The Game Baby Steps Features One of the Most Meaningful Decisions I Have Ever Experienced in Video Games

I've dealt with some difficult choices in interactive entertainment. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima concluding moments led me to put my controller down for several minutes while I weighed my options. I am the cause of numerous Krogan fatalities in Mass Effect that I wish I could undo. Not one of those instances hold a candle to what possibly is the toughest selection I’ve had to make in interactive media — and it concerns a enormous set of steps.

Baby Steps, the recent title from the makers of Ape Out, is hardly a selection-based adventure. At least not in typical gaming terms. You only need to explore a vast game world as the main character Nate, a adult in a onesie who can struggle to remain on his wobbly legs. It looks like one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps game’s power lies in its deceptively impactful story that will sneak up on you when it's most unexpected. There’s no situation that showcases that quality like one major choice that remains on my mind.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

Some scene setting is needed at this point. Baby Steps game starts when Nate is transported from his parents’ basement and into a magical realm. He immediately finds that walking through it is a difficulty, as a lifetime spent as a couch potato have deteriorated his physical condition. The physical comedy of it all comes from players controlling Nate step by step, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

Nate requires assistance, but he has trouble voicing that to anyone. During his adventure, he comes in contact with a cast of eccentric characters in the world who all offer to help him out. A composed outdoorsman attempts to offer Nate a guide, but he awkwardly refuses 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 can manage alone and genuinely desires to be trapped in the pit. As the plot unfolds, you see numerous irritating episodes where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too insecure to accept any assistance.

The Defining Decision

This culminates in Baby Steps’s single genuine instance of choice. As Nate nears the end his quest, he realizes that he must climb to the top of a frosty elevation. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) shows up to tell him that there are two routes to the top. If he’s ready for a test, he can take an extremely long and risky path called The Obstacle. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps includes; choosing it looks risky to any human.

But there’s a alternative choice: He can merely climb a gigantic spiral staircase in its place and reach the summit in a short time. The only caveat? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Sir” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

An Agonizing Decision

I am very serious when I say that this is an painful decision in context. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself coming to a head in a single ridiculous instant. A portion of Nate's adventure is focused on the fact that he’s self-conscious of his body and his masculinity. Whenever he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a painful recollection of everything he’s not. Attempting The Manbreaker could be a time where he can demonstrate that he’s as able as his imagined opponent, but that route is sure to be filled with more embarrassing pratfalls. Does it merit struggling just to prove a point?

The stairs, on the flip side, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The player has no choice in whether or not they turn away a map, but they can opt to allow Nate some relief and opt for the steps. It should be an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps game is remarkably shrewd about making you feel paranoid anytime you find a gift horse. The environment includes intentional pitfalls that turn a safe route into a difficulty suddenly. Is the staircase yet another trap? Could Nate reach to the very summit just to be disappointed by an ending prank? And even worse, is he prepared to be humiliated another time by being forced to call a strange individual as Master?

No Perfect Choice

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Either one brings about a real situation of personal growth and emotional release for Nate. If you decide to take on The Obstacle, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate at last receives a chance to prove that he’s as capable as everyone else, willingly taking on a difficult route rather than struggling through one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s challenging, and possibly risky, but it’s the moment of strength that he needs.

But there’s no embarrassment in the staircase either. To choose that path is to eventually enable Nate to take support. And when he does, he realizes that there’s no hidden trick waiting for him. The staircase is not a trick. They go on for a long time, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he won't slip to the bottom if he falls. It’s a simple climb after lengthy difficulty. Partway through, he even has a conversation with the outdoorsman who has, naturally, selected The Challenge. He tries to play it cool, but you can tell that he’s fatigued, silently lamenting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to pay his debt, hailing his new Lord, the deal hardly seems so unpleasant. Who has energy for shame by this odd character?

Personal Reflection

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