The Game Baby Steps Includes One of the Most Meaningful Decisions I Have Ever Faced in a Game

I've faced some challenging choices in video games. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima's concluding moments prompted me to set down my controller for a good 10 minutes while I thought through my alternatives. I am the cause of numerous Krogan fatalities in Mass Effect that I wish I could undo. Not a single one of those situations measure up to what now might be the toughest selection I’ve had to make in interactive media — and it has to do with a giant staircase.

Baby Steps, the newest release from the creators of Ape Out game, is not really a decision-focused experience. At least not in any traditional sense. You only need to explore a vast game world as Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can barely stand on his unsteady feet. It appears to be an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps game’s appeal is in its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will sneak up on you when it's most unexpected. There’s no situation that showcases that quality like one major choice that I can’t stop thinking about.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

A bit of context is needed at this point. Baby Steps game begins as the protagonist is suddenly taken from his parents’ basement and into a fantasy world. He immediately finds that walking through it is a challenge, as a lifetime spent as a sedentary person have weakened his muscles. The physical comedy of it all comes from users guiding Nate gradually, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

Nate needs help, but he has trouble voicing that to other characters. Throughout his hero’s journey, he encounters a group of unusual individuals in the world who everyone tries to assist him. A composed outdoorsman seeks to provide Nate a navigation aid, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he drops into an unavoidable hole and is offered a ladder, he strives to appear nonchalant like he can manage alone and actually wants to be trapped in the pit. During the narrative, you see numerous frustrating vignettes where Nate makes life harder for himself because he’s too self-conscious to take support.

The Defining Decision

That comes to a head in Baby Steps game’s one true moment of choice. As Nate gets close to finishing his journey, he discovers that he must ascend of a frosty elevation. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) comes to inform him that there are two routes to the top. If he’s up for a challenge, he can opt for a particularly extended and hazardous route called The Challenge. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps game has to offer; attempting it appears unwise to any human.

But there’s a alternative choice: He can just walk up a gigantic spiral staircase instead and arrive at the peak in a short time. The sole condition? He’ll have to address the guardian “Sir” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

A Painful Choice

I am completely earnest when I say that this is an difficult selection in this situation. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities 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. Each instance he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a painful recollection of what he fails to be. Taking on The Challenge could be a time where he can show that he’s as capable as his imagined opponent, but that road is bound to be paved with more humiliating failures. Is it worth struggling just to make a statement?

The staircase, on the flip side, give Nate another big moment to either accept or reject help. The player has no choice in whether or not they decline guidance, but they can decide to allow Nate some relief and opt for the steps. It should be an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps game is exceptionally cunning about causing suspicion whenever you find a gift horse. The environment includes planned obstacles that turn a safe route into a obstacle on a dime. Could the steps an additional deception? Will Nate get all the way to the top just to be let down by some last-second gag? And even worse, is he ready to be diminished another time by being forced to call a strange individual as Master?

No Correct Answer

The beauty of that moment is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Either one brings about a real situation of personal growth and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Obstacle, it’s an existential win. Nate eventually obtains a moment to show that he’s as able as anyone else, consciously choosing a challenging way rather than struggling through one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s hard, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he requires.

But there’s no embarrassment in the staircase as well. To select that route is to eventually enable Nate to take support. And when he accomplishes that, he discovers that there’s no real catch in store for him. The staircase is not a trick. They go on for a long time, but they’re easy to walk up and he does not fall to the bottom if he falls. It’s a easy journey after lengthy difficulty. Halfway up, he even has a conversation with the trekker who has, of course, selected The Manbreaker. He strives to appear composed, but you can tell that he’s worn out, quietly regretting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to fulfill his obligation, calling the character Lord, the deal hardly seems so unpleasant. Who has energy for shame by this freak?

My Experience

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