The Game Baby Steps Features One of the Most Meaningful Decisions I've Ever Experienced in Gaming

I've dealt with some difficult choices in video games. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange series continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima concluding moments prompted me to put my controller down for a good 10 minutes while I considered my alternatives. I am the cause of countless Krogan fatalities in the Mass Effect series that I regret deeply. None of those moments hold a candle to what now might be the most difficult decision I've ever made in a video game — and it involves a enormous set of steps.

The Game Baby Steps, the latest game from the creators of Ape Out game, isn’t exactly a choice-driven game. Definitely not in typical gaming terms. You only need to navigate a expansive environment as the protagonist Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild 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 sneak up on you when it's most unexpected. There’s no situation that showcases that quality like a key selection that I can’t stop thinking about.

Alert: Spoilers

Some scene setting is needed at this point. Baby Steps game begins as the protagonist is suddenly taken from his family's basement and into a fantasy world. He quickly discovers that walking through it is a struggle, as a long time spent as a couch potato have deteriorated his physical condition. The physical comedy of it all comes from players controlling Nate one step at a time, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

Nate needs help, but he has trouble voicing that to other characters. During his adventure, he encounters a collection of quirky personalities in the world who all offer to help him out. A composed outdoorsman attempts to offer Nate a map, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. 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. As the plot unfolds, you experience no shortage of annoying scenarios where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too self-conscious to take support.

The Pivotal Moment

Everything builds up in Baby Steps game’s key situation of choice. As Nate nears the end his journey, he discovers that he must climb to the top of a snowy mountain. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) comes to tell him that there are two routes to the top. If he’s up for a challenge, he can opt for a particularly extended and risky path dubbed The Challenge. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps includes; taking it seems inadvisable to anyone.

But there’s a alternative choice: He can simply ascend a enormous coiled steps instead and get to the top in a short time. The sole condition? He’ll have to address the guardian “Master” from now on if he takes the easy route.

A Difficult Selection

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an agonizing choice in this situation. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself culminating in a single ridiculous instant. An element of Nate's story is focused on the reality that he’s insecure of his physical appearance and manhood. Each instance he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a hard reminder of what he fails to be. Attempting The Obstacle could be a instance where he can demonstrate that he’s as able as his imagined opponent, but that road is bound to be paved with more embarrassing pratfalls. Is it worth striving just to make a statement?

The steps, on the other hand, give Nate another big moment to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The player has no choice in whether or not they reject navigation help, but they can choose to give Nate a break and take the stairs. It should be an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps is devilishly clever about making you feel paranoid whenever you see a simple solution. The environment includes intentional pitfalls that turn a safe route into a obstacle instantly. Are the stairs one more trick? Might Nate arrive all the way to the top just to be fooled by some last-second gag? And more concerning, is he willing to be emasculated once again by being compelled to refer to an odd character as Lord?

No Correct Answer

The beauty of that moment is that there’s no correct or incorrect choice. Each path brings about a authentic instance of protagonist evolution and catharsis for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Challenge, it’s an existential win. Nate at last receives a moment to show that he’s as competent as anyone else, consciously choosing a difficult route rather than suffering through one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s difficult, and possibly risky, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he requires.

But there’s no embarrassment in the staircase either. To choose that path is to at last permit Nate to accept help. And when he does so, he discovers 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 won't slip to the bottom if he stumbles. It’s a simple climb after extended challenges. Midway through, he even has a discussion with the trekker who has, naturally, selected The Challenge. He attempts to act casual, but you can see that he’s exhausted, subtly ruing the needless difficulty. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to fulfill his obligation, hailing his new Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so nasty. Who has concern for humiliation by this odd character?

My Choice

When I played, I opted for the stairs. Part of me just {wanted to call