The Game Baby Steps Features One of the Most Meaningful Choices I've Ever Faced in Gaming

I've dealt with some challenging decisions in video games. Several of my selections in Life is Strange still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima concluding moments prompted me to pause the game for several minutes while I considered my choices. I am accountable for so many Krogan deaths in the Mass Effect series that I regret deeply. Not one of those instances measure up to what now might be the toughest selection I’ve had to make in a video game — and it involves a massive stairway.

Baby Steps, the newest release from the makers of Ape Out, isn’t exactly a choice-driven game. Definitely 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 wobbly legs. It appears to be a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps’s appeal is in its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will sneak up on you when it's most unexpected. There’s no moment that exemplifies that strength like a pivotal decision that I can’t stop thinking about.

Alert: Spoilers

Some background information is required here. Baby Steps begins as Nate is magically whisked away from his family's basement and into a magical realm. He soon realizes that moving around in it is a challenge, as a long time spent as a sedentary person have deteriorated his physical condition. The physical comedy of it all stems from users guiding Nate one step at a time, trying to prevent him from falling over.

Nate requires assistance, but he has difficulty expressing that to anyone. During his adventure, he comes in contact with a cast of eccentric characters in the world who each propose to give him a hand. A cool, confident hiker attempts to offer Nate a navigation aid, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s funniest instant. When he falls into an inescapable pit and is presented with a ladder, he strives to appear nonchalant like he can manage alone and genuinely desires to be trapped in the pit. During the narrative, you encounter plenty of annoying scenarios where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too self-conscious to accept any assistance.

The Pivotal Moment

That comes to a head in Baby Steps’s key situation of choice. As Nate gets close to finishing his journey, he discovers that he must ascend of a snowy mountain. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) shows up to inform him that there are two ways up. If he’s prepared for difficulty, he can choose a very lengthy and hazardous route called The Challenge. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps has to offer; taking it seems inadvisable to any human.

But there’s a other possibility: He can merely climb a gigantic spiral staircase as an alternative and get to the top in a few minutes. The sole condition? He’ll have to address the guardian “Master” from now on if he takes the easy route.

A Painful Choice

I am very serious when I say that this is an difficult selection in this situation. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself reaching a climax in a single ridiculous instant. An element of Nate's story is focused on the reality that he’s self-conscious of his physique and male identity. Each instance he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a difficult memory of all he lacks. Taking on The Challenge could be a instance where he can demonstrate that he’s as able as his imagined opponent, but that path is likely laden with more awkward mishaps. Is it justified struggling just to prove a point?

The staircase, on the other hand, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to either accept or reject help. The user doesn't get to decide in about they turn away a map, but they can opt to give Nate a break and take the stairs. It might seem like an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps is devilishly clever about causing suspicion each time you find a gift horse. The environment includes planned obstacles that turn a safe route into a setback on a dime. Could the steps yet another trap? Might Nate arrive to the very summit just to be let down by some last-second gag? And more troubling, is he ready to be diminished another time by being compelled to refer to an odd character as Lord?

No Right or Wrong

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no perfect selection. Either one results in a genuine moment of character development and catharsis for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Manbreaker, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate finally gets a chance to prove that he’s as able as anyone else, voluntarily accepting a tough path rather than suffering through one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s challenging, and perhaps unwise, 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 does so, he discovers that there’s no secret drawback awaiting him. The steps are not a joke. They go on for a long time, but they’re easy to walk up and he does not fall completely down if he falls. It’s a easy journey after extended challenges. Halfway up, he even has a conversation with the outdoorsman who has, of course, selected The Obstacle. He strives to appear composed, but you can tell that he’s worn out, subtly ruing the pointless struggle. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to fulfill his obligation, addressing his new Master, the arrangement scarcely looks so bad. Who has concern for humiliation by this freak?

Personal Reflection

In my playthrough, I chose the staircase. Some part of my reasoning just {wanted to call