Baby Steps Features Among the Most Impactful Choices I Have Ever Experienced in Gaming

I've dealt with some difficult choices in interactive entertainment. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange series continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima final sequence led me to set down my controller for around ten minutes while I weighed my options. I am accountable for countless Krogan deaths in the Mass Effect series that I regret deeply. Not a single one of those situations compare to what possibly is the hardest choice I’ve had to make in interactive media — and it has to do with a enormous set of steps.

The Game Baby Steps, the latest game from the developers of Ape Out game, is not really a decision-focused experience. At least not in typical gaming terms. You must navigate a vast game world as Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can struggle to remain on his unsteady feet. It seems like one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps’s appeal is in its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will surprise you when you least anticipate it. There’s not a single instance that showcases that quality like one major choice that I keep reflecting on.

Spoiler Warning

Some scene setting is required here. Baby Steps starts when Nate is magically whisked away from the basement of his home and into a fantasy world. He immediately finds that moving around in it is a difficulty, as a long time spent as a couch potato have atrophied his limbs. The humorous physicality of it all stems from gamers directing Nate step by step, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has difficulty expressing that to other characters. Throughout his hero’s journey, he meets a group of unusual individuals in the world who each propose to assist him. A cool, confident hiker seeks to provide Nate a navigation aid, but he awkwardly refuses in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he plunges into an unavoidable hole and is offered a ladder, he attempts to act casual like he doesn’t need the help and genuinely desires to be trapped in the pit. During the narrative, you see numerous frustrating vignettes where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too self-conscious to take support.

The Defining Decision

Everything builds up in Baby Steps’s one true moment of selection. As Nate nears the end his journey, he discovers that he must ascend of a snowy mountain. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) appears to let him know that there are two routes to the top. If he’s ready for a test, he can take an extremely long and dangerous hiking trail dubbed The Obstacle. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps provides; attempting it appears unwise to any human.

But there’s a second option: He can just walk up a gigantic spiral staircase in its place and reach the summit in just moments. The sole condition? He’ll have to call the groundskeeper “Sir” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

An Agonizing Decision

I am completely earnest when I say that this is an difficult selection in the game's narrative. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself culminating in a particularly bizarre situation. 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 handsome trekker, it’s a difficult memory of all he lacks. Undertaking The Manbreaker could be a instance where he can prove that he’s as able as his one-sided rival, but that path is likely paved with more awkward mishaps. Does it merit suffering 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 player has no choice in if they turn away a map, but they can choose to provide Nate with respite and take the stairs. It should be an simple decision, but Baby Steps is remarkably shrewd about creating doubt whenever you see a simple solution. The world is filled with planned obstacles that turn a safe route into a difficulty on a dime. Could the steps an additional deception? Could Nate reach all the way to the top just to be fooled by an ending prank? And more concerning, is he willing to be emasculated once again by being compelled to refer to some weirdo Lord?

No Right or Wrong

The beauty of that moment is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Either one leads to a authentic instance of protagonist evolution and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Obstacle, it’s an personal triumph. Nate finally gets a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as capable as everyone else, voluntarily accepting a difficult route rather than struggling through one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s challenging, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the dose of confidence that he requires.

But there’s no shame in the staircase as well. To select that route is to finally allow Nate to accept help. And when he accomplishes that, he realizes that there’s no secret drawback awaiting him. The steps are not a joke. They extend for some distance, but they’re simple to climb and he does not fall completely down if he falls. It’s a simple climb after extended challenges. Midway through, he even has a discussion with the hiker who has, unsurprisingly, selected The Manbreaker. He attempts to act casual, but you can discern that he’s exhausted, quietly regretting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to pay his debt, addressing his new Master, the arrangement scarcely looks so bad. Who has time to be embarrassed by this odd character?

My Experience

In my playthrough, I chose the staircase. Part of me just {wanted to call