Baby Steps Presents One of the Most Meaningful Decisions I Have Ever Faced in a Game

I've faced some challenging decisions in interactive entertainment. Several of my selections in Life is Strange series continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima ending section led me to pause the game for around ten minutes while I thought through my alternatives. I am responsible for numerous Krogan deaths in the Mass Effect series that I regret deeply. Not one of those instances measure up to what possibly is the most difficult decision I've faced in a video game — and it concerns a massive stairway.

Baby Steps, the newest release from the developers of Ape Out, is hardly a decision-focused experience. At least not in typical gaming terms. You only need to walk around a vast game world as the main character Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can struggle to remain on his wobbly legs. It looks like a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps game’s strength comes from its deceptively impactful story that will catch you off guard when it's most unexpected. There’s no situation that exemplifies that strength like one major choice that remains on my mind.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

A bit of context is required here. Baby Steps game starts when the protagonist is suddenly taken from the basement of his home and into a fantasy world. He immediately finds that moving around in it is a struggle, as years spent as a sedentary person have deteriorated his physical condition. The physical comedy of it all stems from players controlling Nate one step at a time, trying to maintain his balance.

Nate needs help, but he has difficulty expressing that to others. As he progresses, he comes in contact with a cast of eccentric characters in the world who each propose to help him out. A cool, confident hiker tries to give Nate a navigation aid, but he clumsily declines in the game’s most hilarious scene. When he drops into an trapping cavity and is offered a ladder, he tries to play it off like he requires no assistance and genuinely desires to be trapped in the pit. As the plot unfolds, you experience no shortage of irritating episodes where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s not confident enough to accept any assistance.

The Defining Decision

This culminates in Baby Steps’s key situation of choice. As Nate approaches the conclusion his quest, he realizes that he must climb to the top of a snowy mountain. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) shows up to tell him that there are two routes to the top. If he’s prepared for difficulty, he can opt for a particularly extended and dangerous hiking trail named The Manbreaker. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps has to offer; choosing it looks risky to any person.

But there’s a other possibility: He can simply ascend a gigantic spiral staircase as an alternative and arrive at the peak in a few minutes. The single stipulation? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Master” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

A Painful Choice

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an agonizing choice in the game's narrative. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself reaching a climax in a particularly bizarre situation. An element of Nate's story 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 Obstacle could be a moment where he can prove that he’s as competent as his imagined opponent, but that path is likely filled with more awkward mishaps. Does it merit struggling just to prove a point?

The stairs, on the contrary, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to choose whether to take assistance or not. The player has no choice in whether or not they turn away a map, but they can choose to allow Nate some relief and choose the staircase. It ought to be an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps is exceptionally cunning about making you feel paranoid whenever you see a simple solution. The world is filled with intentional pitfalls that transform an easy path into a difficulty suddenly. Is the staircase one more trick? Will Nate get to the very summit just to be fooled by some last-second gag? And more troubling, is he willing to be emasculated yet again by being forced to call an odd character as Lord?

No Right or Wrong

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no correct or incorrect choice. Each path brings about a real situation of personal growth and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Manbreaker, it’s an personal triumph. Nate finally gets a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as able as everyone else, voluntarily accepting a difficult route rather than suffering through one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s hard, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the dose of confidence that he craves.

But there’s no disgrace in the steps too. To opt for that way is to finally allow Nate to accept help. And when he does so, he finds that there’s no hidden trick awaiting him. The staircase is not a trick. They extend for some distance, but they’re easy to walk up and he doesn’t slide all the way down if he trips. It’s a easy journey after hours of struggle. Partway through, he even has a chat with the trekker who has, naturally, selected The Challenge. He attempts to act casual, but you can tell that he’s fatigued, silently lamenting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to pay his debt, hailing his new Lord, the agreement barely appears so bad. Who has concern for humiliation by this freak?

My Experience

When I played, I selected the steps. Part of me just {wanted to call