Baby Steps Presents One of the Most Meaningful Choices I Have Ever Encountered in Gaming

I've dealt with some difficult choices in video games. Several of my selections in Life is Strange series continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima's ending section prompted me to set down my controller for a good 10 minutes while I considered my choices. I am the cause of numerous Krogan deaths in the Mass Effect series that I wish I could undo. Not a single one of those situations hold a candle to what possibly is the most difficult decision I’ve had to make in interactive media — and it involves a enormous set of steps.

The Game Baby Steps, the recent title from the developers of Ape Out game, is not really a selection-based adventure. Certainly not in typical gaming terms. You only need to navigate a expansive environment as the main character Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can hardly stay upright on his wobbly legs. It looks like one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps game’s power lies in its surprisingly deep narrative that will surprise you when it's most unexpected. There’s no moment that demonstrates that power like a pivotal decision that I can’t stop thinking about.

Alert: Spoilers

Some scene setting is required here. Baby Steps starts when Nate is magically whisked away from his family's basement and into a fictional universe. He immediately finds that moving around in it is a challenge, as years spent as a sedentary person have weakened his muscles. The physical comedy of it all arises from players controlling Nate step by step, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has trouble voicing that to anyone. Throughout his hero’s journey, he encounters a cast of eccentric characters in the world who each propose to give him a hand. A composed outdoorsman attempts to offer Nate a navigation aid, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he drops into an inescapable pit and is presented with a ladder, he tries to play it off like he requires no assistance and genuinely desires to be trapped in the pit. Throughout the story, you experience no shortage of annoying scenarios where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too self-conscious to accept any assistance.

The Ultimate Choice

This culminates in Baby Steps’s one true moment of decision. As Nate approaches the conclusion his adventure, he discovers that he must reach the summit of a snow-capped peak. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) appears to tell him that there are two routes to the top. If he’s ready for a test, he can take an extremely long and dangerous hiking trail called The Challenge. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps has to offer; choosing it looks risky to any person.

But there’s a other possibility: He can just walk up a massive winding stairs instead and arrive at the peak in a short time. The single stipulation? He’ll have to call the groundskeeper “Sir” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

A Painful Choice

I am very serious when I say that this is an painful decision in the game's narrative. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself reaching a climax in a single ridiculous instant. Part of Nate’s journey is revolves around the truth that he’s insecure of his physique and male identity. Each instance he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a difficult memory of all he lacks. Attempting The Obstacle could be a instance where he can show that he’s as capable as his unilateral competitor, but that path is likely laden with more humiliating failures. Is it worth suffering just to demonstrate something?

The stairs, on the flip side, give Nate another big moment to either accept or reject help. The user doesn't get to decide in if they reject navigation help, but they can opt to provide Nate with respite and take the stairs. It ought to be an easy choice, but Baby Steps game is exceptionally cunning about causing suspicion whenever you find a gift horse. The environment includes planned obstacles that turn a safe route into a obstacle suddenly. Could the steps an additional deception? Will Nate get at the peak just to be let down by some last-second gag? And more concerning, is he willing to be emasculated once again by being made to address an odd character as Lord?

No Perfect Choice

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Either one leads to a real situation of protagonist evolution and catharsis for Nate. If you decide to take on The Challenge, it’s an personal triumph. Nate finally gets a chance to prove that he’s as capable as anyone else, voluntarily accepting a tough path rather than struggling through one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s hard, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the dose of confidence that he requires.

But there’s no disgrace in the staircase as well. To choose that path is to at last permit Nate to receive assistance. And when he does, he finds that there’s no hidden trick waiting for him. The staircase is not a trick. They extend for some distance, but they’re easy to walk up and he doesn’t slide completely down if he trips. It’s a straightforward ascent after hours of struggle. Halfway up, he even has a conversation with the outdoorsman who has, of course, selected The Obstacle. He tries to play it cool, but you can discern that he’s worn out, silently lamenting the unnecessary challenge. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to pay his debt, calling the character Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so nasty. Who has energy for shame by this freak?

My Experience

In my playthrough, I selected the steps. A portion of my thinking just {wanted to call