"From the player's side, Baby Steps feels like a finely honed experience. It's a walking simulator that follows Nate, a manchild in a gray onesie, as he attempts to scale a mountain and symbolically escape his parents' basement. The player controls Nate's legs individually, lifting each knee and carefully placing one foot in front of the other, learning how to walk in the very literal sense. Baby Steps succeeds because of its mechanical precision, but it excels because of its irreverent tone, magically surreal setting and AAA levels of polish."
"The mountain is a mix of childhood memories and adult anxieties represented by giant chess pieces, rude graffiti, and a crew of drinking, smoking, anthropomorphic donkeys who wander the cliffs with their dicks swinging free. Improvised dialogue between Nate and the NPCs turns each cutscene into a comedy sketch, but his journey also includes shocking revelations of existential numbness. In Baby Steps, falling is just as much of a mechanic as walking."
Maxi Boch remained engaged with Baby Steps even after collaborators shipped the game before she felt finished. Baby Steps launched on PC and PlayStation 5 on September 23, 2025 following a delay to avoid the Hollow Knight: Silksong release window. Players control Nate's legs individually, lifting knees and placing feet to simulate learning to walk. The game combines tight mechanical precision with irreverent humor, surreal environmental design, and high polish. The mountain blends childhood memories and adult anxieties through striking set pieces and NPCs, and falling functions as a core mechanic that punctuates climbs with dramatic setbacks and existential moments.
Read at www.engadget.com
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