The Game Baby Steps Features One of the Most Meaningful Decisions I've Ever Experienced in Video Games

I've faced some challenging choices in video games. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange series still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima concluding moments led me to put my controller down for a good 10 minutes while I weighed my choices. I am accountable for countless Krogan deaths in Mass Effect that I regret deeply. Not a single one of those situations measure up to what now might be the toughest selection I've faced in gaming — and it involves a massive stairway.

Baby Steps, the recent title from the developers of Ape Out, is not really a selection-based adventure. At least not in any traditional sense. You must navigate a vast game world as the main character Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can barely stand on his shaky limbs. It appears to be one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps’s power lies in its deceptively impactful story that will sneak up on you when you least anticipate it. There’s not a single instance that showcases that quality like a pivotal decision that I keep reflecting on.

Spoiler Warning

A bit of context is needed at this point. Baby Steps game starts when the protagonist is suddenly taken from his parents’ basement and into a fictional universe. He immediately finds that walking through it is a difficulty, as a long time spent as a sedentary person have atrophied his limbs. The humorous physicality of it all comes from players controlling Nate step by step, trying to prevent him from falling over.

Nate needs help, but he has trouble voicing that to anyone. As he progresses, he encounters a group of unusual individuals in the world who each propose to assist him. A self-assured trekker attempts to offer Nate a navigation aid, but he awkwardly refuses in the game’s funniest instant. When he falls into an trapping cavity and is presented with a ladder, he attempts to act casual like he can manage alone and truly prefers to be confined in the cavity. Throughout the story, you experience no shortage of irritating episodes where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too insecure to take support.

The Pivotal Moment

This culminates in Baby Steps game’s key situation of decision. As Nate approaches the conclusion his journey, he realizes that he must reach the summit of a snowy mountain. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) shows up to inform him that there are two ways up. If he’s ready for a test, he can opt for a particularly extended and risky path dubbed The Obstacle. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps includes; taking it seems inadvisable to any human.

But there’s a other possibility: He can just walk up a massive winding stairs in its place and reach the summit in a short time. The single stipulation? He’ll have to address the guardian “Master” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

A Difficult Selection

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an difficult selection in this situation. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself culminating in a single ridiculous instant. A portion of Nate's adventure is revolves around the truth that he’s unconfident of his physique and male identity. Whenever he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a painful recollection of what he fails to be. Undertaking The Obstacle could be a moment where he can show that he’s as competent as his unilateral competitor, but that route is sure to be laden with more embarrassing pratfalls. Is it justified striving just to make a statement?

The stairs, on the flip side, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to either accept or reject help. The gamer cannot choose in about they turn away a map, but they can choose to give Nate a break and opt for the steps. It should be an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps is exceptionally cunning about making you feel paranoid each time you find a gift horse. The game world contains intentional pitfalls that transform an easy path into a difficulty instantly. Are the stairs one more trick? Will Nate get at the peak just to be disappointed by a final joke? And even worse, is he willing to be emasculated another time by being made to address a strange individual as Master?

No Right or Wrong

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no perfect selection. Each path leads to a authentic instance of personal growth and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Obstacle, it’s an existential win. Nate eventually obtains a chance to prove that he’s as competent as others, consciously choosing a challenging way rather than enduring one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s difficult, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the dose of confidence that he needs.

But there’s no shame in the steps either. To select that route is to finally allow Nate to take support. And when he does so, he discovers that there’s no secret drawback in store for him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They extend for some distance, but they’re easy to walk up and he doesn’t slide all the way down if he falls. It’s a straightforward ascent after hours of struggle. Halfway up, he even has a discussion with the hiker who has, naturally, chosen to take The Obstacle. He tries to play it cool, but you can discern that he’s exhausted, quietly regretting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to meet his agreement, addressing his new Master, the arrangement scarcely looks so bad. Who has concern for humiliation by this strange individual?

Personal Reflection

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