Baby Steps Presents Among the Most Impactful Decisions I Have Ever Experienced in Gaming

I've encountered some difficult choices in gaming. Several of my selections in Life is Strange still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima's ending section led me to pause the game for several minutes while I weighed my options. I am accountable for numerous Krogan fatalities in the Mass Effect series that I would love to reverse. Not a single one of those situations measure up to what now might be the hardest choice I've faced in interactive media — and it concerns a enormous set of steps.

Baby Steps, the recent title from the developers of Ape Out, is hardly a choice-driven game. At least not in the conventional way. You must walk around a sprawling open world as the protagonist Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can barely stand on his unsteady feet. It appears to be an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps’s power lies in its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will catch you off guard when it's most unexpected. There’s not a single instance that exemplifies that strength like a key selection that remains on my mind.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

Some scene setting is necessary here. Baby Steps game starts when the protagonist is suddenly taken from the basement of his home and into a fictional universe. He soon realizes that walking through it is a challenge, as years spent as a couch potato have deteriorated his physical condition. The slapstick elements of it all arises from players controlling Nate step by step, trying to maintain his balance.

Nate needs help, but he has difficulty expressing that to other characters. During his adventure, he meets a collection of quirky personalities in the world who each propose to assist him. A self-assured trekker attempts to offer Nate a navigation aid, but he awkwardly refuses in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he drops into an trapping cavity and is offered 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 complicates his own situation because he’s too insecure to receive help.

The Ultimate Choice

That comes to a head in Baby Steps’s one true moment of selection. As Nate nears the end his journey, he finds that he must climb to the top of a snowy mountain. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) shows up to let him know that there are two ways up. If he’s prepared for difficulty, he can opt for a particularly extended and risky path named The Challenge. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps includes; attempting it appears unwise to any person.

But there’s a alternative choice: He can merely climb a gigantic spiral staircase instead and reach the summit in just moments. The single stipulation? He’ll have to address the guardian “Lord” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

A Difficult Selection

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an difficult selection in the game's narrative. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself coming to a head in a particularly bizarre situation. Part of Nate’s journey 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 difficult memory of everything he’s not. Attempting The Obstacle could be a time where he can prove that he’s as able as his one-sided rival, but that route is sure to be laden with more embarrassing pratfalls. Is it justified struggling just to prove a point?

The steps, on the other hand, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to choose whether to take assistance or not. The user doesn't get to decide in whether or not they decline guidance, but they can decide to allow Nate some relief and choose the staircase. It might seem like an easy choice, but Baby Steps is devilishly clever about making you feel paranoid anytime you encounter an easy option. The game world contains intentional pitfalls that change a secure way into a difficulty suddenly. Could the steps yet another trap? Could Nate reach all the way to the top just to be disappointed by an ending prank? And even worse, is he ready to be diminished another time by being made to address some weirdo Lord?

No Right or Wrong

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Each path leads to a authentic instance of character development and catharsis for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Obstacle, it’s an existential win. Nate eventually obtains a chance to prove that he’s as capable as others, willingly taking on a tough path rather than enduring one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s hard, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he requires.

But there’s no shame in the staircase too. To opt for that way is to at last permit Nate to accept help. And when he does so, he finds that there’s no hidden trick waiting for him. The staircase is not a trick. They extend for some distance, but they’re easy to walk up and he doesn’t slide all the way down if he stumbles. It’s a straightforward ascent after lengthy difficulty. Partway through, he even has a chat with the hiker who has, of course, selected The Obstacle. He tries to play it cool, but you can discern that he’s exhausted, subtly ruing the pointless struggle. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to pay his debt, hailing his new Lord, the deal hardly seems so nasty. Who has time to be embarrassed by this strange individual?

My Choice

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