Baldi's Basics is a horror game that takes inspiration from the creepy edutainment games of the 90s. The game has no real educational value and is designed to be weird and unsettling. The objective of the game is to collect seven notebooks and escape the school, but this is easier said than done. Players must learn the ins-and-outs of the game to come up with a winning strategy and avoid being caught by Baldi. The game requires players to use Baldi's friends to their advantage, manage items found throughout the school, and memorize the layout of Baldi's school to succeed.

The game has two modes: story and endless. In story mode, players must collect seven notebooks and escape the school to win. The more notebooks collected, the faster Baldi becomes, making the game more challenging. Endless mode is a challenge to see how many notebooks players can collect before being caught by Baldi. Over time, Baldi will speed up, but each time players successfully solve the problems in a notebook, he will slow down. The longer players can keep his speed down, the more notebooks they can collect.

Baldi's Basics is an port of the original game with touch screen controls and controller support. Players can adjust these features to their liking in the options menu. The game is designed to be unsettling and challenging, requiring players to think strategically and use their resources wisely to succeed.