Last Updated: 8/20/21
Rules you should know
Just to get here, you need to have cleared five worlds. The first three are required, but then you can clear any two of the Forest of Fall, Deep Forest, Rocket Trip, Flower Garden, or Chasm. I’ll assume you’ve done enough of the first eight worlds to know all the rules, including:
All (Chasm A, C)
More (Chasm B, D, F)
Word (Chasm Extras)
Volcanic Cavern
You need to complete 9 of 15 levels to finish this world, and they are not easy. The orange levels don’t teach any new concepts, but new ways to use old ideas. At the bottom left, the tan levels teach the noun Group. The yellow levels at the bottom right teach the conditional Facing. And finally, there’s a red level at the far right which teaches a concept that will be useful in the endgame.
My recommendations are levels 01-06, then 09, 11, and 12. They are the easiest levels in the world. I also recommend level 14 if you intend to play the endgame at all.
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.
Stuck elsewhere? Navigate using the following pictures:
Cavern 01: Tour
Difficulty: *
About the Level
New material: nouns Fire, Cliff
Hints
Gentle Nudge: Is there a way You can switch from Keke to Baba while you're in the lower half of the level?
Cavern 02: Peril at Every Turn
Difficulty: **
Hints
Gentle Nudge: What is the "Push" going to be used for?
Bigger Nudge: Why do you have two Babas? Is there another possible reason?
Cavern 03: Pillarwork
Difficulty: ****
Hints
Gentle Nudge: How will you remove the Skull?
Bigger Nudge: Once Baba makes "Skull is Grass," which rule is necessary to get her back up?
Specific Hint: There is a lot of setup before sending Baba down the hallway... but one rule needs to be changed after sending Baba back up.
Cavern 04: Mouse Hole
Difficulty: ***
About the Level
New material: noun Bat
Hints
Gentle Nudge: Don't get overwhelmed by the difficult part you know is coming. First, just get the Key and the Rock into the big chamber.
Bigger Nudge: If you only have Baba, the Rock, and the Key, you'll never get the Flag to appear. You need one other object...
Cavern 05: Torn Apart
Difficulty: *
About the Level
New material: noun Group
Group is not too difficult to figure out. Notice that Baba is not You, but you’re still able to control him. What does that tell you about how Group works?
Hints
Gentle Nudge: Is there a way you can actually create the phrase "Baba is You"?
Cavern 06: Vital Ingredients
Difficulty: **
Hints
Gentle Nudge: In order to open a door, an object needs to both be Open and Push. But you have two objects...
Bigger Nudge: Why do you have "Group"?
Cavern 07: Backstage
Difficulty: *****
About the Level
This was the last level I solved in this world, and for good reason! There are a lot of steps required and nothing is obvious. You might have an epiphany about one thing but then get stuck somewhere else. Feel free to solve this level in stages - do one part, then leave and come back and try the next part with a fresh mind.
Hints
Gentle Nudge: How will you create the phrase "Flag is Win"? Which object will be in the lower hallway? How, generally, will you get that object in there?
Bigger Nudge: Why do you suppose you have both a Keke and a Ghost, rather than two Kekes or two Ghosts?
Specific Hint: Can Baba safely push the phrase "Baba is You" to the right over the Belt? Can someone else do that?
Cavern 08: The Heist
Difficulty: ****
Hints
Gentle Nudge: How many objects need to teleport from the upper area to the bottom in order to get Baba across the Lava?
Bigger Nudge: Text will never teleport. Is there a way to get something else to teleport?
Specific Hint: If you have solved Fall B and/or Garden Extra 2, your solutions there will help you solve this one.
Cavern 09: Join the Crew
Difficulty: ***
About the Level
I found the solution to this one simple enough and solved it almost on accident, but it does require a bit of finicky and precise movement, so make of that what you will.
Hints
Gentle Nudge: How will you get rid of the Bat?
Bigger Nudge: If Bat is You, that will clear the way, but you'll need another thing to be You.
Cavern 10: Automation
Difficulty: *****
About the Level
New material: noun Statue
Plenty of levels have had Statues in them, but this might be the only one where you get access to the noun. The Statues are up at the top of the level, in the hallway near the Ice.
Hints
Gentle Nudge: Work backwards. What will be your final act?
Bigger Nudge: In order to create the Flag, Ice needs to be Melt. What do you need to set up before making this happen?
Specific Hint: Back to the start - you cannot make all three things Group, so you will need to work in multiple waves. Through it all, one object will always be Group. Which one?
Cavern 11: Trick Door
Difficulty: *
About the Level
New material: noun Tile and property Facing
I’m glad that this level was changed to what you see up there, as many people had trouble figuring out what Facing meant and where to put it in the sentence. Now you should see what it means. Try pushing the Ghost. When does it stop working? Why?
Also, we’ve seen Tile in a lot of levels, but this is the first one in which you can modify it.
Hints
Gentle Nudge: Can you push the Ghost all the way to the Key? Can you push the Key all the way to the Ghost? Where exactly do you get stuck?
Cavern 12: Trapped
Difficulty: ***
About the Level
Question for anyone... why is the rule Belt is not Tele there? You can’t Tele when there is only one of an object anyway, so what exact unintended solution does this prevent?
Hints
Gentle Nudge: Is there a way you can get Baba next to any Wall without them disappearing?
Bigger Nudge: Is there a way you can move a Box without access to any Push rule?
Cavern 13: Tunnel
Difficulty: ***
Hints
Gentle Nudge: What rule do you need before you can make Flag is Win? Are there perhaps other rules that would do the same thing?
Specific Hint: You only need to create two rules before crossing the Belt, one rule at a time. What are those two rules?
Cavern 14: Broken Expectations
Difficulty: *****
About the Level
You won’t see anything technically new in this level, but it features a trick you’ve never seen before and you will use a lot in the endgame, so take notes. (The method used to achieve this trick is not repeated later, but the knowledge will still be useful.)
Hints
Gentle Nudge: Text is not Push, yet you can still move the Text around. Why?
Bigger Nudge What two rules need to change before you can create Flag is Win?
Specific Hint: From the start, push the text "Push" to the left one space. What happens? Why? Does this give you a clue on how to form the rules at the bottom of the level?
Cavern Extra 1: Coronation
Difficulty: *****
About the Level
I personally find this one of the hardest levels in the game simply because I am too stupid to understand Swap. Enjoy!
Hints
Gentle Nudge: Which exact thing needs to be Win?
Bigger Nudge: Normally you can never overlap with Text. What rule can you make in order to place a piece of Text onto Keke?
Specific Hint: Think back to your solution to Cavern 04. What setup do you need to repeat this solution?
World Complete
Clearing this world opens up the final world, the Mountaintop. If this is the seventh world you’ve cleared, you’ll also open up the final part of the overworld, which you aren’t required to visit at all unless you intend on seeing endgame content. You can complete the game the normal way at any point now. But there’s still one more world left, so let’s go to the Mountaintop!
In the meantime, do these hints work? Anything spoil too much? Do the hints actually help or are they too vague? Maybe you thought of a really good hint yourself? Send them to me. (Don’t comment them below.) You can find me @keyofw on Twitter or keyofw on Reddit. DM me anytime.