Baby Steps Includes Among the Most Impactful Decisions I've Ever Encountered in Video Games

I've faced some challenging decisions in gaming. Several of my selections in Life is Strange continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima concluding moments made me pause the game for a good 10 minutes while I thought through my choices. I am the cause of numerous Krogan deaths in the Mass Effect series that I regret deeply. Not a single one of those situations compare to what possibly is the toughest selection I've ever made in gaming — and it concerns a massive stairway.

Baby Steps, the recent title from the creators of Ape Out game, is not really a decision-focused experience. Certainly not in typical gaming terms. You only need to walk around a expansive environment as the main character Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can barely stand on his unsteady feet. It looks like one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps game’s power lies in its deceptively impactful story that will surprise you when you least anticipate it. There’s not a single instance that showcases that quality like one major choice that I keep reflecting on.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

Some scene setting is needed at this point. Baby Steps game starts when Nate is transported from the basement of his home and into a fantasy world. He quickly discovers that walking through it is a challenge, as years spent as a couch potato have atrophied his limbs. The humorous physicality of it all arises from users guiding Nate gradually, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has trouble voicing that to others. During his adventure, he meets a collection of quirky personalities in the world who all offer to assist him. A self-assured trekker attempts to offer Nate a map, but he awkwardly refuses in the game’s funniest instant. When he falls into an trapping cavity and is given a way out, he strives to appear nonchalant like he doesn’t need the help and genuinely desires to be stuck in the hole. Throughout the story, you encounter plenty of irritating episodes where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too self-conscious to take support.

The Pivotal Moment

Everything builds up in Baby Steps’s one true moment of selection. As Nate nears the end his adventure, he discovers that he must climb to the top of a snowy mountain. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) comes to inform him that there are two paths upward. If he’s ready for a test, he can take an extremely long and hazardous route dubbed The Manbreaker. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps has to offer; attempting it appears unwise to any human.

But there’s a other possibility: He can just walk up a gigantic spiral staircase as an alternative and arrive at the peak in a short time. The sole condition? He’ll have to address the guardian “Lord” from now on if he takes the easy route.

An Agonizing Decision

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an agonizing choice in context. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself coming to a head in one absurd moment. Part of Nate’s journey is revolves around the fact that he’s unconfident of his physique and male identity. Each instance he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a painful recollection of everything he’s not. Attempting The Challenge could be a moment where he can prove that he’s as competent as his imagined opponent, but that route is sure to be paved with more awkward mishaps. Does it merit striving just to make a statement?

The steps, on the flip side, give Nate another big moment to choose whether to take assistance or not. The player has no choice in whether or not they reject navigation help, but they can opt to allow Nate some relief and choose the staircase. It should be an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps is remarkably shrewd about causing suspicion anytime you find a gift horse. The environment includes design traps that change a secure way into a obstacle on a dime. Are the stairs yet another trap? Could Nate reach at the peak just to be disappointed by a final joke? And more concerning, is he prepared to be humiliated once again by being forced to call a strange individual as Master?

No Perfect Choice

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no correct or incorrect choice. Each path leads to a genuine moment of protagonist evolution and catharsis for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Challenge, it’s an personal triumph. Nate finally gets a moment to show that he’s as able as anyone else, willingly taking on a challenging way rather than enduring one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s difficult, and possibly risky, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he needs.

But there’s no embarrassment in the staircase too. To opt for that way is to at last permit Nate to receive assistance. And when he does, he realizes that there’s no hidden trick in store for him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They go on for a long time, but they’re easy to walk up and he does not fall to the bottom if he stumbles. It’s a straightforward ascent after lengthy difficulty. Partway through, he even has a conversation with the outdoorsman who has, of course, selected The Manbreaker. He attempts to act casual, but you can tell that he’s exhausted, silently lamenting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to pay his debt, calling the character Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so unpleasant. Who has energy for shame by this odd character?

Personal Reflection

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