The Game Baby Steps Presents Among the Most Meaningful Choices I've Ever Faced in Video Games

I've dealt with some hard decisions in gaming. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange series still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima's final sequence led me to pause the game for a good 10 minutes while I weighed my options. I am the cause of so many Krogan fatalities in the Mass Effect series that I would love to reverse. Not one of those instances measure up to what could be the hardest choice I’ve had to make in interactive media — and it concerns a massive stairway.

The Game Baby Steps, the recent title from the makers of Ape Out, is not really a choice-driven game. Definitely not in typical gaming terms. You must walk around a sprawling open world as the main character Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can struggle to remain 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 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.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

Some background information is needed at this point. Baby Steps starts when the protagonist is suddenly taken from his family's basement and into a fictional universe. He immediately finds that navigating this world is a difficulty, as years spent as a couch potato have weakened his muscles. The humorous physicality of it all stems from gamers directing Nate gradually, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

Nate requires assistance, but he has problems articulating that to other characters. Throughout his hero’s journey, he comes in contact with a collection of quirky personalities in the world who everyone tries to give him a hand. A cool, confident hiker attempts to offer Nate a guide, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s funniest instant. When he plunges into an unavoidable hole and is offered a ladder, he tries to play it off like he can manage alone and genuinely desires to be trapped in the pit. During the narrative, you experience no shortage of annoying scenarios where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s not confident enough to take support.

The Pivotal Moment

That comes to a head in Baby Steps game’s one true moment of choice. As Nate gets close to finishing his adventure, he finds that he must climb to the top of a frosty elevation. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) appears to tell him that there are two ways up. If he’s ready for a test, he can choose a very lengthy and risky path dubbed The Challenge. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps game has to offer; taking it seems inadvisable to any person.

But there’s a second option: He can just walk up a enormous coiled steps instead and reach the summit in a few minutes. The only caveat? He’ll have to address the guardian “Sir” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

A Painful Choice

I am very serious when I say that this is an agonizing choice in the game's narrative. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself reaching a climax in one absurd moment. An element of Nate's story is revolves around the reality that he’s self-conscious of his physique and male identity. Each instance he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a painful recollection of everything he’s not. Attempting The Challenge could be a time where he can show that he’s as competent as his imagined opponent, but that route is sure to be filled with more humiliating failures. Is it worth struggling just to make a statement?

The steps, on the flip side, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to choose whether to take assistance or not. The gamer cannot choose in if they reject navigation help, but they can choose to give Nate a break and take the stairs. It ought to be an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps game is remarkably shrewd about causing suspicion each time you encounter an easy option. The world is filled with planned obstacles that transform an easy path into a setback suddenly. Could the steps an additional deception? Might Nate arrive all the way to the top just to be let down by an ending prank? And even worse, is he willing to be emasculated another time by being compelled to refer to an odd character as Lord?

No Perfect Choice

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Both options leads to a authentic instance of protagonist evolution and emotional release for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Obstacle, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate eventually obtains a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as able as others, willingly taking on a challenging way rather than struggling through one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s challenging, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he needs.

But there’s no embarrassment in the stairs as well. To choose that path is to eventually enable Nate to receive assistance. And when he accomplishes that, he realizes that there’s no real catch in store for him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They continue for a while, but they’re easy to walk up and he doesn’t slide completely down if he trips. It’s a straightforward ascent after hours of struggle. Midway through, he even has a conversation with the hiker who has, unsurprisingly, selected The Challenge. He tries to play it cool, but you can discern that he’s fatigued, subtly ruing the needless difficulty. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to meet his agreement, hailing his new Lord, the deal hardly seems so bad. Who has energy for shame by this freak?

My Experience

During my game, I opted for the stairs. Some part of my reasoning just {wanted to call