Baby Steps Features One of the Most Impactful Decisions I Have Ever Faced in a Game

I've dealt with some challenging decisions in interactive entertainment. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima's final sequence prompted me to put my controller down for several minutes while I thought through my alternatives. I am responsible for numerous Krogan deaths in the Mass Effect series that I wish I could undo. Not a single one of those situations measure up to what now might be the hardest choice I've faced in gaming — and it involves a massive stairway.

Baby Steps, the latest game from the makers of Ape Out, isn’t exactly a choice-driven game. Certainly not in any traditional sense. You simply have to navigate a vast game world as the main character Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can barely stand on his shaky limbs. It looks like an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps game’s appeal is in its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will surprise you when it's most unexpected. There’s no moment that demonstrates that power like one major choice that I keep reflecting on.

Spoiler Warning

Some scene setting is needed at this point. Baby Steps starts when the protagonist is suddenly taken from his parents’ basement and into a fictional universe. He immediately finds that moving around in it is a difficulty, as a lifetime spent as a couch potato have weakened his muscles. The humorous physicality of it all arises from players controlling Nate gradually, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has trouble voicing that to anyone. As he progresses, he encounters a cast of eccentric characters in the world who each propose to give him a hand. A cool, confident hiker attempts to offer Nate a map, but he awkwardly refuses in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he falls into an unavoidable hole and is presented with a ladder, he strives to appear nonchalant like he requires no assistance and actually wants to be trapped in the pit. During the narrative, you experience no shortage of annoying scenarios where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s not confident enough to receive help.

The Defining Decision

Everything builds up in Baby Steps’s one true moment of choice. As Nate gets close to finishing his adventure, he discovers that he must climb to the top 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 ways up. If he’s prepared for difficulty, he can take an extremely long and dangerous hiking trail named The Challenge. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps includes; attempting it appears unwise to any person.

But there’s a other possibility: He can simply ascend a gigantic spiral staircase in its place and arrive at the peak in just moments. The sole condition? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Lord” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

A Painful Choice

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an painful decision in this situation. 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 reality that he’s unconfident of his physique and male identity. Whenever he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a painful recollection of what he fails to be. Taking on The Challenge could be a time where he can demonstrate that he’s as able as his imagined opponent, but that route is sure to be laden with more embarrassing pratfalls. Is it justified struggling just to prove a point?

The stairs, on the contrary, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to either accept or reject help. The user doesn't get to decide in about they reject navigation help, but they can decide to provide Nate with respite and choose the staircase. It ought to be an simple decision, but Baby Steps is devilishly clever about making you feel paranoid each time you encounter an easy option. The environment includes planned obstacles that turn a safe route into a difficulty suddenly. Is the staircase an additional deception? Will Nate get to the very summit just to be let down by some last-second gag? And more troubling, is he ready to be diminished yet 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. Either one leads to a real situation of character development and emotional release for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Challenge, it’s an existential win. Nate finally gets a chance to prove that he’s as capable as others, voluntarily accepting a tough path rather than suffering through one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s difficult, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the moment of strength that he needs.

But there’s no shame in the stairs too. To choose that path is to eventually enable Nate to receive assistance. And when he does so, he discovers that there’s no secret drawback in store for him. The steps are not a joke. They extend for some distance, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he doesn’t slide completely down if he stumbles. It’s a easy journey after hours of struggle. Halfway up, he even has a conversation with the hiker who has, naturally, opted for The Obstacle. He tries to play it cool, but you can see that he’s worn out, quietly regretting the pointless struggle. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to pay his debt, calling the character Lord, the agreement barely appears so unpleasant. Who has time to be embarrassed by this strange individual?

Personal Reflection

During my game, I selected the steps. Part of me just {wanted to call