Baby Steps Includes Among the Most Meaningful Decisions I Have Ever Faced in Video Games

I've faced some challenging choices in gaming. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima's final sequence prompted me to pause the game for several minutes while I considered my options. I am responsible for countless Krogan demises 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 has to do with a massive stairway.

The Game Baby Steps, the recent title from the makers of Ape Out, isn’t exactly a choice-driven game. Definitely not in the conventional way. You simply have to navigate a sprawling open world as Nate, a adult in a onesie who can barely stand on his unsteady feet. It appears to be an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps game’s appeal is in its deceptively impactful story that will catch you off guard when you’re least expecting it. There’s no situation that demonstrates that power like a pivotal decision that I keep reflecting on.

Spoiler Warning

A bit of context is required here. Baby Steps game begins as Nate is transported from his parents’ basement and into a fantasy world. He quickly discovers that moving around in it is a challenge, as years spent as a couch potato have weakened his muscles. The slapstick elements of it all arises from users guiding Nate gradually, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

Nate needs help, but he has trouble voicing that to other characters. Throughout his hero’s journey, he meets a cast of eccentric characters in the world who each propose to give him a hand. A cool, confident hiker attempts to offer Nate a guide, but he awkwardly refuses in the game’s funniest instant. When he falls into an inescapable pit and is offered a ladder, he strives to appear nonchalant like he doesn’t need the help and actually wants to be confined in the cavity. During the narrative, you experience no shortage of frustrating vignettes where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too insecure to take support.

The Pivotal Moment

This culminates in Baby Steps’s key situation of choice. As Nate gets close to finishing his adventure, he discovers that he must reach the summit of a snow-capped peak. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) comes to tell him that there are two paths upward. If he’s prepared for difficulty, he can take an extremely long and dangerous hiking trail dubbed The Manbreaker. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps game provides; choosing it looks risky to any human.

But there’s a second option: He can just walk up a gigantic spiral staircase instead and get to the top in a few minutes. The only caveat? He’ll have to call the groundskeeper “Lord” from now on if he takes the easy route.

A Painful Choice

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an difficult selection in the game's narrative. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself reaching a climax in a single ridiculous instant. Part of Nate’s journey is focused on the fact that he’s unconfident of his body and his masculinity. Each instance he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a hard reminder of all he lacks. Undertaking The Manbreaker could be a moment where he can prove that he’s as capable as his imagined opponent, but that route is sure to be laden with more humiliating failures. Is it worth striving just to make a statement?

The staircase, on the other hand, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to choose whether to take assistance or not. The player has no choice in whether or not they turn away a map, but they can opt to give Nate a break and opt for the steps. It ought to be an simple decision, but Baby Steps game is remarkably shrewd about making you feel paranoid whenever you find a gift horse. The environment includes planned obstacles that transform an easy path into a difficulty suddenly. Could the steps one more trick? Could Nate reach to the very summit just to be disappointed by a final joke? And more concerning, is he willing to be emasculated once again by being forced to call some weirdo Lord?

No Right or Wrong

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no correct or incorrect choice. Each path brings about a genuine moment of character development and emotional release for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Challenge, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate finally gets a chance to prove that he’s as competent as anyone else, willingly taking on a challenging way rather than enduring one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s challenging, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the moment of strength that he requires.

But there’s no shame in the stairs either. To choose that path is to finally allow Nate to receive assistance. And when he does so, he realizes that there’s no hidden trick awaiting him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They extend for some distance, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he doesn’t slide all the way down if he trips. It’s a easy journey after lengthy difficulty. Partway through, he even has a chat with the outdoorsman who has, of course, selected The Manbreaker. He attempts to act casual, but you can tell that he’s worn out, quietly regretting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to fulfill his obligation, calling the character Lord, the deal hardly seems so nasty. Who has concern for humiliation by this freak?

Personal Reflection

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