Last updated: 8/25/2021
How you got here
In order to even access this world, you have to know a few things. If you do not know those things, then this “spoiler-free” guide will be one giant spoiler. Here’s what you need to know, bearing in mind that if you’ve skipped ahead to this page, even this list may spoil something for you:
Why the overworld map has rules
How to free the Cursor from the dotted line
The noun Level
While this new world is called ???, I’ll also call it Glitch, as that word is more search-engine friendly.
???
Yes, this game is bigger than you thought. Notice in my screenshot, the cursor is hovering over “Map,” which is surrounded by petals in the same way that the ten normal worlds were. Why do you think this is? Where will this take you? What does this mean for 100% completion?
Remember that hints are invisible until the text is highlighted. Bold text discusses the rules. Italic text discusses all objects of the named type. Regular text discusses the actual instances. Text “in quotes” refers to the actual text in the level.
??? 1: Glitch
Difficulty: *
About the Level
Welcome to the endgame!
Hints
Gentle Nudge: At this point, you should immediately know how to solve this kind of level. Don't overcomplicate this.
??? 2: Error
Difficulty: **
Hints
Gentle Nudge: What exactly has changed from the previous level to this?
Bigger Nudge: It would be really nice if somehow you could get the noun "Love."
??? 3: Whoops
Difficulty: *
Hints
Gentle Nudge: What exactly triggers Baba's death?
??? 4: Mean Fence
Difficulty: *
Hints
Gentle Nudge: Are there any rules specifically about Wall?
The state of the map right now
The first four levels must be solved in order, but at this point you have a choice of which “path” to take. Each path is going to have its own element to it. To the north, there will be the extra levels, as well as something else interesting. To the south, four levels teaching a very interesting concept involving negation. And finally, to the west... well, you’ll just have to see. Though this guide will be written in level order, I recommend trying to tackle one path at a time. So long as you don’t scroll past the extra levels, there are no spoilers. However, there are some things written below that point which could potentially spoil, so just be careful while scrolling.
??? 5: Scale
Difficulty: ***
About the Level
There are some gnarly rules at the top there. They only exist to prevent what the kids these days call “cheese” - they force you to solve this level in one of a few intended ways.
Hints
Gentle Nudge: Why do you have access to two "Not" words?
Bigger Nudge: Why do you think you have access to "Push"? Rock is Push is a completely useless rule. What else can you do with Push?
Specific Hint: You don't want to move too far to the right. Is there a way you can move something to the left?
??? 6: Fireplace
Difficulty: **
About the Level
This level used to be “Parade.” Then some more levels got moved around.
Hints
Gentle Nudge: How exactly can Flag is Win be created?
Bigger Nudge: When you attempt to do the easy thing, what exactly happens to stop you? Can you do anything about the Ghost? If not, what can you do?
??? 7: Turn the Corner
Difficulty: ***
About the Level
Yes, this level contains the noun Level. We are going to solve it normally first. In this case, the normal solution is much, much, much easier so it’s unlikely you’ll accidentally find the special solution.
Hints
Gentle Nudge: What is going to be Win?
Bigger Nudge: Is there a way to push "Sink" any direction besides up? How?
Specific Hint: You will only be able to remove one object using [X] is Open and [Y] is Shut. Which object and in what location?
??? 8: VIP Area
Difficulty: *****
About the Level
Some spoiler text below:
Hints
Gentle Nudge: Remember your solution to Island 11? How can that be used here?
Bigger Nudge: Why do you suppose there's a space below Keke to the left?
Another Big Nudge: Why do you suppose there's a singular piece of Wall right there?
Specific Hint: Once you've figured out what you need to do, the how will elude you, due to the high likelihood you will destroy your Flag. You will need to use some piece in a very particular spot to allow you to move the Flag upwards without moving something else up. What piece will you use and where will it go?
??? 9: Tense Atmosphere
Difficulty: **
Hints
Gentle Nudge: Why do you have access to two pieces of "Wall" text?
Bigger Nudge: Could this level be solved even if the Rock were replaced with another piece of Wall?
