Baby Steps Presents One of the Most Significant Choices I Have Ever Faced in Gaming

I've encountered some hard decisions in video games. Several of my selections in Life is Strange series remain on my mind. Ghost of Tsushima final sequence prompted me to pause the game for several minutes while I thought through my options. I am accountable for so many Krogan fatalities in Mass Effect that I would love to reverse. None of those moments measure up to what now might be the toughest selection I've faced in gaming — and it concerns a massive stairway.

Baby Steps, the recent title from the developers of Ape Out, is hardly a choice-driven game. Certainly not in the conventional way. You must walk around a expansive environment as the protagonist Nate, a adult in a onesie who can struggle to remain on his unsteady feet. It seems like a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps’s appeal is in its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will sneak up on you when you least anticipate it. There’s no moment that exemplifies that strength like one major choice that I keep reflecting on.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

Some background information is required here. Baby Steps game begins as Nate is magically whisked away from his family's basement and into a fantasy world. He quickly discovers that navigating this world is a challenge, as years spent as a couch potato have atrophied his limbs. The slapstick elements of it all stems from players controlling Nate step by step, trying to maintain his balance.

Nate requires assistance, but he has trouble voicing that to anyone. Throughout his hero’s journey, he meets a collection of quirky personalities in the world who each propose to help him out. A composed outdoorsman tries to give Nate a guide, but he awkwardly refuses in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he plunges into an inescapable pit and is given a way out, he tries to play it off like he requires no assistance and genuinely desires to be trapped in the pit. Throughout the story, you see numerous irritating episodes where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too self-conscious to take support.

The Ultimate Choice

This culminates in Baby Steps game’s key situation of choice. As Nate gets close to finishing his adventure, he discovers that he must climb to the top of a snow-capped peak. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) comes to inform him that there are two ways up. If he’s up for a challenge, he can choose a very lengthy and hazardous route named The Challenge. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps game includes; attempting it appears unwise to any person.

But there’s a alternative choice: He can simply ascend a enormous coiled steps as an alternative and reach the summit in just moments. The sole condition? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Master” from now on if he takes the easy route.

A Painful Choice

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an painful decision in the game's narrative. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself culminating in a particularly bizarre situation. Part of Nate’s journey is centered around the reality that he’s self-conscious of his physical appearance and manhood. Each instance he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a hard reminder of all he lacks. Attempting The Challenge could be a instance where he can demonstrate that he’s as capable as his one-sided rival, but that route is sure to be laden with more humiliating failures. Does it merit striving just to prove a point?

The steps, on the contrary, 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 decide to provide Nate with respite and choose the staircase. It might seem like an easy choice, but Baby Steps is devilishly clever about causing suspicion whenever you see a simple solution. The game world contains planned obstacles that transform an easy path into a difficulty instantly. Is the staircase one more trick? Might Nate arrive to the very summit just to be let down by an ending prank? And more concerning, is he ready to be diminished once again by being made to address some weirdo Lord?

No Correct Answer

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Either one brings about a genuine moment of protagonist evolution and catharsis for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Challenge, it’s an personal triumph. Nate at last receives a chance to prove that he’s as capable as everyone else, willingly taking on a difficult route rather than struggling through one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s hard, and possibly risky, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he requires.

But there’s no embarrassment in the staircase as well. To choose that path is to eventually enable Nate to accept help. And when he accomplishes that, he realizes that there’s no real catch awaiting him. The staircase is not a trick. They continue for a while, but they’re simple to climb and he does not fall to the bottom if he stumbles. It’s a straightforward ascent after lengthy difficulty. Midway through, he even has a conversation with the outdoorsman who has, of course, selected The Challenge. He attempts to act casual, but you can discern that he’s fatigued, quietly regretting the pointless struggle. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to pay his debt, addressing his new Master, the deal hardly seems so nasty. Who has energy for shame by this freak?

My Choice

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