The Game Baby Steps Features One of the Most Significant Decisions I Have Ever Experienced in a Game

I've dealt with some difficult choices in gaming. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange series still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima ending section made me set down my controller for around ten minutes while I weighed my choices. I am the cause of so many Krogan fatalities in Mass Effect that I regret deeply. Not a single one of those situations hold a candle to what now might be the most difficult decision I’ve had to make in interactive media — and it has to do with a massive stairway.

Baby Steps, the recent title from the makers of Ape Out game, is hardly a decision-focused experience. At least not in the conventional way. You only need to navigate a sprawling open world as the main character Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can barely stand on his unsteady feet. It appears to be an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps game’s appeal is in its surprisingly deep narrative that will catch you off guard when you’re least expecting it. There’s not a single instance that showcases that quality like a pivotal decision that I keep reflecting on.

Spoiler Warning

A bit of context is required 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 moving around in it is a difficulty, as a long time spent as a couch potato have atrophied his limbs. The physical comedy of it all stems from gamers directing Nate step by step, trying to prevent him from falling over.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has trouble voicing that to others. As he progresses, he encounters a cast of eccentric characters in the world who all offer to give him a hand. A cool, confident hiker tries to give Nate a navigation aid, but he awkwardly refuses in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he plunges into an inescapable pit and is offered a ladder, he attempts to act casual like he requires no assistance and genuinely desires to be stuck in the hole. As the plot unfolds, you encounter plenty of annoying scenarios where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too self-conscious to take support.

The Defining Decision

Everything builds up in Baby Steps’s single genuine instance of selection. As Nate gets close to finishing his journey, he discovers that he must ascend of a snowy mountain. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) appears to inform him that there are two paths upward. If he’s up for a challenge, he can choose a very lengthy and hazardous route called The Challenge. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps has to offer; taking it seems inadvisable to anyone.

But there’s a second option: He can just walk up a gigantic spiral staircase instead and get to the top in a short time. The only caveat? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Master” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

An Agonizing Decision

I am very serious when I say that this is an difficult selection in context. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself reaching a climax in one absurd moment. Part of Nate’s journey is revolves around the reality that he’s self-conscious of his physique and male identity. Every time he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a difficult memory of all he lacks. Taking on The Manbreaker could be a time where he can show that he’s as competent as his imagined opponent, but that road is bound to be paved with more embarrassing pratfalls. Does it merit striving just to make a statement?

The stairs, on the flip side, give Nate another big moment to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The user doesn't get to decide in about they decline guidance, but they can choose to give Nate a break and opt for the steps. It should be an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps is remarkably shrewd about causing suspicion each time you see a simple solution. The game world contains intentional pitfalls that turn a safe route into a difficulty suddenly. Are the stairs one more trick? Might Nate arrive all the way to the top just to be let down by some last-second gag? And more concerning, is he prepared to be humiliated another time by being forced to call an odd character as Lord?

No Perfect Choice

The beauty of that moment is that there’s no perfect selection. Both options leads to a real situation of protagonist evolution and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you decide to take on The Manbreaker, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate finally gets a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as competent as anyone else, willingly taking on a tough path rather than enduring one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s challenging, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the moment of strength that he requires.

But there’s no shame in the steps either. To choose that path is to eventually enable 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 easy to walk up and he does not fall to the bottom if he stumbles. It’s a easy journey after extended challenges. Partway through, he even has a chat with the outdoorsman who has, unsurprisingly, opted for The Obstacle. He attempts to act casual, but you can tell that he’s exhausted, silently lamenting the unnecessary challenge. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to pay his debt, hailing his new Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so bad. Who has concern for humiliation by this strange individual?

My Choice

In my playthrough, I opted for the stairs. A portion of my thinking just {wanted to call