Baby Steps follows the literal footsteps of Nate, an unemployed, awkward, disorganized, overweight, 35-year-old man. They somehow get carried to another world and discover that the simple task of walking might take him home.
Developers Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch and Bennett Foddy (Foddy was one of the developers of the famous internet game QWOP) have somehow created a visually aesthetic and truly breathtaking world, but at the same time it’s extremely frustrating.
Physics-based games not only take Nate on a journey that reveals the meaning of being alive, but also take users on a similar emotional journey. You laugh, cry (res), sometimes even scream with pure rage, but the game has an incredible charm and somehow wants you more.
How did you get here?
The game becomes what looks like the basement of Nate’s parents’ house. A room is the definition of a man’s cave. Couches, TVs, laptops, towing gaming consoles, hood scraps everywhere, and unsided beds sink. His parents are arguing about his son’s condition and his inactive life. We suddenly move into this new world and learn to walk for the first time through truly breathtaking plants and fauna on this misty, mostly secluded road.
The goals of the game are simple. Take one step at a time and take hell out of it. However, learning how to walk in this game takes a little time to honestly get used to it. It sounds easy to take a literal baby step, but the physics of the game creates the timing for each step and where is it stepping?
Stepping into a slippery surface means falling if you’re not careful enough. Stepping on the mud means stiffening each step before taking the next step. Each step is intentional and you can feel the resistance from the controller. This just feels like a part of this strange and unusual world.
Credit: Devolver Digital
There is a Nate Meeting to trek through different types of terrain in this open world game. Our interaction (or interaction with Nate) conveys us to a cutscene that fully displays Nate’s personality, showing that he desperately refuses to get any kind of help when he needs it, but can’t stand the decline of someone better than him. Cheerful.
These characters do not necessarily help us through specific interactions with objects and places, but their presence almost fills our solitude (for a while) you can feel as a player walking through isolated land.
Whatever floats your boat, make it slow and fast
To pass each level, Nate must hike individual campfires and make progress in the hopes of us returning home. Perhaps you will be tempted to speed up the game as the teasing glow of the campfire seduces you and find the quickest way out there. But I’ll tell you here that it could lead to a long journey down waterfalls, landslides, cliffs and anything quite high.
Taking it slowly will ultimately speed up to your destination as you are decreasing, but walking fast and taking the mash step in the wrong direction comes with crazy surprises. There, one example of a fall leads me to a random cave filled with mushroom penis.
You can also take part in a mini-game or quest wearing a stupid little hat, or take part in a lovely selfie footage where Nate scofed food. Be careful, you may be furious at your screen trying to reach for the item, and only to drop horribly and resume your quest for glory.
Credit: Devolver Digital
The game sometimes glitches and left Nate in some of the most compromised positions physically impossible. Perhaps not intentional, it made me laugh.
Check the view
The wonderful world of baby stairs is so big that it is almost intangible. It’s beautiful, and the visuals paired with the soundscape (although sometimes it features sound directly from the controller) are truly immersed in the world, but sometimes it feels impossible to explore everything.
For example, on multiple occasions, my thought process turned out to be: “Now, the campfire is shining so it’s obviously there, so let’s try a way to climb that mountain… wait, but there’s something in the shadow at the corner of the screen.
This game allows players to deflect their own paths in the hopes of seeing something interesting or unique all the time. But sometimes the reward for time and careful footsteps felt a bit like a punch in the intestines. And with Nate’s slow steps, sometimes the trekking felt tortured, boring and repetitive. Without a better word, the game sometimes felt like a bait of anger.
Credit: Devolver Digital
Final Thoughts
While the game can sometimes feel monotonous and frustrating, Baby Steps is a compelling game worth trying. Falling over and over can be tiring, and striving there can feel almost like a chore.
But it’s hard to rewind you to want to see what’s next in this absurd game. The game’s design is beautiful and the mechanics are challenging enough.
3 stars (out of 5)
Highlight: It reminds me of the game QWOP, but it has more purpose in an open world. It’s also hilarious to try and see the characters walking through the world.
Low Light: The vastness of the game doesn’t necessarily lead to substantial rewards, and sometimes you feel like you’re trying to achieve certain goals that can be boring and repetitive.
Developers: Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch, and Bennett Foddy
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Platform: PlayStation 5, PC
Available: September 24, 2025
Reviews conducted on PS5 using pre-release code provided by the publisher.
High-profile header images provided by Devolver Digital.
