The Game Baby Steps Features Among the Most Meaningful Choices I've Ever Faced in a Game

I've faced some challenging decisions in gaming. Several of my selections in Life is Strange series remain on my mind. Ghost of Tsushima's ending section prompted me to set down my controller for several minutes while I weighed my alternatives. I am responsible for so many Krogan deaths 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 had to make in interactive media — and it concerns a massive stairway.

The Game Baby Steps, the latest game from the creators of Ape Out, is hardly a decision-focused experience. Definitely not in any traditional sense. You simply have to navigate a expansive environment as Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can barely stand on his unsteady feet. It appears to be an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps’s strength comes from its surprisingly deep narrative that will sneak up on you when it's most unexpected. There’s not a single instance that showcases that quality like one major choice that I keep reflecting on.

Spoiler Warning

Some scene setting is required here. Baby Steps game starts when the protagonist is suddenly taken from his family's basement and into a fantasy world. He quickly discovers that moving around in it is a difficulty, as years spent as a inactive individual have atrophied his limbs. The humorous physicality of it all stems from users guiding Nate one step at a time, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

Nate requires assistance, but he has problems articulating that to other characters. Throughout his hero’s journey, he meets a collection of quirky personalities in the world who everyone tries to assist him. A self-assured trekker tries to give Nate a navigation aid, but he clumsily declines in the game’s most hilarious scene. When he plunges into an unavoidable hole and is given a way out, he strives to appear nonchalant like he requires no assistance and truly prefers to be confined in the cavity. During the narrative, you see numerous annoying scenarios where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s not confident enough to receive help.

The Ultimate Choice

This culminates in Baby Steps game’s key situation of choice. As Nate nears the end his quest, he finds that he must ascend of a snowy mountain. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) comes to tell him that there are two paths upward. If he’s up for a challenge, he can take an extremely long and dangerous hiking trail named The Obstacle. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps provides; attempting it appears unwise to anyone.

But there’s a second option: He can just walk up a massive winding stairs as an alternative and get to the top in a few minutes. The single stipulation? He’ll have to address the guardian “Sir” 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 this situation. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself culminating in a particularly bizarre situation. A portion of Nate's adventure is revolves around the truth that he’s unconfident of his physique and male identity. Each instance he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a painful recollection of all he lacks. Taking on The Manbreaker could be a time where he can demonstrate that he’s as capable as his unilateral competitor, but that path is likely paved with more humiliating failures. Is it worth striving just to make a statement?

The stairs, on the other hand, give Nate another big moment to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The player has no choice in whether or not they turn away a map, but they can choose to allow Nate some relief and take the stairs. It should be an easy choice, but Baby Steps is remarkably shrewd about creating doubt each time you encounter an easy option. The world is filled with intentional pitfalls that change a secure way into a difficulty instantly. Could the steps an additional deception? Could Nate reach to the very summit just to be disappointed by an ending prank? And more troubling, is he prepared to be humiliated another time by being forced to call some weirdo Lord?

No Correct Answer

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no perfect selection. Either one leads to a real situation of character development and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Obstacle, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate finally gets a chance to prove that he’s as capable as anyone else, consciously choosing a tough path rather than enduring one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s difficult, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the dose of confidence that he craves.

But there’s no shame in the stairs either. To choose that path is to eventually enable Nate to take support. And when he accomplishes that, he realizes that there’s no hidden trick awaiting him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They extend for some distance, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he does not fall completely down if he stumbles. It’s a simple climb after hours of struggle. Midway through, he even has a discussion with the hiker who has, unsurprisingly, selected The Challenge. He strives to appear composed, but you can discern that he’s exhausted, quietly regretting the unnecessary challenge. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to pay his debt, hailing his new Lord, the deal hardly seems so unpleasant. Who has concern for humiliation by this odd character?

My Choice

In my playthrough, I opted for the stairs. Some part of my reasoning just {wanted to call