The Game Baby Steps Includes One of the Most Meaningful Decisions I Have Ever Experienced in a Game

I've faced some challenging decisions in interactive entertainment. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima ending section led me to pause the game for around ten minutes while I thought through my alternatives. I am accountable for countless Krogan demises in the Mass Effect series that I wish I could undo. None of those moments compare to what could be the hardest choice I've ever made in gaming — and it concerns a massive stairway.

Baby Steps, the latest game from the creators of Ape Out, isn’t exactly a choice-driven game. Certainly not in any traditional sense. You simply have to walk around a expansive environment as the main character Nate, a adult in a onesie who can barely stand on his unsteady feet. It appears to be a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps’s strength comes from its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will sneak up on you when you’re least expecting it. There’s no moment that showcases that quality like a key selection that I keep reflecting on.

Alert: Spoilers

A bit of context is required here. Baby Steps begins as the protagonist is suddenly taken from his family's basement and into a fictional universe. He soon realizes that walking through it is a challenge, as a long time spent as a inactive individual have weakened his muscles. The humorous physicality of it all comes from users guiding Nate one step at a time, trying to maintain his balance.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has trouble voicing that to others. As he progresses, he encounters a collection of quirky personalities in the world who everyone tries to help him out. A composed outdoorsman attempts to offer Nate a map, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s most hilarious scene. When he plunges into an unavoidable hole and is offered a ladder, he attempts to act casual like he can manage alone and truly prefers to be trapped in the pit. Throughout the story, you experience no shortage of irritating episodes where Nate makes life harder for himself because he’s not confident enough to take support.

The Pivotal Moment

That comes to a head in Baby Steps’s one true moment of selection. As Nate approaches the conclusion his adventure, he realizes that he must ascend of a frosty elevation. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) shows up to inform him that there are two routes to the top. If he’s up for a challenge, he can opt for a particularly extended and hazardous route named The Obstacle. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps game provides; choosing it looks risky to any human.

But there’s a other possibility: He can just walk up a gigantic spiral staircase in its place and arrive at the peak in just moments. The single stipulation? He’ll have to address the guardian “Lord” from now on if he takes the easy route.

A Difficult Selection

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an painful decision in context. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself reaching a climax in one absurd moment. An element of Nate's story is revolves around the truth that he’s unconfident of his physique and male identity. Each instance he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a difficult memory of everything he’s not. Taking on The Challenge could be a time where he can prove that he’s as competent as his imagined opponent, but that road is bound to be filled with more embarrassing pratfalls. Is it justified suffering just to demonstrate something?

The steps, on the contrary, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to choose whether to take assistance or not. The user doesn't get to decide in whether or not they turn away a map, but they can decide to give Nate a break and choose the staircase. It might seem like an easy choice, but Baby Steps is exceptionally cunning about causing suspicion whenever you see a simple solution. The environment includes planned obstacles that turn a safe route into a setback instantly. Are the stairs one more trick? Might Nate arrive at the peak just to be let down by a final joke? And even worse, is he prepared to be humiliated yet again by being forced to call a strange individual as Master?

No Perfect Choice

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no perfect selection. Each path brings about a real situation of protagonist evolution and emotional release for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Manbreaker, it’s an existential win. Nate at last receives a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as competent as others, willingly taking on a difficult route rather than enduring one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s challenging, and possibly risky, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he needs.

But there’s no embarrassment in the steps too. To choose that path is to finally allow Nate to receive assistance. And when he accomplishes that, he discovers that there’s no real catch in store for him. The staircase is not a trick. They go on for a long time, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he doesn’t slide completely down if he falls. It’s a straightforward ascent after hours of struggle. Partway through, he even has a conversation with the trekker who has, of course, chosen to take The Challenge. He strives to appear composed, but you can see that he’s worn out, quietly regretting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to fulfill his obligation, hailing his new Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so unpleasant. Who has energy for shame by this odd character?

My Choice

In my playthrough, I chose the staircase. Part of me just {wanted to call