Baby Steps Presents One of the Most Significant Decisions I Have Ever Experienced in a Game

I've dealt with some difficult choices in video games. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima concluding moments led me to set down my controller for around ten minutes while I considered my choices. I am the cause of so many Krogan deaths in Mass Effect that I regret deeply. Not one of those instances hold a candle to what now might be the toughest selection I’ve had to make in gaming — and it involves a massive stairway.

Baby Steps, the recent title from the developers of Ape Out game, is hardly a choice-driven game. Certainly not in typical gaming terms. You must walk around a vast game world as Nate, a adult in a onesie who can hardly stay upright on his unsteady feet. It seems like an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps game’s strength comes from 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 I can’t stop thinking about.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

Some scene setting is required here. Baby Steps game starts when Nate is transported from his family's basement and into a fantasy world. He immediately finds that walking through it is a struggle, as years spent as a sedentary person have atrophied his limbs. The slapstick elements of it all comes from gamers directing Nate step by step, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has trouble voicing that to other characters. As he progresses, he encounters a cast of eccentric characters in the world who each propose to help him out. A cool, confident hiker seeks to provide Nate a guide, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s funniest instant. When he falls into an trapping cavity and is offered a ladder, he attempts to act casual like he can manage alone and truly prefers to be confined in the cavity. Throughout the story, you experience no shortage of annoying scenarios where Nate makes life harder for himself because he’s too insecure to receive help.

The Ultimate Choice

Everything builds up in Baby Steps’s single genuine instance of decision. As Nate nears the end his quest, he discovers that he must reach the summit of a snow-capped peak. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) appears to tell him that there are two paths upward. If he’s up for a challenge, he can take an extremely long and risky path called The Obstacle. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps has to offer; choosing it looks risky to any person.

But there’s a second option: He can just walk up a gigantic spiral staircase instead and reach the summit in a few minutes. The single stipulation? He’ll have to call the groundskeeper “Sir” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

A Painful Choice

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an agonizing choice in this situation. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself culminating in a particularly bizarre situation. A portion of Nate's adventure is revolves around the fact that he’s self-conscious of his physique and male identity. Each instance he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a hard reminder of what he fails to be. Taking on The Obstacle could be a time where he can prove that he’s as able as his imagined opponent, but that path is likely paved with more humiliating failures. Does it merit striving just to make a statement?

The staircase, on the other hand, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The user doesn't get to decide in whether or not they decline guidance, but they can decide to allow Nate some relief and take the stairs. It should be an easy choice, but Baby Steps game is exceptionally cunning about causing suspicion whenever you see a simple solution. The environment includes intentional pitfalls that change a secure way into a difficulty on a dime. Are the stairs one more trick? Will Nate get all the way to the top just to be let down by a final joke? And more concerning, is he prepared to be humiliated once again by being made to address a strange individual as Master?

No Right or Wrong

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Either one brings about a genuine moment of protagonist evolution and emotional release for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Manbreaker, it’s an personal triumph. Nate finally gets a chance to prove that he’s as capable as everyone else, consciously choosing a difficult route rather than struggling through one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s hard, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the moment of strength that he craves.

But there’s no disgrace in the stairs as well. To select that route is to eventually enable Nate to accept help. And when he does so, he finds that there’s no real catch awaiting him. The steps are not a joke. They continue for a while, but they’re simple to climb and he does not fall to the bottom if he trips. It’s a simple climb after extended challenges. Midway through, he even has a discussion with the hiker who has, unsurprisingly, selected The Manbreaker. He attempts to act casual, but you can see that he’s worn out, quietly regretting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to pay his debt, hailing his new Lord, the agreement barely appears so unpleasant. Who has time to be embarrassed by this freak?

My Experience

When I played, I chose the staircase. Part of me just {wanted to call