Baby Steps Presents Among the Most Significant Decisions I've Ever Faced in a Game

I've dealt with some hard decisions in interactive entertainment. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima ending section made me set down my controller for around ten minutes while I weighed my options. I am the cause of so many Krogan deaths in the Mass Effect series that I regret deeply. Not one of those instances hold a candle to what could be the hardest choice I’ve had to make in interactive media — and it has to do with a giant staircase.

Baby Steps, the recent title from the developers of Ape Out, is not really a decision-focused experience. Certainly not in any traditional sense. You only need to navigate a expansive environment as Nate, a adult in a onesie who can struggle to remain on his unsteady feet. It appears to be a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps game’s power lies in its deceptively impactful story that will catch you off guard when it's most unexpected. There’s no situation that demonstrates that power like a pivotal decision that remains on my mind.

Spoiler Warning

Some scene setting is needed at this point. Baby Steps game begins as Nate is magically whisked away from his family's 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 arises from gamers directing Nate step by step, trying to prevent him from falling over.

Nate requires assistance, but he has problems articulating that to anyone. Throughout his hero’s journey, he meets a cast of eccentric characters in the world who everyone tries to give him a hand. A composed outdoorsman attempts to offer Nate a guide, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he falls 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. As the plot unfolds, you encounter plenty of frustrating vignettes where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too self-conscious to accept any assistance.

The Pivotal Moment

This culminates in Baby Steps’s key situation of choice. As Nate nears the end his quest, he realizes that he must climb to the top of a frosty elevation. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) comes to tell him that there are two ways up. If he’s up for a challenge, he can opt for a particularly extended and hazardous route called The Challenge. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps game provides; attempting it appears unwise to any person.

But there’s a alternative choice: He can simply ascend a enormous coiled steps in its place and reach the summit in a short time. The sole condition? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “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 agonizing choice in context. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself culminating in a particularly bizarre situation. Part of Nate’s journey is focused on the truth that he’s unconfident of his physique and male identity. Every time he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a hard reminder of what he fails to be. Taking on The Challenge could be a moment where he can show that he’s as competent as his one-sided rival, but that route is sure to be paved with more embarrassing pratfalls. Is it worth suffering just to demonstrate something?

The staircase, on the flip side, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to choose whether to take assistance or not. The player has no choice in if they reject navigation help, but they can choose to allow Nate some relief and choose the staircase. It ought to be an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps is remarkably shrewd about creating doubt whenever you see a simple solution. The environment includes design traps that turn a safe route into a obstacle instantly. Are the stairs an additional deception? Could Nate reach all the way to the top just to be let down by some last-second gag? And more troubling, is he prepared to be humiliated another time by being made to address an odd character as Lord?

No Correct Answer

The beauty of that moment is that there’s no perfect selection. Both options brings about a authentic instance of character development and catharsis for Nate. If you decide to take on The Manbreaker, it’s an personal triumph. Nate eventually obtains a chance to prove that he’s as capable as anyone else, consciously choosing a difficult route rather than struggling through one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s challenging, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the dose of confidence that he craves.

But there’s no shame in the stairs as well. To select that route is to eventually enable Nate to receive assistance. And when he accomplishes that, he realizes that there’s no secret drawback in store for him. The steps are not a joke. They go on for a long time, but they’re easy to walk up 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 trekker who has, of course, chosen to take The Obstacle. He attempts to act casual, but you can tell that he’s worn out, subtly ruing the unnecessary challenge. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to pay his debt, calling the character Lord, the deal hardly seems so nasty. Who has concern for humiliation by this strange individual?

My Choice

In my playthrough, I selected the steps. A portion of my thinking just {wanted to call