Baby Steps is a 3D clumsy sim from the makers of Getting Over It and Ape Out

For no particular reason, I decided to give Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy another go yesterday. I was then raving about how good it is to anyone who would listen in the RPS treehouse just a few hours ago.

I had no idea that its creator Bennett Foddy was going to reveal a new game tonight. That game is called Baby Steps, it's being made with the makers of Ape Out, and it looks like a mixture of QWOP and Getting Over It set in a beautiful 3D world. There's an excellent trailer below.

"Play as Nate, an unemployed failson with nothing going for him, until one day he discovers a power he never knew he had… putting one foot in front of the other," says the description on its Steam page.

Baby Steps has "fully-simulated physics based walking", in which you must place each footstep yourself. Place those footsteps unsteadily, of course, and you'll tumble face-first into the dirt. Or, if you happen to be near a cliff on the mountain you're trying to climb, you'll fall straight over the edge and lose who-knows how much hard won progress.

Ape Out was a wonderful, violent topdown escape 'em up with a dynamic jazz soundtrack that played along to your punches, throws, and momentum. Baby Steps will apparently have a dynamic soundtrack of its own, paired with your presumably much less violent, much more clumsy forward progress.

If you haven't played Getting Over It, or if you only played it a little, I think it's easy to dismiss it as a game for masochists and show-off streamers. I don't think that's the case. It's a generous rather than a cruel game; one that teases, cajoles, and supports more than it punishes. Baby Steps' trailer suggests it, too, has a sense of humour, and I hope it also has that sense of a designer's hand leading you through it, however difficult the climb may be.

Baby Steps is aiming for release in 2024

NotE3 and Summer Game Fest 2023 is over for another year. You can find out all the latest news by visiting our E3 2023 hub, or you can catch up with our round-up posts of everything that was announced at Summer Game Fest, the Xbox Games Showcase, the PC Gaming Show, Day Of The Devs, and our top highlights from the Wholesome Direct.