| “ | No breaking the fourth wall in the halls! | ” |
— Principal of the Thing, Field Trip demo
|
Breaking the fourth wall is a performance convention used in fictional stories in which a character acknowledges the truth that they are in the media (video games, television shows, etc.), and are actually aware of being such, and speak to the person(s) of the real world.
This is one of the main elements for the Baldi's Basics games' storyline.
Description
The player (even though they are supposedly a child in the game) is determinant with no identified name, species, or gender; thus representing the gamer themselves who played the game. In such a case, the characters, even Baldi himself, will break the fourth wall by speaking directly to the player without mentioning any functions of the whole game itself. filename2 is the only character who is absolutely aware of the video game and what is behind all of it, realizing why or how he is a character in the game, and what was happening to the game due to some known (purposeful) glitches and how one affected him. So upon meeting the player, he will say that the player must never tell anyone about the game, destroy it, and never return.
TestRoom also breaks the fourth wall because the "31718" code is the date (March 17, 2018) when the developer made a first announcement for Baldi's Basics Classic. The "THIS IS WHERE IT ALL BEGAN" message means development just started.
In Baldi's Basics Classic, Baldi actually breaks the fourth wall by reminding the player about some of the game controls. After answering all three questions correctly in the first notebook, he will tell the player that they have to use the left mouse button to pick an item up and that they have to right-click on an object they can use a Quarter on with it selected. In Birthday Bash, he will not talk about using right-clicking on an object because the Quarter is replaced to a present.
Trivia
- General
- The school rules prohibit the usage of breaking the fourth wall, although it could be actually referring not to talk about the game's program itself or any suspicious issues.
- Baldi also breaks the fourth wall by various ways in the mailbox comic and the Nothing to Eat comic.
- Principal of the Thing will be seen after going through the series of "The demo ends here" walls, saying "No breaking the fourth wall in the halls!". Walking through the "fourth wall" to trigger this hidden Easter egg is tongue-in-cheek humor.
