Rules you should know
Familiar Land is opened up when you finish Level 02 on the Hubworld. There are no new rules you need to learn from there, nor are there new rules you have to learn in this world. Except for one instance of directional Fall and one level with Without, all levels in Familiar Land use rules exclusively from the main game.
Stuck elsewhere? Navigate using the following pictures:
Familiar Land
You’ll notice from the minimap that this world is pretty big. There are 16 main levels in Familiar Land with 3 Extras. You only need to solve 8 of them to clear the world, but the difficulty curve is not linear and the hardest levels are going to hit in the middle columns (in my opinion). If you get stuck, that’s okay. Remember you only need to clear 5 of 7 worlds to finish the game, and clearing Familiar Land does not open any new levels. It’s an easy one to skip. That said, I recommend going for the following levels if you want the easiest clear:
01 - Baba Needs Friends
02 - Briar Chute
03 - Bare
04 - Cloud Apartment
05 - Tangled Passage
09 - Treacherous Wetlands
12 - Skull Pile
13 - Treehouse
Reminder: Bold text refers to rules themselves. Italics refer to the objects affected by rules - every one of them in the level. Regular text only refers to specific instances of those objects. “Quoted text” refers to the actual noun, property, and connecting word text you can interact with on the level. All hints are invisible until you highlight text.
Familiar-1: Baba Needs Friends
Difficulty: *
Hints
Gentle Nudge: Why does the Statue even exist?
Familiar-2: Briar Chute
Difficulty: **
About the Level
New stuff:
Noun Vine
Technically, we saw the directional rules Up, Down, Left, and Right in the original game. However, the application here (and in a few other levels) is brand new.
Hints
Gentle Nudge: Which character will go down which hallway of Vines?
Bigger Nudge: How - if at all possible - will you get those characters back?
Familiar-3: Bare
Difficulty: **
About the Level
Man, this one got me good even though I think it’s simple. The “aha” moment felt great. Definitely marking it as a favorite from the “easy” levels in the pack.
Hints
Gentle Nudge: When you create the win condition, which word will be placed last?
Bigger Nudge: What needs to change from the initial setup to make that final placement a winning move?
Familiar-4: Cloud Apartment
Difficulty: ***
About the Level
We’ve seen Fall before, but in the original game it was represented with a square, not an arrow. In this level, Fall behaves exactly the same way it always has. Why the arrow? Well, you’ll see in later levels, if you can’t guess immediately.
Hints
Gentle Nudge: What rule do you need simply to get Baba into the nook with the Moons, and where will it be placed?
Bigger Nudge: Where can you place the rest of the Text so that you can form the second rule at the end?
Familiar-5: Tangled Apartment
Difficulty: ***
About the Level
This is another beautiful level. So simple, so elegant. There are multiple solutions, all of which are equally perfect.
Hints
Gentle Nudge: Look to your final moves. What rules are required to cross the final obstacle?
Bigger Nudge: What is the minimum amount of Text you need to extract from the opening area?
Specific Hint: There is a reason you have access to the word "Jelly" and the Jelly itself.
Familiar-6: Enter the Infinity
Difficulty: *****
About the Level
New stuff:
Noun Square.
I hate this level. Two seconds in I knew exactly what needed to be done, but getting it to happen is BEYOND FRUSTRATING. You might need to pull up a solution and follow it step-by-step. I won’t hold that against you.
Hints
Gentle Nudge: What is the arrangement of rules you will create early on to help you guide both Baba and the Text?
Bigger Nudge: Once you make that, is there a simple way to selectively move Text without moving Baba?
Specific Hint: There is no way to make Baba is Win, so what use does Baba have in this level? Is there another way to push a piece of Text over the Triangles?
Familiar-7: Flight Academy
Difficulty: *****
About the Level
Arrrrrrggggggghhhhhhh. This level and its two extras are absolutely brutal. If you solve these without hints you are a madman or a genius. I can’t decide if I like it because of the twists and turns or if I hate it because it’s too friggin’ hard.
Hints
Setup: How can you get the Rocket into the chamber with Baba and the Bird?
First Piece: Why is there no Ufo on the bottom track of Tiles?
Mental Wellness Check: Do you still have access to both your Bird and your Rocket?
Second Piece: Which object is going to push the second word onto the Belt? How can that object be recovered?
Third Word: Look at the above image. Imagine you made Bird is Move until the Bird was right up against the Cloud. Then make Bird is Right and Bird is Move at the same time. What happens?
Familiar-8: Moonrise, Sunset
Difficulty: ***
About the Level
New stuff:
While we’ve seen Fall before, we haven’t seen it pointing in other directions!
Hints
Gentle Nudge: Imagine there is no Dust. How would you complete this level? What part of that solution is rendered impossible by the Dust?
Bigger Nudge: Why do you think there is empty space above "You"?
