Baby Steps Presents One of the Most Meaningful Decisions I Have Ever Experienced in Video Games

I've dealt with some challenging decisions in video games. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange series continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima's ending section made me set down my controller for a good 10 minutes while I weighed my options. I am responsible for countless Krogan deaths in the Mass Effect series that I wish I could undo. Not one of those instances measure up to what possibly is the toughest selection I've faced in a video game — and it has to do with a enormous set of steps.

The Game Baby Steps, the newest release from the creators of Ape Out, is not really a choice-driven game. Definitely not in typical gaming terms. You simply have to walk around a expansive environment as the protagonist Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can barely stand on his wobbly legs. 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 no situation that demonstrates that power like a key selection that I can’t stop thinking about.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

Some background information is necessary here. Baby Steps game starts when the protagonist is suddenly taken from the basement of his home and into a magical realm. He soon realizes that moving around in it is a difficulty, as a lifetime spent as a couch potato have weakened his muscles. The humorous physicality of it all comes from gamers directing Nate gradually, trying to maintain his balance.

Nate needs help, but he has problems articulating that to other characters. As he progresses, he comes in contact with a collection of quirky personalities in the world who all offer to help him out. A cool, confident hiker attempts to offer Nate a map, but he clumsily declines in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he falls into an inescapable pit and is presented with a ladder, he strives to appear nonchalant like he doesn’t need the help and genuinely desires to be stuck in the hole. Throughout the story, you experience no shortage of frustrating vignettes where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s not confident enough to accept any assistance.

The Defining Decision

This culminates in Baby Steps game’s key situation of decision. As Nate nears the end his adventure, he realizes that he must climb to the top of a snow-capped peak. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) comes to let him know that there are two ways up. If he’s ready for a test, he can take an extremely long and hazardous route named The Manbreaker. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps game provides; attempting it appears unwise to anyone.

But there’s a second option: He can just walk up a gigantic spiral staircase as an alternative 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 the game's narrative. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself reaching a climax in a single ridiculous instant. Part of Nate’s journey is revolves around the fact that he’s self-conscious of his physique and male identity. Whenever he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a difficult memory of what he fails to be. Attempting The Challenge could be a moment where he can show that he’s as capable as his one-sided rival, but that route is sure to be filled with more embarrassing pratfalls. Does it merit suffering just to make a statement?

The stairs, on the flip side, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to choose whether to take assistance or not. The player has no choice in about they reject navigation help, but they can opt to give Nate a break and opt for the steps. It should be an simple decision, but Baby Steps game is devilishly clever about creating doubt each time you find a gift horse. The game world contains design traps that turn a safe route into a setback instantly. Are the stairs an additional deception? Might Nate arrive at the peak just to be let down by some last-second gag? And even worse, is he prepared to be humiliated yet again by being compelled to refer to an odd character as Lord?

No Correct Answer

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Each path leads to a genuine moment of protagonist evolution and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Challenge, it’s an existential win. Nate finally gets a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as capable as others, voluntarily accepting a tough path rather than enduring one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s hard, and possibly risky, but it’s the moment of strength that he craves.

But there’s no embarrassment in the staircase as well. To opt for that way is to at last permit Nate to take support. And when he does so, he realizes that there’s no real catch awaiting him. The steps are not a joke. 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 simple climb after extended challenges. Partway through, he even has a conversation with the hiker who has, unsurprisingly, selected The Obstacle. He strives to appear composed, but you can tell that he’s fatigued, subtly ruing the unnecessary challenge. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to meet his agreement, hailing his new Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so unpleasant. Who has time to be embarrassed by this strange individual?

My Experience

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