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

I've encountered some difficult choices in gaming. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange series continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima's final sequence prompted me to put my controller down for around ten minutes while I thought through my alternatives. I am accountable for so many Krogan fatalities in Mass Effect that I regret deeply. Not one of those instances compare to what could be the hardest choice I've ever made in interactive media — and it involves a massive stairway.

Baby Steps, the newest release from the creators of Ape Out game, is hardly a decision-focused experience. Certainly not in the conventional way. You only need to navigate a expansive environment as the protagonist Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can hardly stay upright on his wobbly legs. It seems like an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps’s power lies in its surprisingly deep narrative that will catch you off guard when it's most unexpected. There’s no situation that exemplifies that strength like one major choice that I can’t stop thinking about.

Spoiler Warning

A bit of context is required here. Baby Steps starts when Nate is magically whisked away from his parents’ basement and into a fantasy world. He soon realizes that moving around in it is a difficulty, as years spent as a inactive individual have atrophied his limbs. The humorous physicality of it all stems from gamers directing Nate gradually, trying to prevent him from falling over.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has trouble voicing that to anyone. During his adventure, he encounters a collection of quirky personalities in the world who everyone tries to help him out. A self-assured trekker tries to give Nate a navigation aid, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s most hilarious scene. When he falls into an inescapable pit and is offered a ladder, he strives to appear nonchalant like he doesn’t need the help and genuinely desires to be confined in the cavity. Throughout the story, you experience no shortage of irritating episodes where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too self-conscious to accept any assistance.

The Pivotal Moment

That comes to a head in Baby Steps’s key situation of selection. As Nate approaches the conclusion his adventure, he discovers that he must ascend of a snowy mountain. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) comes to let him know that there are two paths upward. If he’s up for a challenge, he can opt for a particularly extended and dangerous hiking trail called The Challenge. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps game provides; choosing it looks risky to any human.

But there’s a other possibility: He can just walk up a gigantic spiral staircase instead and reach the summit in a few minutes. The sole condition? He’ll have to address the guardian “Sir” from now on if he takes the easy route.

A Difficult Selection

I am very serious when I say that this is an agonizing choice in the game's narrative. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself coming to a head in a single ridiculous instant. An element of Nate's story is focused on the truth that he’s insecure of his physical appearance and manhood. Every time 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 competent as his one-sided rival, but that path is likely filled with more embarrassing pratfalls. Is it worth struggling just to demonstrate something?

The stairs, on the other hand, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to either accept or reject help. The player has no choice in whether or not they decline guidance, but they can opt to allow Nate some relief and choose the staircase. It ought to be an simple decision, but Baby Steps game is remarkably shrewd about creating doubt whenever you find a gift horse. The environment includes planned obstacles that change a secure way into a difficulty on a dime. Is the staircase yet another trap? Might Nate arrive all the way to the top just to be disappointed by some last-second gag? And even worse, is he ready to be diminished once again by being forced to call some weirdo Lord?

No Perfect Choice

The beauty of that moment is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Either one brings about a authentic instance of protagonist evolution and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Obstacle, it’s an personal triumph. Nate eventually obtains a moment to show that he’s as able as anyone else, consciously choosing a tough path rather than enduring one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s challenging, and possibly risky, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he craves.

But there’s no disgrace in the staircase either. To opt for that way is to at last permit Nate to take support. And when he does so, he finds that there’s no real catch awaiting him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They continue for a while, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he does not fall to the bottom if he trips. It’s a simple climb after lengthy difficulty. Partway through, he even has a discussion with the hiker who has, of course, selected The Obstacle. He attempts to act casual, but you can see that he’s exhausted, subtly ruing the needless difficulty. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to pay his debt, calling the character Lord, the deal hardly seems so unpleasant. Who has energy for shame by this strange individual?

My Choice

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