The Game Baby Steps Presents Among the Most Impactful Decisions I've Ever Experienced in Gaming

I've encountered some difficult choices in gaming. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima concluding moments made me set down my controller for around ten minutes while I thought through my options. I am the cause of so many Krogan demises in Mass Effect that I regret deeply. None of those moments measure up to what now might be the most difficult decision I've ever made in a video game — 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 decision-focused experience. Certainly not in the conventional way. You must explore a expansive environment as the protagonist Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can barely stand on his unsteady feet. It seems like a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps’s appeal is in its deceptively impactful story that will sneak up on you when you’re least expecting it. There’s no situation that demonstrates that power like one major choice that I keep reflecting on.

Alert: Spoilers

Some scene setting is needed at this point. Baby Steps starts when the protagonist is suddenly taken from his parents’ basement and into a magical realm. He quickly discovers that moving around in it is a struggle, as a long time spent as a couch potato have atrophied his limbs. The physical comedy of it all stems from gamers directing Nate one step at a time, trying to maintain his balance.

Nate requires assistance, but he has problems articulating that to anyone. As he progresses, he encounters a collection of quirky personalities in the world who each propose to assist him. A self-assured trekker tries to give Nate a navigation aid, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he falls into an inescapable pit and is presented with a ladder, he strives to appear nonchalant 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 creates additional difficulties because he’s too self-conscious to accept any assistance.

The Defining Decision

Everything builds up in Baby Steps’s key situation of selection. As Nate approaches the conclusion his journey, he realizes that he must reach the summit of a frosty elevation. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) shows up to let him know that there are two ways up. If he’s up for a challenge, he can take an extremely long and hazardous route named The Challenge. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps includes; choosing it looks risky to anyone.

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

A Painful Choice

I am very serious when I say that this is an difficult selection in context. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself culminating in one absurd moment. A portion of Nate's adventure is focused on the fact that he’s insecure of his body and his masculinity. Every time he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a painful recollection of everything he’s not. Attempting The Obstacle could be a moment where he can show that he’s as competent as his imagined opponent, but that route is sure to be paved with more embarrassing pratfalls. Does it merit striving just to prove a point?

The staircase, on the other hand, give Nate another big moment to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The gamer cannot choose in whether or not they turn away a map, but they can decide to allow Nate some relief and choose the staircase. It might seem like an easy choice, but Baby Steps is remarkably shrewd about making you feel paranoid whenever you see a simple solution. The game world contains planned obstacles that transform an easy path into a obstacle suddenly. Are the stairs one more trick? Will Nate get all the way to the top just to be disappointed by an ending prank? And more troubling, is he willing to be emasculated 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. Each path leads to a genuine moment of personal growth and catharsis for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Obstacle, it’s an existential win. Nate at last receives a moment to show that he’s as competent as others, consciously choosing a tough path rather than enduring one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s hard, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the moment of strength that he needs.

But there’s no shame in the steps either. To choose that path is to at last permit Nate to accept help. And when he does, 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 to the bottom if he stumbles. It’s a simple climb after lengthy difficulty. Partway through, he even has a discussion with the outdoorsman who has, unsurprisingly, chosen to take The Manbreaker. He tries to play it cool, but you can discern that he’s fatigued, silently lamenting the unnecessary challenge. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to meet his agreement, calling the character Lord, the deal hardly seems so bad. Who has time to be embarrassed by this odd character?

My Experience

In my playthrough, I chose the staircase. A portion of my thinking just {wanted to call