Baby Steps Features One of the Most Meaningful Choices I've Ever Experienced in a Game

I've faced some hard choices in gaming. Several of my selections in Life is Strange still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima's concluding moments led me to put my controller down for several minutes while I considered my options. I am accountable for so many Krogan fatalities in the Mass Effect series that I regret deeply. Not one of those instances hold a candle to what now might be the most difficult decision I've ever made in a video game — and it concerns a massive stairway.

Baby Steps, the latest game from the makers of Ape Out game, is not really a decision-focused experience. Certainly not in typical gaming terms. You must explore a expansive environment as the main character Nate, a adult in a onesie who can struggle to remain on his shaky limbs. It seems like a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps game’s appeal is in its deceptively impactful story that will sneak up on you when you least anticipate it. There’s not a single instance that showcases that quality like a pivotal decision that I can’t stop thinking about.

Spoiler Warning

Some background information is necessary here. Baby Steps game begins as Nate is magically whisked away from his parents’ basement and into a fantasy world. He soon realizes that moving around in it is a challenge, as years spent as a inactive individual have weakened his muscles. The physical comedy of it all comes from users guiding Nate step by step, trying to prevent him from falling over.

Nate needs help, but he has trouble voicing that to other characters. Throughout his hero’s journey, he comes in contact with a cast of eccentric characters in the world who all offer to assist him. A composed outdoorsman tries to give Nate a navigation aid, but he clumsily declines in the game’s funniest instant. When he falls into an inescapable pit and is given a way out, he attempts to act casual like he doesn’t need the help and genuinely desires to be trapped in the pit. As the plot unfolds, you see numerous frustrating vignettes where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too self-conscious to take support.

The Defining Decision

Everything builds up in Baby Steps’s key situation of choice. As Nate nears the end his quest, he finds that he must climb to the top of a snow-capped peak. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) appears to let him know that there are two routes to the top. If he’s ready for a test, he can take an extremely long and hazardous route dubbed The Challenge. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps game provides; choosing it looks risky to anyone.

But there’s a other possibility: He can merely climb a gigantic spiral staircase in its place and reach the summit in a short time. The single stipulation? He’ll have to address the guardian “Master” from now on if he takes the easy route.

A Painful Choice

I am completely earnest when I say that this is an agonizing choice in this situation. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself coming to a head in a particularly bizarre situation. An element of Nate's story is centered around the fact that he’s self-conscious of his body and his masculinity. Whenever he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a hard reminder of what he fails to be. Taking on The Manbreaker could be a moment where he can show that he’s as able as his one-sided rival, but that route is sure to be filled with more embarrassing pratfalls. Does it merit striving just to make a statement?

The stairs, on the flip side, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to choose whether to take assistance or not. The player has no choice in if they turn away a map, but they can opt to give Nate a break and choose the staircase. It ought to be an easy choice, but Baby Steps is devilishly clever about causing suspicion each time you find a gift horse. The world is filled with design traps that turn a safe route into a difficulty instantly. Are the stairs an additional deception? Might Nate arrive to the very summit just to be disappointed by a final joke? And more troubling, is he willing to be emasculated once again by being forced to call a strange individual as Master?

No Right or Wrong

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no correct or incorrect choice. Both options leads to a authentic instance of personal growth and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Obstacle, it’s an personal triumph. Nate at last receives a chance to prove that he’s as competent as anyone else, willingly taking on a tough path rather than suffering through one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s challenging, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the moment of strength that he needs.

But there’s no embarrassment in the staircase too. To select that route is to at last permit Nate to receive assistance. And when he does, he realizes that there’s no real catch waiting for him. The staircase is not a trick. They go on for a long time, but they’re simple to climb and he doesn’t slide to the bottom if he trips. It’s a simple climb after extended challenges. Midway through, he even has a discussion with the outdoorsman who has, naturally, opted for The Obstacle. He tries to play it cool, but you can see that he’s worn out, silently lamenting the unnecessary challenge. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to fulfill his obligation, hailing his new Lord, the agreement barely appears so nasty. Who has concern for humiliation by this strange individual?

My Experience

When I played, I selected the steps. Part of me just {wanted to call