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

I've dealt with some hard choices in interactive entertainment. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima's final sequence made me put my controller down for several minutes while I considered my alternatives. I am responsible for numerous Krogan deaths in the Mass Effect series that I regret deeply. None of those moments measure up to what could 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 choice-driven game. At least not in typical gaming terms. You simply have to walk around a vast game world as the main character Nate, a adult in a onesie who can barely stand on his unsteady feet. It looks like a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps’s appeal is in its surprisingly deep narrative that will sneak up on you 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.

Alert: Spoilers

Some scene setting is needed at this point. Baby Steps starts when the protagonist is suddenly taken from the basement of his home and into a fictional universe. He quickly discovers that walking through it is a challenge, as years spent as a couch potato have atrophied his limbs. The physical comedy of it all stems from players controlling Nate gradually, trying to prevent him from falling over.

Nate needs help, but he has trouble voicing that to others. During his adventure, he comes in contact with a cast of eccentric characters in the world who each propose to help him out. A self-assured trekker tries to give Nate a navigation aid, but he awkwardly refuses in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he drops into an trapping cavity and is offered a ladder, he attempts to act casual like he doesn’t need the help and genuinely desires to be stuck in the hole. Throughout the story, you encounter plenty of frustrating vignettes where Nate makes life harder for himself because he’s too self-conscious to take support.

The Ultimate Choice

This culminates in Baby Steps’s single genuine instance of choice. As Nate nears the end 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) comes to tell him that there are two paths upward. If he’s up for a challenge, he can choose a very lengthy and dangerous hiking trail named The Challenge. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps provides; attempting it appears unwise to any human.

But there’s a alternative choice: He can just walk up a gigantic spiral staircase as an alternative and arrive at the peak in a few minutes. The only caveat? He’ll have to address the guardian “Lord” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

An Agonizing Decision

I am very serious when I say that this is an painful decision in this situation. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself culminating in one absurd moment. Part of Nate’s journey is focused on the reality that he’s unconfident of his physical appearance and manhood. Every time he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a hard reminder of what he fails to be. Undertaking The Manbreaker could be a time where he can demonstrate that he’s as capable as his one-sided rival, but that route is sure to be paved with more embarrassing pratfalls. Is it justified striving just to demonstrate something?

The staircase, on the contrary, give Nate another big moment to choose whether to take assistance or not. The gamer cannot choose in about they turn away a map, but they can decide to provide Nate with respite and opt for the steps. It should be an simple decision, but Baby Steps game is devilishly clever about making you feel paranoid whenever you find a gift horse. The game world contains design traps that transform an easy path into a obstacle suddenly. Could the steps one more trick? Could Nate reach to the very summit just to be fooled by a final joke? And more troubling, is he willing to be emasculated another time by being compelled to refer to an odd character as Lord?

No Right or Wrong

The beauty of that moment is that there’s no perfect selection. Both options brings about a genuine moment of personal growth and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you decide to take on The Obstacle, it’s an existential win. Nate eventually obtains a chance to prove that he’s as competent as anyone else, willingly taking on a difficult route rather than suffering through one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s challenging, and possibly risky, but it’s the moment of strength that he craves.

But there’s no embarrassment in the staircase as well. To select that route is to eventually enable Nate to receive assistance. And when he accomplishes that, he discovers that there’s no hidden trick awaiting him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They extend for some distance, but they’re simple to climb and he doesn’t slide all the way down if he stumbles. It’s a simple climb after extended challenges. Partway through, he even has a discussion with the outdoorsman who has, of course, selected The Manbreaker. He attempts to act casual, but you can discern that he’s fatigued, silently lamenting the unnecessary challenge. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to meet his agreement, hailing his new Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so nasty. Who has time to be embarrassed by this freak?

Personal Reflection

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