Jada Griffin
Guest
Five minutes. It only took me five minutes of my hour-long demo to become beguiled by the world of Baby Steps and see the promise of what developers Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch, and Bennett Foddy have in store for us. Baby Steps takes the simple premise of a guy on the couch, Nate, needing to find his way home after being transported into another world. It all starts straightforward enough: you wake up in a new world and need to put one foot in front of the other by lifting Nate's feet and thighs in an almost rhythmic way to make him walk, and if that sounds complicated, well, that is just the tip of the iceberg. During my preview, I climbed natural steps made of rock, walked across narrow beams of wood, and climbed the remains of a destroyed carousel from a circus, each challenging my grasp on the controls. Every location brought new challenges or obstacles and a new way I had to think about progressing over or past them.
Walking in a game sounds so simple, but the complicated part and most significant challenge in Baby Steps is perfecting how to control the protagonist. Walking in 99% of games is as simple as holding up on an analog stick or pressing the assigned key on a keyboard. However, in Baby Steps, walking is anything but simple because while the left analog stick still directs movement, you control Nate's legs with the bumpers and triggers. Like QWOP, this took some time to get used to, leading to not an insignificant amount of flops, falls, and setbacks. But in Baby Steps, those setbacks are all just part of your journey and Nate's story of learning to put one foot in front of the other as he traverses landscapes decorated with natural and unnatural slopes, steps, mountains, and other obstacles to test your prowess with controlling him.
Baby Steps is shaping up to be the largest world yet from the team that brought us QWOP, Ape Out, and Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy. During my sessions, they remarked that I was the fourth person that day to play, and each of us had taken different paths as we explored. Although there is a great joke about it, Baby Steps follows in the footsteps of some other recent open-world games but goes even further. There are no directions to guide Nate on his journey, no map, no markers, no radar – nothing. You only have your intuition to guide you. Maybe you will spot a sign offering a reward if a lost cup is found and returned, perhaps you'll see the remains of a circus, or possibly something glowing hanging from a tree hanging off the edge of a nearby mountain. All of these and more are Baby Steps’s ways of telling you to go somewhere, and it works remarkably well; not once did I find myself lost in this vast open world or feel like I didn't know where to go, what to do, or how to overcome an obstacle. The biggest challenge is not in finding the path somewhere, but in the execution of moving Nate properly so he can maneuver around narrow ledges, finding spots to increase your height to reach the next foothold or surface you can stand on, and it's all done without the use of yellow paint.
Yellow paint isn't as immersion-breaking for me as it apparently is for some. When chatting with the team about it, they spoke about how, while useful, it's a tool for developers to tell players the right way to get from point A to B. However, Baby Steps doesn't use it because there is no "right" way to walk up a slippery hill or climb a rock with precarious footholds. Whatever way you end up accomplishing it, that is the right way. Now, some ways will be easier than others for sure, but even that mileage will vary based on your experience and determination. The team expects some players to see a path that looks too difficult and take the easier route early on, and then, after they have become more familiar with the controls and Nate's capabilities, return and try that tougher route.
The biggest challenge is not in finding the path somewhere, but in the execution of moving Nate properly...
There are also benefits to taking some of these more demanding routes or exploring the perceivably more challenging areas. Hidden little treats and bonuses are sprinkled throughout. The remains of that circus carousel I mentioned earlier actually had a funny little hat at the very top, and my reward for reaching the top was Nate wearing it as I explored the world. The catch is that these rewards aren't permanent, as I soon found my hat at the bottom of an outcropping of rocks after I tumbled while wearing it. The development team fully expects players to create their own challenges, such as, “Can I beat this game without losing this hat?” This may not sound like too tough a challenge, but it only takes one wrong step while climbing up a mountain or across a thin walkway to fall and watch your hat hurtle to the very bottom. Hats also aren't the only thing to collect. I won't spoil the details of that cup I previously mentioned, as it's a fun treat for some fans, but it gave me a good idea of the type of humor and extra challenges that Baby Steps has in store for its players.
Speaking of humor, the few cutscenes I did manage to find by reaching various locations had me cackling with laughter during my preview. These cutscenes have a sort of absurd humor that stuck with me; the closest thing I could compare them to would be some of the off-the-wall humor you might see in an episode of Looney Tunes. Nate isn't the only person in this new world, but he seems to be the most awkward. Granted, the NPCs I met weren't exactly normal, either. From what I've seen so far, Nate's personality is a blend between that stereotypical child still living with their parents past the point that many would consider healthy and someone who would rather face hardships than interact with someone they aren't comfortable with. This trait becomes evident from the beginning of the game when he meets the first of what I hope are many recurring NPCs.
The sound design and music also have interesting quirks to them; hearing the collisions, impacts, and sound of Nate as he slams face or body first into the world around him evokes that feeling you get when watching a show, and someone gets kicked in their groin or stubs their toe. Now, there is no health bar to keep track of, and from what I could tell, Nate can't die, regardless of whether I fell off a two-foot or 20-foot rock, which will make it a bit more approachable for those who might worry about dying in a game like this. Accompanying the sounds of Nate colliding with the environment are sounds of nature, birds squawking, insects chirping, frogs croaking, and various animals coming together to create a discordant yet harmonic soundtrack to explore to.
I don't know what the future will look like for Baby Steps. It has a lot going for it at first glance, with what I consider is the studio’s most approachable entry. Many others have combined the various elements and mechanics to different degrees. Plenty of open-world games now pride themselves on removing markers from maps, encouraging players to live in and interact with the world; physics-based games have been around for even longer in various forms, either ragdolling characters or using it to affect the world around your character. However, something about Baby Steps's combination of these elements and their unique control scheme makes me believe it could be special. The team's approach to just turning players loose in a strange world full of obstacles, challenges, and secrets isn't necessarily new, but the way it combines them feels fresh enough to not only reach their dedicated fan base but also reach a new audience and welcome them to their unique style.