Baby Steps Review
Foddian odyssey Baby Steps is one of the best games of the year.
Baby Steps. Credit: Devolver Digital
Baby Steps is yet another winner for Devolver Digital. The game is a walking simulator, in the most literal way possible, developed by Gabe Cuzillo (Ape Out), Maxi Boch, and Bennet Foddy (QWOP, Getting Over It with Bennet Foddy, Universal Paperclips). The game is a sublime expression of life distilled into pure gameplay. I’ve never encountered a game quite like it, and while it may be frustrating at times, it’s also pure joy.
You play as Nate, a 35-year-old failson living in his parents’ basement. We hear his parents loudly arguing about him upstairs when his TV glitches out, and he vanishes, only to reappear underwater in a cave in a strange land full of weird people. Now Nate must walk, one step at a time, to get to the top of a mountain. He’s wearing a onesie, has no shoes, and is desperate for a bathroom. Most critically, Nate is terrible at walking.
Baby Steps. Credit: Devolver Digital
All you can do in Baby Steps is put one foot in front of the other. The game uses the controller’s analog triggers in the best, purest way I’ve seen, with each trigger lifting one of Nate’s legs based precisely on how much pressure you apply. It’s even better on the PlayStation 5, where you get deeply satisfying haptic feedback from the triggers when trying to lift your foot from sticky mud. You then use the left analog stick to move Nate’s lifted leg and shift his center of gravity. Get it right, and you’ll have planted your foot on the ground, ready to take another step. Get it wrong, and you flop to the ground, often hilariously and sometimes great distances. It can be a long, long way down. The stripped-down controls mirror our human limitations, where every action we take requires deliberate intention and effort.
There are no extraneous systems to help you. No map, waypoint, or navigation system, none of the quality-of-life features that we’re conditioned to expect from modern games. Giant candles loosely mark the critical path, but you’re under no obligation to take any specific route. In fact, a lot of the best content only reveals itself if you stray from the trail.
Baby Steps. Credit: Devolver Digital
The world is littered with walking and climbing puzzles. Some blend seamlessly into the landscape’s natural features, while others are constructed, such as a ruined tower I spent hours trying to climb. The design is fantastic, both ingenious and infuriating. The intense satisfaction I had when I mastered the controls well enough and had the patience to succeed in clambering over an obstacle was a feeling that’s rare for most games to elicit.
On the way over the obstacles, we make progress through failure. The game offers no more guidance, forcing us to learn through our own mistakes and repetition. There’s no real punishment; you just stand up and try again, making incremental progress in the same way that we achieve actual growth in our lives.
There’s something else that makes Baby Steps feel special—a genuine feeling of discovery. First, through the innocence of relearning one of humanity’s most basic skills. There’s a magic in learning to walk again, tapping into part of most people’s basic human experience. Second, the absence of external influences, such as maps or HUDs, makes the world feel mysterious and magical to explore.
The game is also incredibly funny. There’s emergent comedy from your own stumbles and failures, but I didn’t expect the cutscenes—all improvised—to be this good. Every absurd encounter Nate has with the denizens of this nature trail is hilarious. The recurring characters are wonderful, and every scene I managed to find while exploring was a treasure.
Baby Steps. Credit: Devolver Digital
Visually, the game looks great, at least the world does. The character models are a little on the ugly side, but the natural environments surrounding them are just gorgeous. Part of the pleasure of exploration comes from how pretty the world is.
Baby Steps was truly a revelation. It’s a Foddian game from one of the few artists privileged to have their name become an adjective, but it’s much more. It made me reconsider what gameplay and game systems could be, while striking me with the depth of its allegory of the human experience. All we can do is take one step after another and pick ourselves back up if we trip. Even if you’re an asshole who refuses anyone’s help.
Baby Steps is available now on Steam and PlayStation 5.
Overall Score: 10/10
Played on: PS5
