Baby Steps

Baby Steps is the game you buy if you want to relearn how to walk and probably throw a controller in the process. From the co-designers of Ape Out and Getting Over It, this one literalizes the metaphor: every step is on you. It’s funny, occasionally cruel, and somehow often moving — equal parts rage-bait and tender little narrative pockets. If you like being tested by mechanics more than convenience, this is your kind of weird.

Put One Foot in Front of the Other, Literally

The core loop of Baby Steps is astonishingly simple on paper: move Nate by controlling each leg with a trigger (or input) and find a steady rhythm. In practice it’s a deliciously awkward ballet of triggers, thumbsticks and micro-adjustments — a moment-to-moment focus game where balance, timing and small strategy matter. You’ll shimmy up rocks, scoot across mudslides, and occasionally get catapulted off a cliff by an overenthusiastic ragdoll. The world is deliberately slow; success rarely feels flashy, it’s the tiny wins — a reclaiming of a lost hat or inching past a treacherous ledge — that land hardest. That tension between calming walking-sim exploration and “oh no, I fell down a mountain” adrenaline is Baby Steps’ heartbeat.

The Little Horrors That Make It Unique

What sets Baby Steps apart is not just the simulated legs but how the game hands you choices about humiliation and pride. There are multiple paths up the mountain: graceful spirals for the faint-hearted, masochistic climbs for people who stream for clicks, and micro-challenges that reward nothing but your own stubbornness. The Manbreaker, the infuriating train section, and the temptation of shiny, often pointless hats are design jokes and tests in one. Hats give bite-sized vignettes; bottles and fruit tempt you and sometimes punish curiosity. The onesie soilage system and ragdoll tantrums are goofy on the surface and emotionally authoritative underneath — you laugh at the pratfall, then feel the sting when an hour of steps evaporates.

A Moody World, With Sound, Style and Quirks

Visually Baby Steps leans into blown-out bloom and chunky geometry: not to impress with fidelity but to push you toward landmarks and curiosities. The soundtrack is oddly clever — a dynamic, layered system built from hundreds of beats and ambient bits that changes as you move and discover. Audio cues, the slap of barefoot steps, the groan when Nate flails, and the deadpan narration (often voiced by Bennett Foddy) sell the tone: equal parts absurdist comedy and melancholic reflection. Performance-wise, the PC experience is generally smooth, though some players reported hiccups and occasional clipping or pedometer bugs; controller play feels essential and far more satisfying than keyboard-only. Accessibility is mixed: the game rewards patience and persistence but can punish progress loss harshly; there are soft checkpoints sprinkled around, but many runs still demand long, careful traversal.

Baby Steps is not for everyone, and that’s the point. I loved the way it forces you to reckon with small defeats and tiny triumphs — sometimes hilarious, sometimes brutal. Play it with a controller, maybe with a friend on the couch, and be ready to get angry and oddly moved. Buy it if you want a thoughtful, messy experiment; skip it if you want a comfortably guided hike.