Baby Steps Presents One of the Most Meaningful Decisions I Have Ever Encountered in Video Games

I've dealt with some difficult decisions in gaming. Several of my selections in Life is Strange continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima concluding moments made me put my controller down for a good 10 minutes while I considered my choices. I am the cause of numerous Krogan deaths in Mass Effect that I wish I could undo. Not a single one of those situations hold a candle to what possibly is the toughest selection I've ever made in gaming — and it involves a giant staircase.

The Game Baby Steps, the newest release from the developers of Ape Out game, is hardly a decision-focused experience. Certainly not in any traditional sense. You only need to navigate a sprawling open world as Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can hardly stay upright on his shaky limbs. It seems like an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps’s power lies in its surprisingly deep narrative that will sneak up on you when it's most unexpected. There’s not a single instance that exemplifies that strength like a key selection that remains on my mind.

Spoiler Warning

Some background information is necessary here. Baby Steps begins as Nate is magically whisked away from the basement of his home 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 physical comedy of it all arises from players controlling Nate gradually, trying to prevent him from falling over.

Nate needs help, but he has problems articulating that to anyone. Throughout his hero’s journey, he comes in contact with a collection of quirky personalities in the world who everyone tries to give him a hand. A composed outdoorsman seeks to provide Nate a guide, but he clumsily declines in the game’s most hilarious scene. When he drops into an unavoidable hole and is presented with a ladder, he attempts to act casual like he doesn’t need the help and genuinely desires to be confined in the cavity. During the narrative, you experience no shortage of irritating episodes where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s not confident enough to accept any assistance.

The Pivotal Moment

This culminates in Baby Steps game’s one true moment of decision. As Nate approaches the conclusion his adventure, he finds that he must reach the summit of a frosty elevation. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) appears to let him know that there are two routes to the top. If he’s up for a challenge, he can choose a very lengthy and risky path called The Challenge. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps game includes; taking it seems inadvisable to any person.

But there’s a other possibility: He can merely climb a enormous coiled steps in its place and get to the top in a few minutes. The only caveat? He’ll have to call the groundskeeper “Lord” from now on if he takes the easy route.

A Difficult Selection

I am completely earnest when I say that this is an agonizing choice in this situation. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself coming to a head in a particularly bizarre situation. An element of Nate's story is centered around the fact that he’s insecure of his physique and male identity. Each instance he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a difficult memory of all he lacks. Attempting The Challenge could be a moment where he can show that he’s as able as his one-sided rival, but that path is likely paved with more embarrassing pratfalls. Is it worth striving just to demonstrate something?

The steps, on the contrary, give Nate another big moment to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The gamer cannot choose in about they decline guidance, but they can choose to give Nate a break and opt for the steps. It might seem like an easy choice, but Baby Steps game is devilishly clever about creating doubt each time you find a gift horse. The world is filled with design traps that change a secure way into a setback suddenly. Is the staircase an additional deception? Will Nate get all the way to the top just to be disappointed by a final joke? And even worse, is he prepared to be humiliated another time by being made to address a strange individual as Master?

No Perfect Choice

The beauty of that moment is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Each path leads to a real situation of personal growth and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you decide to take on The Challenge, it’s an existential win. Nate eventually obtains a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as capable as anyone else, consciously choosing a tough path rather than struggling through one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s hard, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the moment of strength that he needs.

But there’s no embarrassment in the staircase as well. To choose that path is to at last permit Nate to accept help. And when he does, he finds that there’s no secret drawback awaiting him. The staircase is not a trick. They extend for some distance, but they’re easy to walk up and he doesn’t slide to the bottom if he trips. It’s a easy journey after lengthy difficulty. Partway through, he even has a conversation with the hiker who has, naturally, selected The Manbreaker. He strives to appear composed, but you can see that he’s exhausted, quietly regretting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to meet his agreement, hailing his new Lord, the agreement barely appears so bad. Who has time to be embarrassed by this odd character?

My Experience

During my game, I opted for the stairs. Part of me just {wanted to call