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

I've encountered some hard choices in interactive entertainment. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima ending section led me to put my controller down for several minutes while I considered my choices. I am responsible for so many Krogan deaths in Mass Effect that I regret deeply. Not one of those instances measure up to what could be the hardest choice I’ve had to make in a video game — and it has to do with a giant staircase.

Baby Steps, the latest game from the developers of Ape Out, is not really a decision-focused experience. At least not in the conventional way. You only need to explore a expansive environment as Nate, a adult in a onesie who can hardly stay upright on his shaky limbs. It appears to be an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps’s strength comes from its deceptively impactful story that will surprise you when it's most unexpected. There’s no situation that exemplifies that strength like one major choice that I can’t stop thinking about.

Spoiler Warning

Some scene setting is needed at this point. Baby Steps game begins as the protagonist is suddenly taken from the basement of his home and into a magical realm. He immediately finds that navigating this world is a challenge, as a long time spent as a sedentary person have atrophied his limbs. The slapstick elements of it all arises from users guiding Nate gradually, trying to maintain his balance.

Nate needs help, but he has trouble voicing that to anyone. As he progresses, he comes in contact with a cast of eccentric characters in the world who everyone tries to give him a hand. 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 trapping cavity and is offered a ladder, he tries to play it off like he requires no assistance and genuinely desires to be trapped in the pit. Throughout the story, you see numerous irritating episodes where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too insecure to take support.

The Pivotal Moment

This culminates in Baby Steps’s key situation of decision. As Nate approaches the conclusion his quest, he finds that he must climb to the top of a frosty elevation. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) shows up to let him know that there are two routes to the top. If he’s ready for a test, he can take an extremely long and risky path named The Challenge. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps has to offer; taking it seems inadvisable to any person.

But there’s a other possibility: He can just walk up a enormous coiled steps in its place and reach the summit in a few minutes. The only caveat? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Master” from now on if he takes the easy route.

A Painful Choice

I am completely earnest when I say that this is an painful decision in context. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself reaching a climax in a single ridiculous instant. An element of Nate's story is revolves around the reality that he’s insecure of his body and his masculinity. Each instance he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a painful recollection of what he fails to be. Undertaking The Manbreaker could be a time where he can demonstrate that he’s as competent as his one-sided rival, but that road is bound to be filled with more awkward mishaps. Is it justified suffering just to prove a point?

The stairs, on the flip side, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The user doesn't get to decide in if they turn away a map, but they can opt to provide Nate with respite and choose the staircase. It ought to be an easy choice, but Baby Steps game is exceptionally cunning about causing suspicion each time you encounter an easy option. The world is filled with planned obstacles that change a secure way into a difficulty suddenly. Is the staircase yet another trap? Might Nate arrive at the peak just to be let down by some last-second gag? And more concerning, is he willing to be emasculated another time by being forced to call a strange individual as Master?

No Correct Answer

The beauty of that moment is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Both options results in a genuine moment of protagonist evolution and emotional release for Nate. If you decide to take on The Challenge, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate eventually obtains a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as able as others, voluntarily accepting a challenging way rather than struggling through one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s difficult, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the moment of strength that he needs.

But there’s no shame in the steps either. To choose that path is to at last permit Nate to accept help. And when he does so, he realizes that there’s no secret drawback in store for him. The steps are not a joke. They extend for some distance, but they’re easy to walk up and he doesn’t slide all the way down if he stumbles. It’s a easy journey after lengthy difficulty. Partway through, he even has a chat with the hiker who has, unsurprisingly, chosen to take The Obstacle. He tries to play it cool, but you can see that he’s fatigued, subtly ruing the unnecessary challenge. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to pay his debt, calling the character Lord, the deal hardly seems so unpleasant. Who has energy for shame by this odd character?

My Experience

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