The Game Baby Steps Includes One of the Most Meaningful Decisions I Have Ever Encountered in Gaming

I've faced some difficult choices in interactive entertainment. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange series remain on my mind. Ghost of Tsushima's final sequence made me set down my controller for a good 10 minutes while I weighed my choices. I am the cause of numerous Krogan fatalities in the Mass Effect series that I regret deeply. Not one of those instances hold a candle to what now might be the toughest selection I've ever made in interactive media — and it concerns a massive stairway.

Baby Steps, the recent title from the developers of Ape Out game, isn’t exactly a selection-based adventure. Certainly not in any traditional sense. You simply have to walk around a vast game world as the protagonist Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can hardly stay upright on his shaky limbs. It appears to be an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps’s power lies in its deceptively impactful story that will surprise you when you’re least expecting it. There’s no situation that exemplifies that strength like a key selection that I can’t stop thinking about.

Spoiler Warning

A bit of context is necessary here. Baby Steps game starts when Nate is magically whisked away from the basement of his home and into a fictional universe. He immediately finds that moving around in it is a difficulty, as a long time spent as a sedentary person have deteriorated his physical condition. The humorous physicality of it all stems from users guiding Nate step by step, trying to prevent him from falling over.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has problems articulating that to others. Throughout his hero’s journey, he comes in contact with a cast of eccentric characters in the world who all offer to help him out. A cool, confident hiker tries to give Nate a guide, but he clumsily declines in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he plunges into an trapping cavity and is given a way out, he strives to appear nonchalant like he doesn’t need the help and truly prefers to be trapped in the pit. As the plot unfolds, you experience no shortage of irritating episodes where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too self-conscious to receive help.

The Defining Decision

That comes to a head in Baby Steps’s key situation of selection. As Nate nears the end his quest, he realizes that he must ascend of a snow-capped peak. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) shows up to tell him that there are two routes to the top. If he’s ready for a test, he can choose a very lengthy and risky path named The Manbreaker. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps includes; attempting it appears unwise to anyone.

But there’s a other possibility: He can merely climb a gigantic spiral staircase in its place and get to the top in just moments. The single stipulation? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Lord” from now on if he takes the easy route.

An Agonizing Decision

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an painful decision in this situation. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself coming to a head in one absurd moment. A portion of Nate's adventure is centered around the fact that he’s unconfident of his body and his masculinity. Each instance he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a painful recollection of everything he’s not. Undertaking The Challenge could be a time where he can show that he’s as competent as his imagined opponent, but that route is sure to be laden with more humiliating failures. Is it worth suffering just to make a statement?

The stairs, on the contrary, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The player has no choice in whether or not they reject navigation help, but they can decide to allow Nate some relief and opt for the steps. It ought to be an simple decision, but Baby Steps game is remarkably shrewd about causing suspicion anytime you find a gift horse. The world is filled with planned obstacles that transform an easy path into a setback suddenly. Are the stairs one more trick? Might Nate arrive all the way to the top just to be fooled by some last-second gag? And more concerning, is he ready to be diminished yet again by being made to address some weirdo Lord?

No Perfect Choice

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Each path leads to a genuine moment of protagonist evolution and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you decide to take on The Challenge, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate at last receives a moment to show that he’s as competent as others, willingly taking on a difficult route rather than enduring one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s difficult, and possibly risky, but it’s the moment of strength that he requires.

But there’s no shame in the steps too. To opt for that way is to at last permit Nate to receive assistance. And when he accomplishes that, he realizes 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 to the bottom if he trips. It’s a straightforward ascent after extended challenges. Midway through, he even has a discussion with the outdoorsman who has, unsurprisingly, selected The Obstacle. He attempts to act casual, but you can discern that he’s fatigued, subtly ruing the pointless struggle. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to fulfill his obligation, addressing his new Master, the arrangement scarcely looks so bad. Who has time to be embarrassed by this strange individual?

Personal Reflection

When I played, I chose the staircase. Some part of my reasoning just {wanted to call