The Game Baby Steps Presents Among the Most Impactful Choices I've Ever Encountered in Gaming

I've dealt with some challenging decisions in interactive entertainment. Several of my selections in Life is Strange continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima's final sequence prompted me to pause the game for a good 10 minutes while I thought through my alternatives. I am the cause of so many Krogan deaths in the Mass Effect series that I regret deeply. Not one of those instances hold a candle to what could be the most difficult decision I’ve had to make in gaming — and it involves a giant staircase.

Baby Steps, the recent title from the developers of Ape Out game, is hardly a choice-driven game. Definitely not in the conventional way. You simply have to navigate a sprawling open world as Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can struggle to remain on his wobbly legs. It seems like an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps’s appeal is in its deceptively impactful story that will sneak up on you when it's most unexpected. There’s no situation that showcases that quality like one major choice that I can’t stop thinking about.

Alert: Spoilers

Some background information is needed at this point. Baby Steps game starts when the protagonist is suddenly taken from his parents’ basement and into a fictional universe. He quickly discovers that walking through it is a challenge, as years spent as a sedentary person have weakened his muscles. The humorous physicality of it all comes from players controlling Nate gradually, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

Nate requires assistance, but he has problems articulating that to others. As he progresses, he comes in contact with a collection of quirky personalities in the world who each propose to assist him. A cool, confident hiker tries to give Nate a navigation aid, but he clumsily declines in the game’s funniest instant. When he drops into an trapping cavity and is given a way out, he tries to play it off like he doesn’t need the help and truly prefers to be trapped in the pit. During the narrative, you encounter plenty of frustrating vignettes where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too insecure to accept any assistance.

The Pivotal Moment

This culminates in Baby Steps’s single genuine instance of decision. As Nate nears the end his adventure, 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 tell him that there are two routes to the top. If he’s up for a challenge, he can take an extremely long and risky path called The Challenge. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps provides; attempting it appears unwise to anyone.

But there’s a second option: He can simply ascend a enormous coiled steps as an alternative and get to the top in just moments. The only caveat? He’ll have to call the groundskeeper “Lord” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

A Painful Choice

I am completely earnest when I say that this is an painful decision in this situation. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself reaching a climax in a single ridiculous instant. Part of Nate’s journey is centered around the reality that he’s insecure of his physical appearance and manhood. Each instance he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a hard reminder of everything he’s not. Undertaking The Challenge could be a moment where he can prove that he’s as capable as his unilateral competitor, but that road is bound to be paved with more humiliating failures. Is it worth suffering just to make a statement?

The steps, on the flip side, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to either accept or reject help. The user doesn't get to decide in whether or not they decline guidance, but they can choose to give Nate a break and take the stairs. It should be an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps is remarkably shrewd about creating doubt each time you encounter an easy option. The game world contains design traps that turn a safe route into a obstacle on a dime. Are the stairs yet another trap? Will Nate get all the way to the top just to be fooled by a final joke? And more troubling, is he prepared to be humiliated yet again by being made to address a strange individual as Master?

No Correct Answer

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Either one leads to a genuine moment of personal growth and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Manbreaker, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate at last receives a moment to show that he’s as capable as everyone else, willingly taking on a challenging way rather than struggling through one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s difficult, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the moment of strength that he needs.

But there’s no disgrace in the steps too. To choose that path is to at last permit Nate to receive assistance. And when he accomplishes that, he realizes that there’s no hidden trick in store for him. The staircase is not a trick. They go on for a long time, but they’re simple to climb and he does not fall to the bottom if he trips. It’s a straightforward ascent after lengthy difficulty. Halfway up, he even has a chat with the hiker who has, unsurprisingly, chosen to take The Challenge. He attempts to act casual, but you can tell that he’s worn out, silently lamenting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to pay his debt, addressing his new Master, the arrangement scarcely looks so nasty. Who has concern for humiliation by this freak?

My Experience

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