The Nerdy Type

I’m not exaggerating when I say that Baby Steps has been one of those games that I’ve been looking forward to since I saw the first trailer. When the demo came out back in June, I leapt on it like a starving woman on a steak. And when the full game was finally released after a small delay on September 23, I was there from the very first moment it became available to download. 

Developed by a team of three (Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch, and rage game juggernaut Bennett Foddy himself), Baby Steps is perhaps the most literal walking simulator short of something that requires you to actually go for a walk. It’s rage-inducing, weirdly beautiful to look at, and laugh-out-loud funny in the weirdest of ways.

Learning to walk… Again

After pouring hours into exploring the small chunk of land available to us in the demo, I felt like I knew what I was getting into when I booted up the full version of Baby Steps, but I was quickly reminded that muscle memory is something that needs to be trained. Once again, having lost the rhythm that I’d discovered back in June during the demo, I found myself face down on the floor of the cave far more times than I care to admit. 

However, once I found that rhythm again, I had to admit that it felt easier this time around. I’m not sure whether that’s because it’s actually been made a little easier during development beyond the demo, or whether it’s the whole ‘like riding a bike’ thing. If you’ve not been on a bike in a few years, the pedaling process feels a bit weird at first, but it soon comes rushing back to you. 

That was the experience of learning to walk, once again, in Baby Steps. 

And then, in a personal record best time, may I add, I reached the threshold that had been present in the demo and set off into territory unknown. And oh boy, what a weird and wonderful adventure it has been. 

And then the rage hit

I must admit, I managed to play for far longer that first time than I ever hoped to imagine I would. Rage games are designed to enrage, and I’m particularly susceptible to those feelings of frustration, but I actually managed to clock over two hours during my first dive into Baby Steps. I was doing well, I was vertical more than I was on the horizontal, and I only slid down the mountain three times. 

But then came the fourth time, and it wouldn’t have been so bad if I hadn’t just yeeted a portapotty off a cliff. Which doesn’t sound like the worst thing in the world, except the entire premise of Baby Steps is trying to find a toilet, so this was a viscerally disappointing moment. 

Still, I soldiered on. I skirted around a very steep mountainside, desperately trying not to fall. I had a very fun slip and slide experience on a muddy incline, barely managing not to destroy all of my progress in a disastrous tumble off the edge of a cliff. I persevered towards that second fire, and then the worst happened. 

I fell off a cliff, and found myself halfway down the mountain I’d already just about managed to climb up. At that point, it was time to call it quits for the time being. 

Rage games are so much worse in 3D

With games like Getting Over It, A Game About Climbing, or Going Up, you’re in a 2D space and can only see the part of that space you’re currently working through. While infuriating if you fall, those small snippets of a view help to make things feel slightly more manageable, like breaking down a busy day into bite-sized, manageable items on a to-do list. 

It is unfathomably more terrible when you’re in a 3D space and able to see your objective off in the distance, knowing that you have to get from where you are to where that is. If that objective is particularly far away, you can get closer without feeling like you’ve achieved anything at all. And it’s even worse when you get close, slip off a cliff, and watch it drift off into the distance while you’re incapable of stopping yourself from getting further away. 

Even worse than all that, though, is the fact that, in those 2D games, there’s a very clear route that you need to take to get back to where you once were. If you fall, sure, it’s annoying, but you know what you need to do. In Baby Steps, there’s no telling where you’re going to end up if you fall, and you always end up somewhere slightly different depending on how you fall. 

If you slip down a mountain and get thrown in a new direction, you have to figure out exactly how you’re going to get back to wherever you were before you took that tumble. With multiple routes to possibly take and a bunch of paths that lead you off the right trail, it’s incredibly easy to get lost. 

Glutton for punishment

Despite my grievances with the 3D nature of Baby Steps and how brutally punishing it is to witness Nate sliding through the mud like a beached whale on a particularly steep and slippery beach, Baby Steps has proven to me that I was right to get excited for the experience. This bizarre and lovable walking simulator rage game has been worth the wait.

Sure, it’s infuriating and even baffling at times, but there’s an immense feeling of satisfaction once you reach a new, previously unseen location, before you fall off, at least. There are seemingly endless secrets and surprising moments that made me laugh, and I’ve not even managed to make it to the fateful (and strangely equine-themed) second bonfire yet. 

I even laughed at my own ridiculous decisions and their disastrous consequences, and if I can make it as far as I did during my first attempt, then I’m sure anybody can. 

Baby Steps was released in full on September 23, 2025. If you want to go and throw yourself off a cliff (metaphorically speaking), you can get the game on PC through Steam and on PlayStation 5.