Baby Steps Presents One of the Most Meaningful Choices I've Ever Encountered in a Game

I've encountered some challenging choices in interactive entertainment. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima final sequence prompted me to set down my controller for several minutes while I weighed my choices. I am the cause of countless Krogan fatalities in Mass Effect that I would love to reverse. Not one of those instances compare to what possibly is the most difficult decision I've ever made in gaming — and it concerns a giant staircase.

Baby Steps, the latest game from the creators of Ape Out, isn’t exactly a selection-based adventure. Certainly not in any traditional sense. You only need to walk around a vast game world as Nate, a adult in a onesie who can hardly stay upright on his wobbly legs. It seems like a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps game’s power lies in its surprisingly deep narrative that will sneak up on you when you’re least expecting it. There’s no situation that showcases that quality like a pivotal decision that I keep reflecting on.

Spoiler Warning

A bit of context is necessary here. Baby Steps game begins as Nate is magically whisked away from the basement of his home and into a fictional universe. He immediately finds that walking through it is a struggle, as a lifetime spent as a inactive individual have weakened his muscles. The humorous physicality of it all arises from users guiding Nate step by step, trying to prevent him from falling over.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has difficulty expressing that to others. As he progresses, he comes in contact with a collection of quirky personalities in the world who all offer to give him a hand. A cool, confident hiker tries to give Nate a navigation aid, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he plunges into an unavoidable hole and is given a way out, he tries to play it off like he can manage alone and genuinely desires to be confined in the cavity. During the narrative, you see numerous frustrating vignettes where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too self-conscious to take support.

The Defining Decision

Everything builds up in Baby Steps’s single genuine instance of selection. As Nate approaches the conclusion his quest, he realizes that he must climb to the top of a snow-capped peak. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) shows up to tell him that there are two ways up. If he’s prepared for difficulty, he can take an extremely long and dangerous hiking trail dubbed The Obstacle. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps game has to offer; taking it seems inadvisable to any human.

But there’s a other possibility: He can just walk up a gigantic spiral staircase instead and reach the summit in a short time. The sole condition? He’ll have to call the groundskeeper “Lord” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

An Agonizing Decision

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an agonizing choice in context. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself culminating in a single ridiculous instant. An element of Nate's story is revolves around the fact that he’s insecure of his physique and male identity. Whenever he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a hard reminder of all he lacks. Taking on The Challenge could be a moment where he can show that he’s as able as his one-sided rival, but that road is bound to be paved with more embarrassing pratfalls. Does it merit suffering just to prove a point?

The stairs, on the flip side, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to either accept or reject help. The player has no choice in about they reject navigation help, but they can decide to give Nate a break and take the stairs. It should be an easy choice, but Baby Steps is remarkably shrewd about creating doubt anytime you encounter an easy option. The game world contains intentional pitfalls that transform an easy path into a setback instantly. Is the staircase one more trick? Might Nate arrive to the very summit just to be fooled by some last-second gag? And even worse, is he ready to be diminished once again by being made to address an odd character as Lord?

No Correct Answer

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no perfect selection. Both options results in a genuine moment of character development and emotional release for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Manbreaker, it’s an personal triumph. Nate eventually obtains a chance to prove that he’s as capable as anyone else, voluntarily accepting a challenging way rather than suffering through one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s challenging, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the moment of strength that he craves.

But there’s no disgrace in the stairs too. To opt for that way is to at last permit Nate to accept help. And when he accomplishes that, he realizes that there’s no real catch waiting for him. The steps are not a joke. They extend for some distance, but they’re simple to climb and he doesn’t slide to the bottom if he falls. It’s a simple climb after lengthy difficulty. Halfway up, he even has a discussion with the hiker who has, naturally, opted for The Obstacle. He strives to appear composed, but you can see that he’s fatigued, subtly ruing the needless difficulty. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to pay his debt, calling the character Lord, the deal hardly seems so bad. Who has concern for humiliation by this odd character?

My Experience

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