Baby Steps Includes Among the Most Meaningful Choices I've Ever Experienced in Video Games

I've dealt with some difficult decisions in interactive entertainment. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange series continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima final sequence prompted me to pause the game for around ten minutes while I considered my choices. I am responsible for numerous Krogan demises in Mass Effect that I wish I could undo. Not one of those instances hold a candle to what now might be the most difficult decision I've ever made in a video game — and it has to do with a giant staircase.

Baby Steps, the newest release from the creators of Ape Out game, isn’t exactly a selection-based adventure. Certainly not in the conventional way. You simply have to walk around a vast game world as the main character Nate, a adult in a onesie who can hardly stay upright on his unsteady feet. It seems like a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps game’s appeal is in its deceptively impactful story that will sneak up on you when it's most unexpected. There’s no moment that showcases that quality like one major choice that I can’t stop thinking about.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

Some background information is needed at this point. Baby Steps begins as Nate is transported from the basement of his home and into a magical realm. He quickly discovers that moving around in it is a challenge, as a long time spent as a inactive individual have atrophied his limbs. The physical comedy of it all arises from users guiding Nate gradually, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

Nate needs help, but he has problems articulating that to others. As he progresses, he meets a cast of eccentric characters in the world who each propose to help him out. A cool, confident hiker attempts to offer Nate a navigation aid, but he clumsily declines in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he drops into an trapping cavity and is presented with a ladder, he tries to play it off like he doesn’t need the help and truly prefers to be trapped in the pit. As the plot unfolds, you encounter plenty of annoying scenarios where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s not confident enough to receive help.

The Defining Decision

This culminates in Baby Steps game’s single genuine instance of decision. As Nate approaches the conclusion his adventure, he realizes that he must reach the summit of a snowy mountain. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded 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 risky path dubbed The Manbreaker. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps game provides; attempting it appears unwise to any human.

But there’s a second option: He can merely climb a enormous coiled steps in its place and get to the top in just moments. The sole condition? He’ll have to address the guardian “Lord” from now on if he takes the easy route.

A Difficult Selection

I am completely earnest when I say that this is an difficult selection in this situation. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself culminating in one absurd moment. Part of Nate’s journey is centered around the reality that he’s insecure of his physique and male identity. Each instance he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a difficult memory of everything he’s not. Taking on The Challenge could be a instance where he can demonstrate that he’s as able as his one-sided rival, but that path is likely laden with more humiliating failures. Is it worth striving just to prove a point?

The stairs, on the contrary, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to either accept or reject help. The player has no choice in about they reject navigation help, but they can decide to provide Nate with respite and opt for the steps. It should be an simple decision, but Baby Steps is exceptionally cunning about making you feel paranoid anytime you see a simple solution. The world is filled with planned obstacles that turn a safe route into a obstacle suddenly. Are the stairs one more trick? Will Nate get at the peak just to be disappointed by a final joke? And more troubling, is he ready to be diminished once again by being compelled to refer to some weirdo Lord?

No Perfect Choice

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no perfect selection. Both options brings about a genuine moment of protagonist evolution and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Challenge, it’s an existential win. Nate finally gets a moment to show that he’s as competent as everyone else, consciously choosing a difficult route rather than struggling through one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s hard, and possibly risky, but it’s the dose of confidence that he craves.

But there’s no embarrassment in the stairs as well. To choose that path is to eventually enable Nate to accept help. And when he accomplishes that, he finds that there’s no real catch in store for him. The staircase is not a trick. They continue for a while, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he doesn’t slide to the bottom if he falls. It’s a straightforward ascent after hours of struggle. Partway through, he even has a discussion with the outdoorsman who has, unsurprisingly, chosen to take The Challenge. He strives to appear composed, but you can see that he’s worn out, quietly regretting the unnecessary challenge. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to fulfill his obligation, calling the character Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so bad. Who has energy for shame by this freak?

My Choice

When I played, I opted for the stairs. Part of me just {wanted to call