Indie title Baby Steps lands five nominations at 2026 Independent Games Festival

Kotaku reports the 2026 Independent Games Festival Awards released its list of nominees on January 8, and the indie game Baby Steps picked up five nominations, including Excellence in Audio, Excellence in Design, Excellence in Narrative, the Nuovo Award and the Seumas McNally Grand Prize.

Baby Steps follows Nate, who is transported from living in squalor in his parents’ basement to a magical world inhabited by long-dicked donkey men and Australians. On PlayStation 5 the game’s core challenge is physical: players use the controller’s triggers to independently lift Nate’s feet and the control stick to lean, requiring a maintained rhythm to walk and greater precision to climb slippery slopes and awkward rockfaces. The nomination list and coverage note the game’s connection to the nascent genre of physics-based “rage games,” a lineage tied to co‑developer Bennett Foddy.

Other multiple nominees include Blippo+, Titanium Court and Horses. The IGF this year also adds a WINGS Award category for games made by women and other gender‑marginalized developers in collaboration with Wings Interactive; each award includes a $2,000 bonus and the grand prize carries $20,000. The 2026 Independent Games Festival Awards are scheduled for Wednesday, March 11 at 6:30 p.m. PST and will be broadcast live on Twitch.

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Culture, Baby Steps, Independent Games Festival, Bennett Foddy, Nuovo Award, Seumas Mcnally