The Game Baby Steps Presents One of the Most Impactful Choices I Have Ever Faced in Video Games

I've encountered some hard decisions in gaming. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange series still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima final sequence led me to pause the game for around ten minutes while I considered my alternatives. I am accountable for countless Krogan fatalities in Mass Effect that I regret deeply. Not a single one of those situations hold a candle to what now might be the most difficult decision I've ever made in gaming — and it concerns a giant staircase.

The Game Baby Steps, the latest game from the creators of Ape Out game, is not really a choice-driven game. Definitely not in any traditional sense. You simply have to walk around a vast game world as Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can struggle to remain on his shaky limbs. It seems like an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps’s strength comes from its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will surprise you when you’re least expecting it. There’s no moment that exemplifies that strength like a key selection that remains on my mind.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

Some background information is needed at this point. Baby Steps starts when Nate is transported from his family's basement and into a fictional universe. He immediately finds that navigating this world is a challenge, as a long time spent as a sedentary person have deteriorated his physical condition. The slapstick elements of it all stems from gamers directing Nate one step at a time, trying to prevent him from falling over.

Nate needs help, but he has difficulty expressing that to other characters. During his adventure, he comes in contact with a group of unusual individuals in the world who each propose to help him out. A self-assured trekker seeks to provide Nate a map, but he clumsily declines in the game’s funniest instant. When he falls into an trapping cavity and is offered a ladder, he tries to play it off like he requires no assistance and genuinely desires to be trapped in the pit. Throughout the story, you see numerous annoying scenarios where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s not confident enough to receive help.

The Defining Decision

Everything builds up in Baby Steps’s one true moment of selection. As Nate gets close to finishing his journey, he realizes that he must climb to the top of a frosty elevation. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) comes to tell him that there are two paths upward. If he’s prepared for difficulty, he can choose a very lengthy and hazardous route called The Obstacle. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps game has to offer; attempting it appears unwise to anyone.

But there’s a alternative choice: He can just walk up a enormous coiled steps instead and arrive at the peak in just moments. The sole condition? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Sir” from now on if he takes the easy route.

A Difficult Selection

I am completely earnest when I say that this is an difficult selection in the game's narrative. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself coming to a head in a particularly bizarre situation. An element of Nate's story is centered around the reality that he’s insecure of his physique and male identity. Each instance he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a hard reminder of what he fails to be. Undertaking The Obstacle could be a moment where he can show that he’s as capable as his unilateral competitor, but that road is bound to be paved with more humiliating failures. Does it merit suffering just to prove a point?

The stairs, on the contrary, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The player has no choice in if they turn away a map, but they can choose to allow Nate some relief and take the stairs. It might seem like an simple decision, but Baby Steps game is exceptionally cunning about creating doubt whenever you encounter an easy option. The game world contains intentional pitfalls that change a secure way into a setback on a dime. Could the steps yet another trap? Might Nate arrive to the very summit just to be let down by an ending prank? And more troubling, is he ready to be diminished yet again by being compelled to refer to an odd character as Lord?

No Right or Wrong

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no correct or incorrect choice. Either one results in a real situation of protagonist evolution and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Obstacle, it’s an personal triumph. Nate finally gets a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as able as everyone else, consciously choosing a difficult route rather than enduring one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s difficult, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the dose of confidence that he craves.

But there’s no shame in the stairs either. To choose that path is to finally allow Nate to accept help. And when he does so, he realizes that there’s no secret drawback in store for him. The staircase is not a trick. They extend for some distance, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he doesn’t slide completely down if he falls. It’s a simple climb after extended challenges. Midway through, he even has a discussion with the hiker who has, naturally, opted for The Obstacle. He tries to play it cool, but you can see that he’s fatigued, silently lamenting the unnecessary challenge. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to fulfill his obligation, addressing his new Master, the arrangement scarcely looks so unpleasant. Who has concern for humiliation by this odd character?

Personal Reflection

In my playthrough, I chose the staircase. Part of me just {wanted to call