Review: The Library Of Babel – The Terrors Of Human Knowledge

In the short story The Library of Babel, Luis Borges describes an infinite library in which the books have all the possible combinations and orders of letters, making the library contain every book that has ever been and will be written, and beyond. The concept of such infinity, and all the possibilities, is an intriguing and baffling idea.

This is the concept behind the world-building of The Library of Babel. Developed by Tanuki Game Studio and published by Neon Doctrine, The Library of Babel is a stealth platformer set in a post-apocalyptic world where advanced androids discover this lost library of infinite data, and explores the consequences of such a discovery for artificial minds.

A satellite dish in the distance, with two soldiers patrolling in the foreground.
In the first cinematic cut scene, we see the dark atmosphere and the alert state of the colony we are sent to.

We play as Ludovik, a seeker tasked with scouting and learning information about a rogue android. The rogue android, Kabor, was a general of the colony based near the library, who had gone mad after spending time inside the library and analyzing its data. They have established a cult, opposing other androids and recruiting them with the promise of the truth.

We eventually learn that this truth is about the first creators of the androids, the humans. The Library of Babel‘s story explores the human mind, and how our experiences can affect a rational and data-driven machine. While some are corrupted by the darker aspects of humanity, others are specialized in gathering and analyzing data revolving around divinity and the supernatural.

The android talking to a large machine called the matriarch.
Our first meeting with the Matriarch, the leader of the colony.

Once we reach the colony, we meet the Matriarch, the android in charge, who tasks us with scouting the cultists based on a mountain nearby. This is the first instance in The Library of Babel when we see how the art and level design add to the world and the atmosphere. We are told that the cultists chose their base location because of the perilous path that leads to it, and they have taken extra steps to make the journey even harder. This is a perfect lore explanation for challenging platforming sections in the game, of which there are a lot.

Each zone in the world has a unique art style that sets the tone and the atmosphere for that part of the world and elaborates on the backstory of The Library of Babel. There’s one breathtaking scene where we see the half-destroyed moon in the night sky, hinting at a cosmic event as the reason for humanity’s extinction. These environmental storytelling instances make exploration in The Library of Babel more engaging and elevate the overall story.

A night sky with a half destroyed moon
One of the most chilling scenes in the game, where we realize what might have happened to the human race.

The soundtrack is also a great addition to the atmosphere of The Library of Babel. It’s mysterious and quiet when exploring, and the pace and excitement rise in the more challenging platforming and stealth sections. There are also great cinematic scenes in important story moments which are refreshing breaks from the challenging gameplay.

The gameplay of The Library of Babel is a combination of graphic adventures and stealth platformers. We have to interact with NPCs, find and combine items and do various quests to advance the story and pass through challenging platforming sections while staying out of the line of sight of patrolling enemies to explore the world. The Library of Babel challenges the player in both of these areas with difficult puzzles and fast-paced and deadly platforming courses.

A maze like circuit, with light going from one end to the other.
There are many puzzles and minigames in The Library of Babel, like these maze-like circuits we have to solve before opening locked doors.

I love challenging experiences. But there’s a thin line between challenging and frustrating, and The Library of Babel passes that line a few times toward the end of the game. The first one that really frustrated me to the point of wanting to quit the game, was a puzzle I had to solve in order to find the passcode to a safe. The riddle looked like a simple binary code, and I thought turning that to decimal numbers would give me the answer. The numbers were 8,1,2, and 4, but I could only input one through four in the safe. This was such an odd riddle, considering there are a lot of binary references in dialogue and the world, and yet these sets of numbers specifically weren’t binary numbers. I spent hours thinking about this riddle, trying out different orders and combinations, and reading through the journal for hints, and when I finally solved it, I was just frustrated at the game.

The other instance where I actually quit The Library of Babel for a full day, was an almost impossible platforming section. There were platforms that started moving once you stepped on them, and you had to avoid obstacles and traps while traveling with them. You had to have good luck in your starting time and have pixel-perfect precision in certain locations to finish the course, but the problem is that the game’s input response and physics were not as perfect as the challenge demanded.

Two moving platforms and three laser drones, with a sunset background.
The hardest part of the game, that just felt unfair. You had to start each of the moving platforms with perfect timing and dodge multitudes of other obstacles and deadly traps.

I almost wanted to give up and write my review without finishing The Library of Babel once I died hundreds, yes hundreds of times in this one section of the game, but my love for Borges’s story and the game’s premise was greater, so I tried again, and I finally finished the game. The ending of The Library of Babel was as fascinating as I hoped it would be, but was it worth the trouble and the frustration? I’m not really sure.

At the end of the credits, the game showed me my playtime, my progression, and my death count. I played The Library of Babel for eight hours, not considering the hours I spent outside the game trying to figure out that one riddle, and I died 251 times. The Library of Babel shows these stats probably as an intensive for me to play again and do better, but as much as I enjoyed the story, the atmosphere, and the art, I will not put myself through that experience again.

Colonel Kabor holding the body of another android.
Our final encounter with the main antagonist, Colonel Kabor.

The Library of Babel is a hard game to review. If it was done in half the time, and wasn’t extremely hard toward the end, it would’ve been one of my favorite games I’ve ever played. But I haven’t been this frustrated while playing a game, not even during the most unforgiving FromSoft games. When you die in a Souls game, you know it was your fault most of the time, and you can overcome the challenge by practicing and patience. But when you die in a game like The Library of Babel, it’s because the game was designed to trick you in an unfair way that leads to your failure. This is not a fun challenge to overcome, it’s just an obstacle in the way of players enjoying a great world-building and story.

The Library of Babel introduces a strange and engaging world and deals with intriguing concepts such as infinity, humanity, and logic. It’s an enjoyable graphic adventure except for one puzzle, and it’s a fun and challenging stealth platformer except for one section. But these exceptions take so much away from the experience that it leaves a bitter taste at the end. If you want to experience a unique post-apocalyptic world and a new take on the famous short story from Luis Borges and have the patience to play through extremely hard platforming courses, then The Library of Babel might be the perfect game for you.

Nima played The Library Of Babel on Steam with a review code provided by the publisher.

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