Baby Steps

I have been playing a lot of the recently released "Baby Steps". A game where you control the individual legs and feet of a man in order to climb a mountain. It's a game in the same vein as Getting Over It and QWOP. A lot of people are saying it's game of the year material, and accomplishes the same feats as Death Stranding with a fraction of the budget. Etc etc.

One thing that's struck me about the game is that the physicality and coordination of using the triggers on a controller. Every session is limited because I have a finite period where my coordnation and concentration haven't worn out. After failing to climb a challenge or obstacle several times earlier challenges and obstacles that I could do consistantly I suddenly can't do anymore, and I must take a break to reset. 

Another thing that struck me is controlling Nate is much like how a vehicle works in a game. Instead of a mesh with a walking animation and a capsule collider on a terrain, there's friction points that make contact with the ground and forward motion is dictacted by physics. The same is true with Baby Steps. If you set a foot and the surface is at an angle, or slippery, then the foot will make contact but slide if you put weight on it. I could see someone ripping these mechanics off to make a mech walking game. 

The game features pantsless donkey men with full frontal nudity. It strikes me how casual this is, and I must be honest this feature got me a little more interested in the game than the demo did. It is surprising how much furry homosexual energy is in this game despite being a postmodern comedy game. It feels like Robert Yang did consulting on this, somehow. I am a bit jealous a mainstream indie game can get away with this sort of thing but avoid the bad attention that other LGBTQ games are getting from payment processors. 

I have spoiled myself on a few details of the rest of the game, I do find the mystery of whats ahead to be very tantalizing.