Familiar-9: Treacherous Wetlands
Difficulty: ***
Hints
Gentle Nudge: How are you going to fish the Rock out? What will you be left with when it comes to Baba and Fruit?
Bigger Nudge: Why can't Baba cross the Flowers? What rule stops you? Can that rule be worked around in any way?
Familiar-10: Sideways Fireplace
Difficulty: ****
Hints
Gentle Nudge: Look at the hall with the Skulls. What rule would it take to get through that?
Bigger Nudge: This level seems not to want you to adjust Baba is You in any way.
Giant Nudge: Where do you need to place "Bolt" and "Is"? What objects will help you make that placement?
Familiar-11: Matrix
Difficulty: annoying
About the Level
It’s really, really obvious what to do... the only challenge comes from getting the setup right. There are also moves that will immediately cause you to lose, making it even more annoying.
Hints
No, I'm not doing hints for this one. Just plot out the moves.
Familiar-12: Skull Pile
Difficulty: **
Hints
Gentle Nudge: Look ahead to the final step. What rule needs to exist to activate Ghost Near Skull is Move?
Bigger Nudge: What will be the arrangement of the rules when you set the four Rocks up?
Familiar-13: Treehouse
Difficulty: **
About the Level
This should remind you of “Skull House” from the original game. If you did not figure out the trick behind that level, you are probably not going to get this one, sorry. But if you did play it, then you only need to do one extra step here, and thus I only provide one small hint.
Hints
One Small Hint: To perform the trick, you either need to be Baba while messing with Rock, or you need to be Rock while messing with Baba. Which is more likely to be successful?
Familiar-14: Monstrous Walls
Difficulty: *
About the Level
New stuff:
Noun Monster
Hints
Gentle Nudge: When you move to break up a rule, does the rule still count for that one move or is it broken instantly?
Bigger Nudge: Why is there a space to allow for the "Defeat" to fit between Monsters?
Familiar-15: Tropical Weather
Difficulty: ***
About the Level
New stuff?
Infix condition Without
Kind of. We’ll really learn what Without does later. The only reason this rule exists for this level is to prevent one particular cheese solution.
Hints
Gentle Nudge: What is the minimum number of spaces you can push "Win" to the right before you can make a sentence out of it?
Bigger Nudge: How can you get something into the empty space to the left of "Win"? More importantly, how can you get something there without also putting something to the right of "Win"?
Familiar-16: Parakeet Bouncer
Difficulty: **
Hints
Gentle Nudge: Why will you need to form Baba is Move?
Bigger Nudge: Is there any way to control Baba's movements when she is not You?
Another Big Nudge: Why do you have a Keke? Is he used for the same thing as Me or something else?
Familiar-X1: Flight Academy 2
Difficulty: *****
About the Level
If you figured out the original version of this level, you’ll know a lot about what you’re supposed to do... but this one has a twist. Good luck!
Hints
First Word: Will you push over "Bird" in any different way from the previous level?
Second Word, Part One: Can you push the "Is" without the Bird going onto the Belt?
Second Word, Part Two: How can you make the Bird move the opposite direction to how it's facing right now? Remember your solution to the first version of this level.
Second Word, Part Three: In order to do this, what will your setup be on the tiles? Where is the Bird? Where is the Rocket?
Second Word, Part Four ($!#@ this is complex): How will you set up your Text so that you can create the necessary rules for the exact correct amount of time?
Third Word: Do you have the Bird in the chamber on the right after creating "Bird Is"? Where is the Rocket?What is the one thing you can do with this Rocket to allow the Bird to safely push "Win"?
Familiar-X2: Flight Academy 3
Difficulty: *****
About the Level
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Hints
First Word, Part One: Okay, you can do this. The only way to push the "Bird" text requires you to abandon your Bird. What is the one way to bring that Bird back?
First Word, Part Two: In doing so, you should have created a rule. Is that rule permanent?
Second Word: Are you now in a position to repeat your solution from one of the earlier levels?
Third Word: If you still have your Bird and Rocket then you should know what to do.
Familiar-X3: House House
Difficulty: **
About the Level
You’ll notice this is a lot like Skull House/Treehouse/etc., so you probably know what your solution should involve. That makes this level much easier than it should be, even though you’ll have to know another trick to finish it.
Hints
Gentle Nudge: Think about how you formed two objects from one in Skull House or Treehouse. How many pieces of Text did that require and how were they arranged?
Bigger Nudge: If you could do one thing, said arrangement would be made more compact. What is that thing?
World Complete!
Clearing Familiar Land does absolutely nothing but give you a flower.
In the meantime, do these hints work? Any hints too spoilery? Too vague? Let me know. Or, if you’ve though of better hints or alternate solutions, you can reach out to me. Don’t comment anything spoilery below. You can find me @keyofw on pretty much everything, like Twitter or Reddit. DM me anytime.