The Game Baby Steps Features Among the Most Meaningful Choices I've Ever Experienced in Gaming

I've faced some hard choices in video games. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange series still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima concluding moments prompted me to pause the game for several minutes while I thought through my options. I am responsible for countless Krogan deaths in Mass Effect that I wish I could undo. Not a single one of those situations measure up to what could be the most difficult decision I've ever made in interactive media — and it has to do with a massive stairway.

The Game Baby Steps, the newest release from the makers of Ape Out, isn’t exactly a selection-based adventure. Certainly not in typical gaming terms. You simply have to walk around a sprawling open world as the main character Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can struggle to remain on his wobbly legs. It seems like an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps’s strength comes from its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will surprise you when it's most unexpected. There’s no moment that showcases that quality like a key selection that I can’t stop thinking about.

Alert: Spoilers

Some scene setting is required here. Baby Steps begins as Nate is magically whisked away from his family's basement and into a magical realm. He quickly discovers that walking through it is a struggle, as a long time spent as a couch potato have deteriorated his physical condition. The humorous physicality of it all arises from users guiding Nate step by step, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

Nate requires assistance, but he has difficulty expressing that to anyone. As he progresses, he meets a group of unusual individuals in the world who everyone tries to give him a hand. A composed outdoorsman seeks to provide Nate a map, but he clumsily declines in the game’s most hilarious scene. When he plunges into an inescapable pit and is offered a ladder, he attempts to act casual like he doesn’t need the help and truly prefers to be stuck in the hole. Throughout the story, you encounter plenty of frustrating vignettes where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too insecure to accept any assistance.

The Pivotal Moment

That comes to a head in Baby Steps game’s key situation of choice. As Nate gets close to finishing his adventure, he discovers that he must reach the summit of a frosty elevation. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) appears to let him know that there are two routes to the top. If he’s ready for a test, he can choose a very lengthy and risky path named The Challenge. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps provides; attempting it appears unwise to anyone.

But there’s a alternative choice: He can simply ascend a enormous coiled steps instead and arrive at the peak in just moments. The only caveat? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Lord” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

An Agonizing Decision

I am very serious when I say that this is an agonizing choice in the game's narrative. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself coming to a head in one absurd moment. An element of Nate's story is revolves around the truth that he’s insecure of his physique and male identity. Whenever he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a hard reminder of everything he’s not. Attempting The Manbreaker could be a moment where he can demonstrate that he’s as able as his imagined opponent, but that path is likely filled with more awkward mishaps. Is it justified suffering just to demonstrate something?

The staircase, on the flip side, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The user doesn't get to decide in about they turn away a map, but they can choose to provide Nate with respite and take the stairs. It might seem like an easy choice, but Baby Steps is exceptionally cunning about causing suspicion anytime you see a simple solution. The world is filled with design traps that transform an easy path into a difficulty instantly. Could the steps an additional deception? Could Nate reach to the very summit just to be let down by some last-second gag? And more concerning, is he willing to be emasculated yet again by being compelled to refer to some weirdo Lord?

No Right or Wrong

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no perfect selection. Both options leads to a genuine moment of personal growth and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you decide to take on The Challenge, it’s an existential win. Nate eventually obtains a chance to prove that he’s as able as anyone else, consciously choosing a difficult route rather than enduring one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s difficult, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the dose of confidence that he requires.

But there’s no embarrassment in the staircase either. To opt for that way is to at last permit Nate to take support. And when he does, he discovers that there’s no hidden trick 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 completely down if he falls. It’s a simple climb after lengthy difficulty. Partway through, he even has a discussion with the hiker who has, unsurprisingly, opted for The Obstacle. He strives to appear composed, but you can see that he’s fatigued, subtly ruing the needless difficulty. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to fulfill his obligation, calling the character Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so nasty. Who has concern for humiliation by this freak?

My Experience

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