??? 10: Tag Team
Difficulty: ****
Hints
Gentle Nudge: What prevents you from getting the Rock to the Flag? Is there a way to have Baba and Rock overlap safely? If not, what must you do instead?
Bigger Nudge: If there were no Skull, this level would be easy. Why?
Specific Hint: Remember your solution to ??? 9. How can that be used here?
??? 11: Security Check
Difficulty: *****
Hints
Gentle Nudge: What exactly has changed between this level and ???-8? What does this prevent you from doing?
Bigger Nudge: Why do you have access to two "Not" pieces of text?
Specific Hint: Remember your solutions to ??? 9 and ??? 10. Is there a way to reproduce this?
??? 12: Ultimate Maze
Difficulty: ****
About the Level
Lots of rules! Let me explain what’s going on. Because Wall, Hedge, Key, and Flag are Word, if you put “Is” between any two objects, you essentially create a sentence. If you turn Hedge into Wall, for instance, Keke will move and create Level is Weak, ending your game. You can’t do anything to prevent this. Other transformations are also possible.
Hints
Gentle Nudge: Which direction can you approach the first Key from?
Bigger Nudge: Why do you suppose there's a Key next to "Win"?
Specific Hint: Are there any transformations you can do that don't end your game? When should you do them?
??? Extra 1: Across
Difficulty: ***
Hints
Gentle Nudge: The final state of this level will have you making two complete rules arranged in a cross, Flag is Win and what else?
Bigger Nudge: Why do you suppose those two Belts are there? Why do you suppose you have two Kekes?
Specific Hint: What exact move will you make to switch the orientation of a particular rule?
??? Extra 2: Castle Disaster
Difficulty: **
Hints
Gentle Nudge: What you have to do is probably obvious from the start, but you likely struggle with a complicated trial-and-error effort. Is there a way to prepare the pieces "Baba" and "Win" ahead of time to make this level very easy?
??? Extra 3: Hazel Den
Difficulty: ****
Hints
Gentle Nudge: What's the point of Tele, if Rock and Skull is Stop?
Bigger Nudge: Why do you suppose you have three Flags? You would only need two to make Tele work, but you have three.
Specific Hint: Remember your solution to Cavern 14? How can you reproduce that result with a different method?
??? Extra 4: Baba Has Keke
Difficulty: *****
Hints
Gentle Nudge: How many Babas and Kekes do you need for this level? What prevents you from setting this up?
Bigger Nudge: You have access to six Belts but you can only move four of them. Is there a way to use all six Belts?
Specific Hint: How many pieces of Text do you actually have at your disposal? Are you sure?
Wait, World isn’t Complete?
If you’ve solved all 12 regular levels and the 4 extras, you still won’t have access to that “?” level. All you’ll have is access to ABC, the next world. You can go there now if you like. I recommend that. But if you want to go further into the endgame, you’ll need to find a way to do what you did on the main game’s overworld. If you’re here, you already know what that is. How to do it, though? We’ll get to that later.
To the ABC World
If you don’t want to go to the ABC World (or you’ve already done it), keep reading. If you can’t figure out which level you need to enter to move on... you should reexamine how you got to the glitch world in the first place.
Return of ??? 7: Turn the Corner
How to make “Level is You”
Gentle Nudge: You know you need some kind of Level is [X] statement. What will the [X] be? Will the sentence really be that simple?
Bigger Nudge: Is there a way to open more than one piece of Wall?
Now What?
So the only available level-looking thing is that “?” under level ??? 02. You can get there pretty easily. But you might be noticing you still haven’t cleared this world. That means there are more levels hidden somewhere. Before we get there, though, I will post the link to where “?” goes, so if you don’t want to accidentally spoil the hidden stuff here, you don’t have to. Come back to this page and scroll further down if you need help getting this world cleared.
Next: Where does ? go
What’s left?
You will know where you’re done when the words “Area Complete” appear. And, not to spoil too much, but you cannot complete this world until everything is complete, including the “?” marked on the map. If you’ve tried to enter the “?” you already know why this is tricky. Yes, this means you have to do everything in “?” and find any and all secret levels before you can clear the glitch world. Here’s your last chance to go to the next page and take care of that before looking for secret levels here.
