Baby Steps Fans Think the Game Might Secretly Be a Fan-made Uncharted 5

Fans of past year's gloriously achy literal walking sim crippled Baby Steps person a chaotic mentation astir its onesie-clad screw-up of a main character, Nate: they deliberation he's the lad of Uncharted's Nathan Drake, and they person a shocking magnitude of grounds to beryllium it.

Baby Steps follows the communicative of Nate, a grown antheral who wakes up barefoot successful a onesie successful a unusual satellite occupied by donkey people. Unsure however helium got determination oregon wherever he's adjacent going, you person to marque Nate property onward anyhow by utilizing the power sticks and enarthrosis buttons connected your controller to painstakingly assistance 1 limb astatine a time, presumption it, and acceptable it backmost down. The precise enactment of walking guardant is agony, and you'll beryllium terrible astatine it for a bully chunk of the game. Then, conscionable erstwhile you commencement to get utilized to walking, Baby Steps throws mudslides and soil dunes and mountains and crystal astatine you to marque things adjacent much difficult.

Baby Steps is fantastic - it's a meditation connected masculinity and the expectations that travel packaged with that, arsenic good arsenic an interrogation of what the subordinate considers "character growth". Nate, to beryllium frank, sucks. He's a middle-aged coward who mostly sits successful his parents' basement and plays video games, has nary redeeming qualities and contributes small to thing to society. He spends astir of Baby Steps stubbornly refusing to judge assistance from anyone, adjacent favors that would marque his travel exponentially easier, specified arsenic a representation oregon a brace of shoes or, depending connected however you play, a large staircase up a treacherous mountain. He moans and groans, falls down and perpetually soils himself, and is mostly conscionable the astir irritating idiosyncratic imaginable to embody for 20ish hours of slow, agonizing walking.

Given each that, it's beauteous far-fetched to deliberation he'd beryllium the lad of renowned adventurer Nathan Drake, a handsome, intelligent and acceptable protagonist known for going connected a bid of planetary adventures and successfully escaping countless unsafe situations. He and his wife, Elena, canonically person a girl named Cassie - developer Naughty Dog ne'er gave him a son. What's more, there's thing to suggest that the devs and steadfast Sony ever would springiness their blessings to the Baby Steps squad to marque immoderate kid of theirs a full catastrophe of a human. It's asinine.

And yet. Blessing oregon no, a fig of fans deliberation that the Baby Steps devs created Nate with the quiescent but explicit volition of being a Drake. Much of these theories were posited mode backmost successful October 2025, soon aft the game's release, but I've lone precocious been made alert of them. In the "lore" transmission of the authoritative Baby Steps Discord, aggregate players person recovered connections betwixt the 2 characters that look acold excessively pointed to beryllium nothing.

Nate doesn't talk overmuch astir his idiosyncratic beingness passim his journey, but passim Baby Steps, Nate tin get assorted silly hats to wear, immoderate of which supply him with dreams reflecting connected his existent beingness if helium makes it to campy with them astatine the extremity of a day. In 1 of these dreams, Nate is referred to arsenic "Nate D" and Nate "Dumbass" - helium besides goes by "Nathan Bake" astatine 1 constituent erstwhile helium flirts with being a DJ. Through different scenes, peculiarly optional telephone calls with Nate's dad, we larn that helium has a sister named Cassie, and that he's a "junior" - his dada is besides named Nathan. And per the credits, his ma is named Elena. If that's not capable retired the gross arsenic proof, dataminers person recovered that Nate's exemplary is conscionable referred to arsenic "Nathan Drake" successful the game's files (as shared by Caleb (monkeylicker) successful the authoritative Discord.)

There are much subtle hints too, though erstwhile you cognize astir them they consciousness astir arsenic subtle arsenic a humanoid talking donkey with nary pants. Compare this portion of authoritative Baby Steps creation with the screen creation for Uncharted 4 (look astatine Baby Steps Nate's hand!), arsenic spotted by Drencrom successful the Discord:

Spotted by Kuromi_#1Fan successful the Discord, there's a representation hanging connected the partition successful the New Game paper of Sir Francis Drake - the alleged ancestor of Nathan Drake. Also spotted by Drencrom, the "World's Best Dad" accomplishment representation looks an atrocious batch similar an older Nathan Drake. There's besides a country wherever Nathan wakes up connected the formation that beauteous intimately mirrors a country from Uncharted 4.

And there's this full optional telephone country if you take to ascent an abandoned train, conscionable similar Nathan Drake Sr., wherever his dada connected the telephone importantly perks up erstwhile Nate mentions the abandoned train.

And finally, little impervious and much conscionable a amusive small bonus, during the astir half-hour-long cutscene that plays astatine the extremity of Baby Steps if you skip each different cutscene successful the game, Gabe Cuzzillo and Bennett Foddy driblet their characters and speech about, among different things, Uncharted, making it wide they're fans.

The preponderance of grounds that the Baby Steps devs made this with the originative intent of this protagonist being Nathan Uncharted Drake's failson was truthful overwhelming and truthful comic that I reached retired to devs Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch, and Bennett Foddy to spot if they had immoderate remark oregon confirmation, but they declined.

Of course, it's beauteous evident that neither Sony nor Naughty Dog is going to canonize this - for one, it seems similar Nate Jr. is dormant oregon astatine slightest isekaied, making his instauration into the Uncharted beingness a spot of a moot point. For two, this is each precise silly. Perhaps a interaction excessively silly for Uncharted.

But whether you determine to work Baby Steps arsenic a concealed fan-made Uncharted 5 oregon not, it's precise worthy playing. We gave it a 9/10 successful our review, calling it "an infuriating ordeal of intentionally awkward physics that’s brutal, unbelievably stupid, and downright awesome."

Rebekah Valentine is simply a elder newsman for IGN. Got a communicative tip? Send it to [email protected].