Babelum is a self-acclaimed 3D snake-like arcade game by Retro Tales Game Studio that not only hails back to the classic arcade experience, but also helps you learn in the process. It offers 10 different languages to learn from. You can pick from English, Portuguese, Japanese (Romanji or Kana), Italian, German, French, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, and Hindi. It boasts multiple level types, action, exploration, runner and story for players to explore, while overcoming some challenging mechanics on each map.  Leaning is "part of the loop". You're encouraged to build words in order, and they're pronounced when you complete a word. So, figuring I was a little rusty on my Spanish, I decided to jump right in.

The notorious scarecrow, deceiver of young children.

Babelum is able to be played with both mouse and keyboard, as well as with controller. This will likely come in handy once multiplayer is implemented. During my review, I played with both keyboard and controller just to get an idea if one was better than the other, or there were any downsides. During gameplay, both really were more than fine. As far as core menu navigation, again, both were fine enough. The issue here did not stem from the controls themselves, but really a complexity in the menu navigation itself. While it looks as though you may have some choice in the options you'll be performing a run under, they're all preset. No clicking to change them, only navigating what levels you can progress though, given they are unlocked. None of the controls to quickly and easily navigate the menu are made readily apparent, so it's a lot of fumbling around to figure out how to get things going. Luckily this only seems to extend to the immediate core level selection menu. In game, things are really quite streamlined.  

Undoubtedly the main menu is definitely in need of some simplification and overhaul.

There are two different movement methods, grid and free. Frankly after playing both, they both feel...similar. Free just feels much less rigid. In all honesty, in my time playing, I felt that the classic grid controls just worked better overall. Level design is bright and cheerful, and other characters move around making it feel more lively. The design is fairly minimal, low poly and smooth. Realistically, I had the opinion that this was a game that might resonate better with children after I had spend some time going through a few levels. So, fortunately for me, I was able to enlist the help of my Partner in Testing. My delightful Partner in Testing (we'll call her Veve) is about 7 and a half. She has expressed an interest in video games, as well as excitement to learning words from other languages. She was more than happy to jump into it with me, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to see how this might be useful as a learning tool. She is a fan of little arcade games, and was excited to help me play. Starting out strong, Veve picked, much like myself, Spanish, since she has a small knowledge of some words. Right off the bat, the core menu really wasn't something she could navigate- it was way too overwhelming for her (from a visual standpoint), and she needed some help getting set up and started. After a little bit of fiddling, we got into the game.

While details like the dog (who no, you cannot pet) running around is a fun addition, it will do little to detract from just how hard it can be to see around the play area when large items like trees end up in front. 

So initially, the controls didn't quite click and register with her. Having no prior knowledge of Snake-type games, she didn't know what to expect. In this case, I intentionally did not warn her before hand, so I could see how things went unprompted. Needless to say, the Immortal Chicken (infinite lives) was put into action quickly.  Unfortunately she wasn't able to fully grasp what it was she was supposed to do. I think the word being at the upper left, relatively small didn't help. From what she said, she would have liked something bold, in the top center of the screen, making it more obvious what letter she was looking for next. I had to agree with her on this part. After a few runs, and a little frustration, she asked me to change it to English for her. I went ahead, but let her know it wouldn't change any of the controls, just the words. I think she did this out of looking for some comfort and familiarity and to possibly reduce confusion. Through a few levels, she had trouble knowing or understanding why hitting wrong letters sent her back to the start, or why the fences suddenly hurt when they didn't before. In a level where you needed to collect a pumpkin, there was also a scarecrow with a pumpkin head which she initially thought MUST be it. Some of this I believe was due to the camera angle being difficult at times. It can be hard to see certain letters depending on where they spawn, and the same could be said about some of the objects you need to collect themselves.  In the end, she only got through the first two stages before becoming frustrated, and deciding she was "done".

At the end of each stage, you're greeted with a level completion and rating depending on your performance. 

When I asked her why she decided to be done, she made it sound like it was frustrating, and the loop of the gameplay was not rewarding enough.  While adults might find the little cat that pops up on your death funny, Veve asked why it was so mean and rude. (I will admit, this is a matter of perspective and it made me laugh). She thought being able to move one square at a time would be better, and that the walls wouldn't hurt you. While the game itself isn't marketed as entirely for kids, it is marked as family friendly. The concept seemed cute and simple enough that a younger child might really benefit from Babelum as a learning tool. It seems, however, that might not entirely be so simple in it's current rendition.

I was playing with Spanish as my selected language. However, instead of manzana, I was greeted with just the English word and pronunciation. There are still a few kinks to work out!

Ultimately, Babelum is what I find to be a labor of love for old-school arcade games, with a wonderful emphasis on learning. It absolutely has some kins I feel that need to get worked out, and possibly a more family friendly UI. I think it's a gorgeously well polished proof-of-concept, but would likely need a bit more time to be the best version of itself. There seems to be a few minor bugs (like words popping up in English, instead of Spanish for example), but that can be worked out easily. I feel like its most troublesome fallback is how unfriendly the menu navigation is. As the title is still currently in development, it absolutely should be taken with a grain of sand and that there are still many updates to come, streamlining the experience. It's absolutely a title worth keeping your eyes on!

Babelum is currently available on the Steam Marketplace for $14.99 USD.