‘He’s clumsy, high, and completely unprepared’: Baby Steps, a game about falling flat on your face

Development trio Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch, and Bennett Foddy are back with a story about a failson basement-dweller trying not to fall flat on his face

Game developers Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch and Bennett Foddy have been friends for over a decade, having met through NYU’s Game Centre, and they already have one successful indie game under their belt. Ape Out had you smashing through halls full of goons as a rampaging gorilla to the tune of a procedural jazz soundtrack. Their next game, Baby Steps, is equally unconventional. A walking simulator in a very literal sense, you’ll awkwardly steer Nate, a caked-up, onesie-wearing basement dweller, to the top of a misty mountain. And often, you’ll fall flat on your face.

“On a controller, players use the triggers to lift and plant each foot while using the left stick to move the lifted foot around in the air, manually taking each of Nate’s steps,” Cuzzillo says. Using this literalist control scheme, reminiscent of Foddy’s earlier games like QWOP and Getting Over It, the team want players to get into a rhythm as they hike, taking in the eclectic sights and letting their minds wander. “That hypnotic space you can get into as you walk is a big part of the appeal of hiking to me,” Cuzzillo said. “We’re trying to capture a bit of that here.”

Baby Steps is coming to PlayStation 5 and PC in 2024.