The Game Baby Steps Includes One of the Most Meaningful Choices I Have Ever Experienced in a Game

I've encountered some challenging decisions in gaming. Several of my selections in Life is Strange still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima final sequence prompted me to pause the game for several minutes while I weighed my options. I am responsible for numerous Krogan fatalities in the Mass Effect series that I wish I could undo. Not one of those instances compare to what could be the hardest choice I've faced in interactive media — and it involves a giant staircase.

Baby Steps, the latest game from the developers of Ape Out, isn’t exactly a selection-based adventure. Certainly not in typical gaming terms. You simply have to explore a vast game world as the main character Nate, a adult in a onesie who can hardly stay upright on his shaky limbs. It appears to be an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps’s strength comes from its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will catch you off guard when it's most unexpected. There’s not a single instance that exemplifies that strength like a pivotal decision that I keep reflecting on.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

Some scene setting is necessary here. Baby Steps begins as Nate is transported from the basement of his home and into a fictional universe. He soon realizes that walking through it is a challenge, as a lifetime spent as a inactive individual have atrophied his limbs. The slapstick elements of it all arises from players controlling Nate step by step, trying to prevent him from falling over.

Nate requires assistance, but he has trouble voicing that to others. As he progresses, he comes in contact with a group of unusual individuals in the world who all offer to assist him. A self-assured trekker tries to give Nate a map, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he plunges into an inescapable pit and is presented with a ladder, he tries to play it off like he doesn’t need the help and genuinely desires to be trapped in the pit. As the plot unfolds, you encounter plenty of irritating episodes where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too self-conscious to take support.

The Pivotal Moment

Everything builds up in Baby Steps game’s one true moment of selection. As Nate gets close to finishing his journey, he discovers that he must reach the summit of a snowy mountain. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) shows up to inform him that there are two ways up. If he’s prepared for difficulty, he can opt for a particularly extended and risky path called The Challenge. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps provides; taking it seems inadvisable to anyone.

But there’s a alternative choice: He can just walk up a massive winding stairs as an alternative and reach the summit in a short time. The sole condition? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Master” from now on if he takes the easy route.

A Painful Choice

I am very serious when I say that this is an painful decision in context. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself culminating in a particularly bizarre situation. An element of Nate's story is focused on the fact that he’s unconfident of his physique and male identity. Whenever he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a painful recollection of what he fails to be. Taking on The Obstacle could be a moment where he can demonstrate that he’s as capable as his one-sided rival, but that route is sure to be paved with more humiliating failures. Is it worth struggling just to demonstrate something?

The staircase, on the other hand, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The user doesn't get to decide in if they decline guidance, but they can decide to allow Nate some relief and opt for the steps. It ought to be an simple decision, but Baby Steps is remarkably shrewd about causing suspicion each time you find a gift horse. The world is filled with design traps that turn a safe route into a difficulty suddenly. Could the steps one more trick? Could Nate reach at the peak just to be let down by some last-second gag? And more troubling, is he willing to be emasculated another time by being compelled to refer to some weirdo Lord?

No Right or Wrong

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no perfect selection. Either one brings about a real situation of character development and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Manbreaker, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate eventually obtains a moment to show that he’s as capable as others, willingly taking on a tough path rather than suffering through one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s hard, and possibly risky, but it’s the moment of strength that he needs.

But there’s no disgrace in the steps either. To select that route is to eventually enable Nate to accept help. And when he accomplishes that, he discovers that there’s no secret drawback waiting for him. The steps are not a joke. They continue for a while, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he does not fall all the way down if he falls. It’s a straightforward ascent after extended challenges. Midway through, he even has a chat with the trekker who has, unsurprisingly, selected The Obstacle. He strives to appear composed, but you can discern that he’s worn out, silently lamenting the pointless struggle. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to pay his debt, calling the character Lord, the agreement barely appears so bad. Who has concern for humiliation by this strange individual?

My Choice

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