Baby Steps Includes One of the Most Significant Choices I've Ever Experienced in a Game

I've encountered some challenging choices in gaming. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima's ending section prompted me to put my controller down for a good 10 minutes while I weighed my options. I am the cause of numerous Krogan fatalities in Mass Effect that I wish I could undo. None of those moments hold a candle to what possibly is the hardest choice I've ever made in gaming — and it involves a massive stairway.

Baby Steps, the newest release from the developers of Ape Out game, isn’t exactly a selection-based adventure. Definitely not in the conventional way. You must walk around a vast game world as the protagonist Nate, a adult in a onesie who can hardly stay upright on his unsteady feet. It looks like a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps game’s power lies in its deceptively impactful story that will catch you off guard when you least anticipate it. There’s no situation that exemplifies that strength like a pivotal decision that I can’t stop thinking about.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

Some background information is necessary here. Baby Steps starts when Nate is magically whisked away from the basement of his home and into a magical realm. He immediately finds that walking through it is a difficulty, as a long time spent as a couch potato have weakened his muscles. The physical comedy of it all arises from gamers directing Nate step by step, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

Nate needs help, but he has trouble voicing that to other characters. During his adventure, he comes in contact with a cast of eccentric characters in the world who everyone tries to assist him. A composed outdoorsman seeks to provide Nate a map, but he clumsily declines in the game’s funniest instant. When he drops into an trapping cavity and is given a way out, he strives to appear nonchalant like he requires no assistance and truly prefers to be confined in the cavity. During the narrative, you see numerous annoying scenarios where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too self-conscious to receive help.

The Pivotal Moment

This culminates in Baby Steps’s one true moment of decision. As Nate gets close to finishing his adventure, he finds that he must climb to the top of a snowy mountain. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) shows up to let him know that there are two routes to the top. If he’s prepared for difficulty, he can take an extremely long and hazardous route dubbed The Challenge. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps game includes; attempting it appears unwise to any human.

But there’s a second option: He can just walk up a enormous coiled steps in its place and get to the top in a short time. The single stipulation? He’ll have to address the guardian “Master” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

An Agonizing Decision

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an difficult selection in this situation. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself reaching a climax in a single ridiculous instant. An element of Nate's story is centered around the fact that he’s insecure of his physique and male identity. Every time he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a difficult memory of all he lacks. Taking on The Manbreaker could be a instance where he can demonstrate that he’s as competent as his unilateral competitor, but that path is likely filled with more awkward mishaps. Does it merit suffering just to prove a point?

The staircase, 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 if they reject navigation help, but they can opt to provide Nate with respite and choose the staircase. It might seem like an simple decision, but Baby Steps is devilishly clever about creating doubt each time you see a simple solution. The world is filled with intentional pitfalls that transform an easy path into a obstacle on a dime. Are the stairs one more trick? Could Nate reach all the way to the top just to be let down by a final joke? And even worse, is he ready to be diminished once again by being made to address a strange individual as Master?

No Right or Wrong

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no perfect selection. Each path results in a real situation of protagonist evolution and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Obstacle, it’s an existential win. Nate finally gets a chance to prove that he’s as capable as anyone else, voluntarily accepting a difficult route rather than enduring one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s hard, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the moment of strength that he needs.

But there’s no embarrassment in the stairs too. To choose that path is to at last permit Nate to receive assistance. And when he does, he discovers that there’s no real catch awaiting him. The staircase is not a trick. They go on for a long time, but they’re simple to climb and he won't slip all the way down if he trips. It’s a easy journey after lengthy difficulty. Midway through, he even has a conversation with the outdoorsman who has, of course, opted for The Obstacle. He tries to play it cool, but you can discern that he’s fatigued, silently lamenting the pointless struggle. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to pay his debt, hailing his new Lord, the agreement barely appears so nasty. Who has concern for humiliation by this strange individual?

My Experience

In my playthrough, I opted for the stairs. A portion of my thinking just {wanted to call