Baby Steps Presents Among the Most Meaningful Decisions I Have Ever Experienced in a Game

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's concluding moments prompted me to set down my controller for around ten minutes while I considered my options. I am responsible for so many Krogan fatalities in the Mass Effect series that I would love to reverse. Not a single one of those situations hold a candle to what could be the most difficult decision I've ever made in a video game — and it has to do with a giant staircase.

Baby Steps, the latest game from the developers of Ape Out game, isn’t exactly a selection-based adventure. Certainly not in the conventional way. You simply have to navigate a expansive environment as the protagonist Nate, a adult in a onesie who can hardly stay upright on his unsteady feet. It appears to be an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps’s strength comes from its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will sneak up on you when you least anticipate it. There’s no situation that exemplifies that strength like a key selection that remains on my mind.

Spoiler Warning

Some background information is necessary here. Baby Steps game starts when Nate is magically whisked away from his parents’ basement and into a fantasy world. He soon realizes that moving around in it is a difficulty, as years spent as a sedentary person have weakened his muscles. The humorous physicality of it all stems from players controlling Nate one step at a time, trying to maintain his balance.

Nate requires assistance, but he has difficulty expressing that to others. Throughout his hero’s journey, he meets a cast of eccentric characters in the world who all offer to give him a hand. A self-assured trekker seeks to provide Nate a navigation aid, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s funniest instant. When he plunges into an trapping cavity and is presented with a ladder, he attempts to act casual like he requires no assistance and genuinely desires to be stuck in the hole. Throughout the story, you see numerous annoying scenarios where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too insecure to take support.

The Ultimate Choice

This culminates in Baby Steps game’s one true moment of choice. As Nate approaches the conclusion his quest, he finds that he must reach the summit of a frosty elevation. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) shows up to tell him that there are two routes to the top. If he’s up for a challenge, he can opt for a particularly extended and risky path named The Obstacle. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps includes; choosing it looks risky to anyone.

But there’s a other possibility: He can just walk up a enormous coiled steps instead and get to the top in a few minutes. The single stipulation? He’ll have to call the groundskeeper “Lord” from now on if he takes the easy route.

A Difficult Selection

I am very serious when I say that this is an difficult selection in the game's narrative. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself reaching a climax in one absurd moment. Part of Nate’s journey is centered around the truth that he’s unconfident of his physique and male identity. Every time he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a hard reminder of all he lacks. Attempting The Obstacle could be a instance where he can demonstrate that he’s as capable as his unilateral competitor, but that road is bound to be paved with more embarrassing pratfalls. Is it worth striving just to prove a point?

The staircase, on the other hand, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to choose whether to take assistance or not. The user doesn't get to decide in whether or not they turn away a map, but they can decide to allow Nate some relief and take the stairs. It should be an easy choice, but Baby Steps is devilishly clever about creating doubt each time you encounter an easy option. The environment includes planned obstacles that change a secure way into a setback instantly. Are the stairs one more trick? Could Nate reach all the way to the top just to be disappointed by some last-second gag? And more troubling, is he ready to be diminished once again by being forced to call a strange individual as Master?

No Perfect Choice

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no perfect selection. Either one leads to a genuine moment of protagonist evolution and emotional release for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Manbreaker, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate finally gets a chance to prove that he’s as capable as anyone else, willingly taking on a difficult route rather than enduring one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s hard, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the moment of strength that he requires.

But there’s no disgrace in the staircase as well. To opt for that way is to at last permit Nate to receive assistance. 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 simple to climb and he does not fall to the bottom if he falls. It’s a easy journey after lengthy difficulty. Partway through, he even has a conversation with the trekker who has, naturally, opted for The Manbreaker. He tries to play it cool, but you can discern that he’s worn out, quietly regretting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to fulfill his obligation, hailing his new Lord, the agreement barely appears so unpleasant. Who has concern for humiliation by this freak?

My Experience

In my playthrough, I opted for the stairs. Part of me just {wanted to call