The Game Baby Steps Features Among the Most Impactful Choices I've Ever Experienced in Video Games

I've faced some difficult decisions in gaming. Several of my selections in Life is Strange continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima's ending section made me pause the game for around ten minutes while I considered my alternatives. I am the cause of countless Krogan demises in Mass Effect that I wish I could undo. None of those moments measure up to what possibly is the toughest selection I've faced in interactive media — and it involves a massive stairway.

The Game Baby Steps, the latest game from the developers of Ape Out, isn’t exactly a choice-driven game. At least not in any traditional sense. You simply have to explore a expansive environment as the protagonist Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can struggle to remain on his shaky limbs. It appears to be a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps’s power lies in its deceptively impactful story that will catch you off guard when you least anticipate it. There’s not a single instance that exemplifies that strength like a pivotal decision that remains on my mind.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

Some background information is needed at this point. Baby Steps game begins as the protagonist is suddenly taken from the basement of his home and into a fantasy world. He quickly discovers that navigating this world is a struggle, as a long time spent as a sedentary person have atrophied his limbs. The humorous physicality of it all arises from users guiding Nate one step at a time, trying to maintain his balance.

Nate requires assistance, but he has problems articulating that to anyone. Throughout his hero’s journey, he comes in contact with a collection of quirky personalities in the world who everyone tries to give him a hand. A composed outdoorsman tries to give Nate a navigation aid, but he awkwardly refuses in the game’s funniest instant. When he drops into an trapping cavity and is offered a ladder, he strives to appear nonchalant like he can manage alone and actually wants to be stuck in the hole. Throughout the story, you experience no shortage of frustrating vignettes where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too insecure to take support.

The Defining Decision

This culminates in Baby Steps game’s single genuine instance of decision. As Nate approaches the conclusion his quest, he discovers that he must reach the summit of a frosty elevation. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) shows up 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 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 arrive at the peak in just moments. The sole condition? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Master” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

A Difficult Selection

I am very serious when I say that this is an difficult selection in the game's narrative. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself culminating in a single ridiculous instant. A portion of Nate's adventure is centered around the truth that he’s self-conscious of his physical appearance and manhood. Whenever he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a difficult memory of what he fails to be. Attempting The Challenge could be a moment where he can demonstrate that he’s as capable as his unilateral competitor, but that path is likely filled with more awkward mishaps. Is it justified suffering just to demonstrate something?

The steps, on the other hand, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to choose whether to take assistance or not. The user doesn't get to decide in whether or not they reject navigation help, but they can opt to give Nate a break and take the stairs. It ought to be an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps is devilishly clever about creating doubt anytime you find a gift horse. The game world contains intentional pitfalls that transform an easy path into a difficulty suddenly. Are the stairs yet another trap? Might Nate arrive all the way to the top just to be let down by a final joke? And more troubling, is he willing to be emasculated once again by being made to address an odd character as Lord?

No Right or Wrong

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no correct or incorrect choice. Each path brings about a authentic instance of protagonist evolution and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Challenge, it’s an existential win. Nate at last receives a moment to show that he’s as competent as anyone else, consciously choosing a difficult route rather than struggling through one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s hard, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the dose of confidence that he needs.

But there’s no embarrassment in the stairs either. To select that route is to at last permit Nate to accept help. And when he accomplishes that, he realizes that there’s no hidden trick awaiting him. The steps are not a joke. They extend for some distance, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he doesn’t slide all the way down if he trips. It’s a simple climb after extended challenges. Halfway up, he even has a conversation with the hiker who has, unsurprisingly, chosen to take The Challenge. He tries to play it cool, but you can see that he’s worn out, silently lamenting the pointless struggle. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to pay his debt, calling the character Lord, the agreement barely appears so bad. Who has concern for humiliation by this freak?

My Experience

In my playthrough, I opted for the stairs. Some part of my reasoning just {wanted to call