ethos: one where the joy of making and sharing a strange, self-contained world outweighs the pressure to build something massive. Babbdi stands as a snapshot of that philosophy in action.

Weird, Unpleasant, and Beloved

Critics who encountered Babbdi responded with a mix of delight and mild unease, a reaction that seems perfectly aligned with the game's tone. The Guardian drew a comparison to the kinds of quirky titles once found on PlayStation demo disks, calling it targeted relief from 2023's anxieties. Der Standard, writing in German, described the experience as both weird and entertaining. PC Gamer highlighted the platforming mechanics and level design as standout strengths, noting the game feels disconcerting without crossing into horror territory, and specifically recommended it to fans of melancholy indie titles. Rock Paper Shotgun placed Babbdi in the company of Bernband and Off-Peak, calling it a weird, unpleasant place that is nonetheless a joy to explore, and ultimately named it one of their favorite games of 2023. The consensus paints a picture of a small, strange world that critics found genuinely memorable.