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

I've faced some challenging choices in interactive entertainment. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange remain on my mind. Ghost of Tsushima concluding moments prompted me to set down my controller for around ten minutes while I weighed my options. I am responsible for so many Krogan deaths in Mass Effect that I wish I could undo. None of those moments hold a candle to what possibly is the toughest selection I've ever made in gaming — and it concerns a giant staircase.

Baby Steps, the latest game from the makers of Ape Out game, isn’t exactly a decision-focused experience. At least not in typical gaming terms. You only need to explore a expansive environment as the protagonist Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can struggle to remain on his wobbly legs. It appears to be an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps’s strength comes from its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will catch you off guard when you least anticipate it. There’s not a single instance that showcases that quality like a pivotal decision that remains on my mind.

Spoiler Warning

Some background information is needed at this point. Baby Steps starts when Nate is transported from his parents’ basement and into a fantasy world. He quickly discovers that walking through it is a struggle, as years spent as a inactive individual have atrophied his limbs. The physical comedy of it all stems from gamers directing Nate step by step, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has difficulty expressing that to other characters. Throughout his hero’s journey, he comes in contact with a group of unusual individuals in the world who each propose to assist him. A composed outdoorsman tries to give Nate a map, but he awkwardly refuses in the game’s funniest instant. When he falls into an trapping cavity and is presented with a ladder, he attempts to act casual like he can manage alone and actually wants to be trapped in the pit. As the plot unfolds, you experience no shortage of frustrating vignettes where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too insecure to receive help.

The Pivotal Moment

That comes to a head in Baby Steps game’s one true moment of decision. As Nate gets close to finishing his journey, he realizes that he must climb to the top of a snow-capped peak. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) appears to inform him that there are two routes to the top. If he’s up for a challenge, he can take an extremely long and risky path dubbed The Manbreaker. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps includes; taking it seems inadvisable to any human.

But there’s a second option: He can merely climb a enormous coiled steps in its place and reach the summit in just moments. The sole condition? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Sir” from now on if he takes the easy route.

An Agonizing Decision

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an painful decision in this situation. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself reaching a climax in one absurd moment. An element of Nate's story is focused on the fact that he’s insecure of his physical appearance and manhood. Each instance he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a difficult memory of what he fails to be. Undertaking The Manbreaker could be a moment where he can prove that he’s as able as his imagined opponent, but that road is bound to be filled with more awkward mishaps. Does it merit striving just to prove a point?

The stairs, on the contrary, give Nate another big moment to either accept or reject help. The player has no choice in whether or not they turn away a map, but they can choose to give Nate a break and take the stairs. It should be an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps is exceptionally cunning about making you feel paranoid each time you encounter an easy option. The environment includes design traps that turn a safe route into a difficulty on a dime. Is the staircase one more trick? Might Nate arrive at the peak just to be let down by a final joke? And more troubling, 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 right or wrong answer. Either one brings about a genuine moment of protagonist evolution and emotional release for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Challenge, it’s an existential win. Nate finally gets a moment to show that he’s as competent as everyone else, voluntarily accepting a difficult route rather than enduring one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s hard, and possibly risky, but it’s the dose of confidence that he requires.

But there’s no shame in the stairs either. To choose that path is to finally allow Nate to accept help. And when he accomplishes that, he realizes that there’s no secret drawback awaiting him. The staircase is not a trick. They extend for some distance, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he does not fall completely down if he trips. It’s a simple climb after lengthy difficulty. Halfway up, he even has a chat with the outdoorsman who has, of course, opted for The Obstacle. He tries to play it cool, but you can see that he’s fatigued, silently lamenting the unnecessary challenge. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to fulfill his obligation, hailing his new Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so unpleasant. Who has energy for shame by this strange individual?

My Choice

In my playthrough, I chose the staircase. Part of me just {wanted to call