I think one of the best words to describe Baby Steps is curiosity. And I am so glad my own curiosity led me to try out this game, as it’s by far one of the best games I’ve played in the last couple of years.

Baby Steps is an indie game made by a small 3 person team, Bennett Foddy, Gabe Cuzzillo and Maxi Boch, and is published by Devolver Digital. For those that don’t know, Foddy is one of the pioneers of the “Foddian” genre of games. The two most well known examples of this game type are QWOP and Getting Over it, both created by Foddy. These games are notoriously difficult and will often be designed in such a way, where a single mistake by the player will cause them to lose much of their progress. I do not enjoy these types of games. I enjoy difficult games, but Foddian games are not my cup of tea. So what’s the difference here?

Are you still watching?

Baby Steps is a game about a 30-something year old Nate. An unemployed man, dressed in a onesie, that lives in their parents basement. They are socially inept and are the very definition of man-child. After watching so much Netflix to the point where the app asks “Are you still watching?”, Nate is suddenly teleported to a strange world where the only way he can get about is, by you, the player, controlling his individual legs. And this is the crux of the game, guiding Nate to the top of a mountain by controlling every single step he takes.

Right out of the gates, the game sets the scene and tone as you’re introduced to Jim. Voiced by Foddy, as well as lending his voice to the majority of other characters in this game. Jim tries to help Nate with his journey, and Nate being the kind of person he is, rebuffs him at every step of the way, even so much as to refuse a pair of shoes. After leaving the initial area, the game literally leaves everything to you. No map, no direction arrow and no objective tracker. Just a curious looking light at the top of a hill that you can walk to. If you want. And it’s this that has made me really enjoy this Foddian game.

The Stairs or The Manbreaker?

For the first 30 minutes of Baby Steps, you’ll likely find yourself getting used to the controls.  You’re going to be spending a lot of time falling over and stumbling on slightest bit of uneven terrain, but just like a game like Dark Souls, you’ll eventually “get it” and the controls will just “click”. You’ll be surprised to find there’s a lot of finesse and mastery to controlling Nate’s feet. And once you have the basics of walking down, the over-world completely opens up to you.

There is so much to explore and test your skills. As you’re walking around, the game will tempt you with many paths. And it’s entirely up to you if you want to take the easy straightforward path in front of you. Or perhaps you take a risk and walk the beaten path. Do you want to take the stairs or the Manbreaker? You can take the risk, knowing that one small mistake will cause you to lose a bunch of progress. But if you pull it off, damn that will feel awesome. It’s the same with the collectables and challenges that are scattered about the world. All of these are optional and have next to no impact on the actual game itself. Any punishment or difficulty you subject yourself to is entirely your choice.

I hate sand

I will mention though there is one difficult segment in the game (the Sand Castle) that is quite challenging compared to the rest of the game and you can’t skip it. And it occurs after the most heart wrenching scene in the game. On that note, it took me around 10 hours to see the credits roll. This was with a reasonable amount of exploring. And I found a hat or two in each chapter.

Now, that 10 hour journey was a little bit of an emotional roller coaster for me. Surprisingly, Baby Steps does have something of a storyline. I don’t want to speak on this too much as it’s one best experienced by yourself with no knowledge of what’s to come. It was a great experience to come on not only this physical journey with Nate, but a journey of growth too.

Silence was sometimes best

Outside of the potential difficulty of this game, I think the Skyrim-like graphics and the nonsensical, nature infused soundtrack might be a bit of a turn off for some. I know there were definitely some moments of the game where I appreciated the lack of “music” and could only hear the rustling of leaves or the rushing of water around me.

With that being said, and I can’t stress this enough. I highly recommend anyone who is even remotely curious about this game, to go and try the demo on Steam. The entire first chapter is available to play and you’ll be able to quickly tell if this game is for you or not.

Personally, I was pleasantly surprised by Baby Steps and I’m so glad I stumbled onto the demo. Is this game for everyone? No. Definitely not. But is this game for those that enjoy a challenge? Most certainly. Dark Souls enjoyers, rogue-like enjoyers, get in here and take your first steps into trying out your first Foddian game.