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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsBaby Steps is built around a simple, uncomfortable idea: you control each foot, and the mountain does not care whether you have found your balance yet. In Kyle Orland’s September 2025 Ars Technica review, that tension made the game both maddening and unexpectedly meaningful. It is a personal verdict, not a promise that every player will enjoy the struggle.
What is Baby Steps?
Baby Steps is a single-player, physics-based walking game developed by Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch, and Bennett Foddy, and published by Devolver Digital. You guide Nate, an unemployed “failson,” on a trek up a mountain. The premise is deliberately modest: as the Steam listing puts it, he discovers the power of putting one foot in front of the other.
Steam lists a Windows release, and the US PlayStation Store listing offers a PS5 version. Both storefronts give September 23, 2025 as the release date. Steam’s user-defined tags include walking simulator, adventure, exploration, comedy, single-player, difficult, physics, and controller; they are descriptors, not an official genre classification.
How does walking work?
This is not ordinary movement controlled by pushing a stick forward. You lift a foot, lean toward where you want to go, and try to place it without losing balance. Each leg is linked to a shoulder trigger, while the game simulates the walking through physics.
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The controls take patience and practice. Orland describes learning through trial and error until a rhythm begins to emerge. A short, apt line from his review: “Baby Steps doesn’t hand you anything.”
Why can it be so frustrating?
Terrain makes every step matter
As the route changes, so must your balance and timing. Narrow planks, bridges over gaps, steep footholds, mud, sand, snow, and ice each create their own problems. A movement that works on a broad, flat stretch may fail on a slippery slope or a narrow crossing.
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A fall can mean a costly climb back
Some falls cost minutes; others can wipe out a much longer stretch of progress. The game does have occasional major checkpoints and broad, flat areas that limit how far a mistake sends you back, so it is not accurate to say there are no checkpoints. The risk is that recovery can still feel expensive when you have to repeat difficult ground.
Finding the route is part of the challenge
There is no in-game map, and the intended way forward can be unclear. Orland describes optional diversions to landmarks such as towers, unusual natural formations, and a miniature city made of boxes. These spots often offer a view or the satisfaction of reaching them rather than an explicit reward. Watching the terrain and being patient can reveal alternate ways around obstacles that first seem unavoidable.
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- Care for your baby and teach them new things – how to walk, talk, shapes, colors, and keep them out of trouble!
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What makes the struggle satisfying?
For Orland, the payoff came from gradually learning how the movement and terrain fit together, not from leveling up or upgrading an inventory. That gives small advances a particular weight: a hard section becomes manageable because the player has learned to handle it. Exploration adds its own discoveries, while awkward movement, slapstick tumbles, and surreal encounters with other hikers provide the comedy.
Orland’s comparison points include QWOP, Death Stranding, and Getting Over It. They are useful as analogies for unusual movement, arduous travel, or failure-driven challenge, not as claims that the games play alike. His experience took roughly 13 hours, and his conservative estimate was about 1,000 falls during that playthrough; both figures are his own estimates, not game statistics or a forecast of how long another player will take.
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- Customize your baby with all new items - cute outfits and accessories, fun toys, and even decorate their room to your liking.
- Care for your baby and teach them new things – how to walk, talk, shapes, colors, and keep them out of trouble!
- Choose whether you want a boy or girl, name your baby, and pick your baby’s look with even more options-- or just let it be a surprise!
- All new activities for having fun with your baby – trying new foods, reading bedtime stories, potty training, and tracking your baby’s growth through his or her toddler years.
- Innovative gameplay that is based on the unique features of the Wii and the Nintendo DS - stylus, touch pad, voice recognition, and the microphone - not a compilation of minigames.
Who is likely to enjoy Baby Steps?
The game is a better fit if you like unusual physics controls, slow mastery, exploration, absurd humor, and the feeling of recovering after mistakes. It may be a poor fit if you want familiar movement, clearly signposted routes, fast progression, or failure that costs little. If losing progress is a deal-breaker, its occasional checkpoints may not be enough to make the experience comfortable.
What should PS5 players know?
The PS5 listing identifies DualSense trigger-effect support, but also says the game can be played without adaptive trigger effects. The same listing describes accessibility options including full control remapping, adjustable stick options, and the ability to play without rapid button presses or motion controls. Those options may help with specific control needs; the listing does not establish that they remove the game’s underlying balance and progress challenges.
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Is Baby Steps really that frustrating?
It can be, especially when awkward footing combines with unclear wayfinding and a fall means repeating a difficult stretch. But “frustrating” is Orland’s response to his own playthrough, not a universal measure. Whether the setbacks feel funny and satisfying or simply tedious depends on how much you enjoy slow, hands-on mastery.
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