Baby Steps Presents Among the Most Meaningful Choices I've Ever Experienced in a Game

I've dealt with some challenging choices in interactive entertainment. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima concluding moments prompted me to set down my controller for several minutes while I weighed my alternatives. I am responsible for countless Krogan demises in the Mass Effect series that I wish I could undo. None of those moments hold a candle to what could be the hardest choice I've faced in a video game — and it has to do with a enormous set of steps.

The Game Baby Steps, the recent title from the makers of Ape Out, is not really a selection-based adventure. Certainly not in typical gaming terms. You must walk around a expansive environment as the protagonist Nate, a adult in a onesie who can hardly stay upright on his unsteady feet. It appears to be an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps’s appeal is in its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will sneak up on you when it's most unexpected. There’s no moment that exemplifies that strength like one major choice that remains on my mind.

Alert: Spoilers

Some background information is needed at this point. Baby Steps starts when the protagonist is suddenly taken from his parents’ basement and into a fantasy world. He soon realizes that moving around in it is a challenge, as years spent as a couch potato have atrophied his limbs. The slapstick elements of it all arises from gamers directing Nate gradually, trying to prevent him from falling over.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has trouble voicing that to anyone. During his adventure, he comes in contact with a group of unusual individuals in the world who all offer to give him a hand. A cool, confident hiker attempts to offer Nate a navigation aid, but he clumsily declines in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he plunges into an unavoidable hole and is given a way out, he strives to appear nonchalant like he can manage alone and truly prefers to be stuck in the hole. During the narrative, you encounter plenty of frustrating vignettes where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too self-conscious to receive help.

The Pivotal Moment

This culminates in Baby Steps’s key situation of decision. As Nate approaches the conclusion his quest, he finds that he must reach the summit of a snowy mountain. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) shows up to let him know that there are two ways up. If he’s ready for a test, he can take an extremely long and dangerous hiking trail named The Challenge. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps game has to offer; attempting it appears unwise to anyone.

But there’s a second option: He can merely climb a massive winding stairs as an alternative and arrive at the peak 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.

A Painful Choice

I am completely earnest when I say that this is an difficult selection in context. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself reaching a climax in a single ridiculous instant. Part of Nate’s journey is revolves around the truth that he’s insecure of his physical appearance and manhood. Whenever he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a difficult memory of what he fails to be. Taking on The Manbreaker could be a instance where he can demonstrate that he’s as able as his one-sided rival, but that path is likely laden with more embarrassing pratfalls. Is it worth striving just to demonstrate something?

The stairs, on the flip side, give Nate another big moment to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The player has no choice in about they decline guidance, but they can choose to provide Nate with respite and opt for the steps. It might seem like an simple decision, but Baby Steps is exceptionally cunning about creating doubt anytime you encounter an easy option. The environment includes intentional pitfalls that transform an easy path into a obstacle suddenly. Are the stairs one more trick? Could Nate reach at the peak just to be let down by some last-second gag? And more troubling, is he ready to be diminished another time by being compelled to refer to a strange individual as Master?

No Perfect Choice

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Both options leads to a genuine moment of personal growth and catharsis for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Challenge, it’s an existential win. Nate eventually obtains a opportunity to demonstrate 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 difficult, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the dose of confidence that he craves.

But there’s no shame in the steps either. To opt for that way is to at last permit Nate to accept help. And when he accomplishes that, he discovers that there’s no real catch awaiting him. The staircase is not a trick. They continue for a while, but they’re easy to walk up and he does not fall completely down if he trips. It’s a straightforward ascent after hours of struggle. Partway through, he even has a discussion with the hiker who has, naturally, opted for The Manbreaker. He strives to appear composed, but you can tell that he’s exhausted, silently lamenting the unnecessary challenge. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to pay his debt, calling the character Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so unpleasant. Who has concern for humiliation by this odd character?

My Choice

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