Baby Steps Features One of the Most Impactful Choices I Have Ever Experienced in a Game

I've encountered some hard choices in gaming. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima's final sequence led me to set down my controller for around ten minutes while I considered my alternatives. I am responsible for so many Krogan deaths in the Mass Effect series that I regret deeply. None of those moments measure up to what could be the most difficult decision I've faced in a video game — and it concerns a giant staircase.

Baby Steps, the latest game from the makers of Ape Out, isn’t exactly a choice-driven game. At least not in the conventional way. You must walk around a vast game world as the main character Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can barely stand on his shaky limbs. It appears to be a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps’s appeal is in its surprisingly deep narrative that will catch you off guard when you least anticipate it. There’s not a single instance that exemplifies that strength like one major choice that remains on my mind.

Spoiler Warning

Some scene setting is necessary here. Baby Steps game begins as the protagonist is suddenly taken from his family's basement and into a magical realm. He soon realizes that moving around in it is a challenge, as years spent as a sedentary person have weakened his muscles. The humorous physicality of it all comes from gamers directing Nate step by step, trying to maintain his balance.

Nate requires assistance, but he has problems articulating that to others. As he progresses, he meets a cast of eccentric characters in the world who each propose to help him out. A composed outdoorsman tries to give Nate a navigation aid, but he clumsily declines in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. 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 actually wants to be stuck in the hole. During the narrative, you experience no shortage of annoying scenarios where Nate makes life harder for himself because he’s too insecure to receive help.

The Defining Decision

That comes to a head in Baby Steps game’s single genuine instance of selection. As Nate approaches the conclusion his journey, he finds that he must reach the summit of a snowy mountain. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) comes to inform him that there are two paths upward. If he’s prepared for difficulty, he can opt for a particularly extended and risky path dubbed The Challenge. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps game provides; taking it seems inadvisable to anyone.

But there’s a alternative choice: He can simply ascend a enormous coiled steps instead and reach the summit in a short time. The sole condition? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Lord” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

A Painful Choice

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an difficult selection in this situation. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself coming to a head in a particularly bizarre situation. An element of Nate's story is focused on the truth that he’s insecure of his physical appearance and manhood. Whenever he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a hard reminder of what he fails to be. Undertaking The Obstacle could be a moment where he can demonstrate that he’s as capable as his one-sided rival, but that road is bound to be filled with more humiliating failures. Is it justified striving just to demonstrate something?

The stairs, on the contrary, give Nate another big moment to either accept or reject help. The user doesn't get to decide in if they decline guidance, but they can choose to provide Nate with respite and choose the staircase. It might seem like an simple decision, but Baby Steps is remarkably shrewd about causing suspicion anytime you see a simple solution. The environment includes intentional pitfalls that change a secure way into a obstacle suddenly. Is the staircase one more trick? Will Nate get to the very summit just to be fooled by a final joke? And even worse, is he willing to be emasculated yet again by being compelled to refer to an odd character as Lord?

No Perfect Choice

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Each path leads to a real situation of character development and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you decide to take on The Obstacle, it’s an existential win. Nate finally gets a chance to prove that he’s as competent as everyone else, voluntarily accepting a tough path rather than suffering through one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s hard, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he needs.

But there’s no disgrace in the stairs either. To opt for that way is to at last permit Nate to receive assistance. And when he does so, he discovers that there’s no hidden trick in store for him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They continue for a while, but they’re easy to walk up and he doesn’t slide all the way down if he stumbles. It’s a straightforward ascent after lengthy difficulty. Halfway up, he even has a discussion with the hiker who has, of course, chosen to take The Obstacle. He tries to play it cool, but you can see that he’s worn out, quietly regretting the pointless struggle. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to fulfill his obligation, hailing his new Lord, the agreement barely appears so bad. Who has energy for shame by this odd character?

Personal Reflection

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