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

I've encountered some challenging choices in gaming. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima's concluding moments led me to put my controller down for around ten minutes while I thought through my choices. I am responsible for numerous Krogan fatalities in the Mass Effect series that I wish I could undo. Not one of those instances measure up to what possibly is the toughest selection I’ve had to make in interactive media — and it concerns a massive stairway.

The Game Baby Steps, the recent title from the makers of Ape Out, isn’t exactly a selection-based adventure. At least not in typical gaming terms. You must walk around a vast game world as Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can barely stand on his wobbly legs. It looks like a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps game’s power lies in its surprisingly deep narrative that will surprise you when it's most unexpected. There’s no situation that exemplifies that strength like one major choice that I keep reflecting on.

Spoiler Warning

Some scene setting is needed at this point. Baby Steps starts when Nate is magically whisked away from his family's basement and into a magical realm. He immediately finds that walking through it is a challenge, as a lifetime spent as a couch potato have atrophied his limbs. The humorous physicality of it all arises from gamers directing Nate step by step, trying to prevent him from falling over.

Nate requires assistance, but he has trouble voicing that to other characters. Throughout his hero’s journey, he meets a cast of eccentric characters in the world who each propose to assist him. A self-assured trekker tries to give Nate a guide, but he clumsily declines in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he drops into an trapping cavity and is offered a ladder, he tries to play it off 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 complicates his own situation because he’s not confident enough to accept any assistance.

The Defining Decision

This culminates in Baby Steps’s single genuine instance of decision. As Nate gets close to finishing his adventure, he finds that he must ascend of a snowy mountain. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) appears to let him know that there are two paths upward. If he’s up for a challenge, he can take an extremely long and hazardous route named The Obstacle. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps game provides; attempting it appears unwise to any person.

But there’s a second option: He can simply ascend a enormous coiled steps in its place and get to the top in a short time. The only caveat? He’ll have to address the guardian “Lord” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

A Difficult Selection

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an difficult selection in context. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself reaching a climax in a single ridiculous instant. A portion of Nate's adventure is focused on the truth that he’s insecure of his body and his masculinity. Whenever he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a hard reminder of all he lacks. Undertaking The Challenge could be a instance where he can demonstrate that he’s as able as his unilateral competitor, but that route is sure to be laden with more embarrassing pratfalls. Is it worth striving just to make a statement?

The stairs, on the flip side, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The player has no choice in whether or not they decline guidance, but they can decide to provide Nate with respite and choose the staircase. It ought to be an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps game is devilishly clever about creating doubt anytime you find a gift horse. The game world contains intentional pitfalls that turn a safe route into a obstacle on a dime. Could the steps one more trick? Will Nate get at the peak just to be let down by some last-second gag? And more troubling, is he ready to be diminished another time by being made to address a strange individual as Master?

No Correct Answer

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Each path results in a genuine moment of protagonist evolution and emotional release for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Manbreaker, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate finally gets a moment to show that he’s as able as others, consciously choosing a difficult route rather than enduring one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s hard, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he needs.

But there’s no disgrace in the stairs either. To select that route is to finally allow Nate to accept help. And when he does, he realizes that there’s no real catch in store for him. The steps are not a joke. They go on for a long time, but they’re easy to walk up and he doesn’t slide to the bottom if he falls. It’s a simple climb after lengthy difficulty. Partway through, he even has a conversation with the trekker who has, naturally, opted for The Obstacle. He strives to appear composed, but you can see that he’s fatigued, subtly ruing the pointless struggle. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to meet his agreement, calling the character Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so unpleasant. Who has time to be embarrassed by this freak?

My Experience

During my game, I chose the staircase. Part of me just {wanted to call