But where are those secret levels? You can clearly see that there are no more levels on the map... so where could those secret levels be?
How to find secret levels, in general, because there are a fair number of them throughout the endgame and you’re going to want to know how to know where and how many secret levels are on any given map because there are no markings or indications anywhere, in brief:
Gentle Nudge: Why do you have access to the rules on the edges of the map? Is there a rule there that may have special significance?
Bigger Nudge: You turned a level into Baba. And you can still enter Baba as if he is a level. Are there any other similar objects?
If you figured out that set of hints, you should know how many secret levels there are. When you find one, you will see it is marked as an extra level. So, you already have extra levels 1-4. What are these secret levels numbered as? Below I will list the secret levels in the likely order you will find them, not their printed order.
??? Extra 6: Huh?
Difficulty: ***
About the Level
Yes, extra 6 comes right after extra 4. It’s possible to get extra 5 before you figure this one out but if you’re inquisitive you’ll find this one first.
Hints
Gentle Nudge: How can you get Baba onto the Grass to the left of "Flag"?
Bigger Nudge: How can you get Baba onto the Grass above "Win"?
Specific Hint: Where and in what arrangement will you spell Flag is Win?
??? Extra 7: Getting Together
Difficulty: *****
About the Level
This is officially the worst level in the game and it’s bad and I hate it.
Hints
Gentle Nudge: How many things do you need to overlap? Break it down into each individual piece. First, how do you get Baba on Baba?
Bigger Nudge: Perhaps you have come to the assumption that the Rocks should stay Rocks and the Walls should stay Walls?
Specific Hint: The main challenge is getting Wall and Text to overlap. Is there a way to move two separate pieces like this onto each other? Does your solution to Forest 07 help?
Hold on, where is ??? Extra 5?
If you’re looking around for this one for a long time, please stop. Extra 5 is extremely easy to find... after you do something else. Go on to the next page and come back later and you will see what I mean.
??? Extra 5: Orb
Difficulty: ************
Wait, why is this world still not complete???
Hey guess what, Hempuli made another update! If you’ve been following the guide so far, your map should look completely finished but it won’t tell you the world is clear... even if you complete the Depths and ABC maps! What gives?
Well, there are four new levels, that’s what gives. Accessing these levels is extra tricky, and there are two ways to do it.
Hints
Gentle Nudge: What looks different from the above screenshot from earlier ones on this page, before the update?
Easier Solution: This solution involves making two transformations from sentences up against the edge using a piece of Text which has free reign. Doing so will involve breaking up the first sentence you make. How can you possibly break up that sentence?
Harder Solution: Is there another level in this world which gives you access to the text "Level," but you haven't done anything with it? You're looking to make "Level is Text." Warning, this is a stupidly hard way to do things.
???-A: Do It Yourself
Difficulty: *
About the Level
New stuff:
Verb Write
Quick, create the sentence Flag Write Win. What happens? Why? What does this tell you about Write? What happens if you try to Write a noun instead of a property? Or if you Write another verb? Do those work as expected?
Gentle Nudge: What piece of text are you missing in order to create the win condition?
???-B: Write the Rules
Difficulty: *
Hints
Gentle Nudge: How many total things do you need to Sink? Which one should you Sink first?
???-C: Rewrite the Rules
Difficulty: ***
Hints
Gentle Nudge: What has really changed here? Why is the Bird a wrinkle in your solution?
Bigger Nudge: Think on your solution to Skull House and all such levels. How can you replicate something like that here?
???-D: Written Instructions
Difficulty: ***
About the Level
It is possible to get outside the Walls to access “Level,” but you don’t need it for the solution I hint at below. (And if you’re thinking you need to change the Level into something else, at the time of this writing there’s nothing you gain by changing the level on the world map.)
Hints
Gentle Nudge: Do you have enough pieces of Text to comfortably break Baba is Not Win?
Bigger Nudge: Is there something you can do before that to ensure Baba is Win immediately?