The Game Baby Steps Features One of the Most Impactful Choices I Have Ever Encountered in Gaming

I've faced some hard decisions in video games. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange series still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima concluding moments led me to pause the game for several minutes while I weighed my alternatives. I am the cause of numerous Krogan fatalities in Mass Effect that I would love to reverse. Not a single one of those situations hold a candle to what possibly is the most difficult decision I’ve had to make in interactive media — and it involves a enormous set of steps.

The Game Baby Steps, the latest game from the developers of Ape Out, is hardly a choice-driven game. Definitely not in typical gaming terms. You must walk around a sprawling open world as the protagonist Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can hardly stay upright on his shaky limbs. It looks like one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps game’s appeal is in its deceptively impactful story that will surprise you when you’re least expecting it. There’s no moment that exemplifies that strength like one major choice that remains on my mind.

Spoiler Warning

A bit of context is required here. Baby Steps game starts when Nate is magically whisked away from the basement of his home and into a magical realm. He quickly discovers that moving around in it is a difficulty, as years spent as a sedentary person have weakened his muscles. The slapstick elements of it all arises from gamers directing Nate gradually, trying to maintain his balance.

Nate needs help, but he has trouble voicing that to others. During his adventure, he comes in contact with a group of unusual individuals in the world who all offer to assist him. A self-assured trekker attempts to offer Nate a map, but he clumsily declines in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he plunges into an unavoidable hole and is offered a ladder, he strives to appear nonchalant like he doesn’t need the help and genuinely desires to be trapped in the pit. During the narrative, you see numerous annoying scenarios where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too self-conscious to receive help.

The Defining Decision

This culminates in Baby Steps game’s key situation of selection. As Nate nears the end his quest, he realizes that he must ascend of a snow-capped peak. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) appears to let him know that there are two paths upward. If he’s prepared for difficulty, he can opt for a particularly extended and hazardous route dubbed The Obstacle. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps game includes; choosing it looks risky to any human.

But there’s a second option: He can just walk up a enormous coiled steps as an alternative and reach the summit in a few minutes. The single stipulation? He’ll have to call the groundskeeper “Sir” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

An Agonizing Decision

I am very serious when I say that this is an agonizing choice in context. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself culminating in a particularly bizarre situation. An element of Nate's story is revolves around the fact that he’s self-conscious of his body and his masculinity. Each instance he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a hard reminder of what he fails to be. Undertaking The Obstacle could be a instance where he can show that he’s as capable as his imagined opponent, but that route is sure to be paved with more awkward mishaps. Is it worth striving just to make a statement?

The steps, on the flip side, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to choose whether to take assistance or not. The gamer cannot choose in whether or not they decline guidance, but they can choose to allow Nate some relief and choose the staircase. It ought to be an simple decision, but Baby Steps is remarkably shrewd about making you feel paranoid each time you see a simple solution. The world is filled with planned obstacles that change a secure way into a obstacle suddenly. Are the stairs yet another trap? Will Nate get all the way to the top just to be disappointed by some last-second gag? And more concerning, is he willing to be emasculated another time by being compelled to refer to a strange individual as Master?

No Right or Wrong

The beauty of that moment is that there’s no perfect selection. Either one brings about a real situation of protagonist evolution and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Challenge, it’s an existential win. Nate at last receives a moment to show that he’s as competent as others, consciously choosing a difficult route rather than suffering through one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s hard, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the dose of confidence that he craves.

But there’s no embarrassment in the staircase too. To choose that path is to at last permit Nate to accept help. And when he does so, he realizes that there’s no hidden trick in store for him. The staircase is not a trick. They go on for a long time, but they’re easy to walk up and he won't slip all the way down if he trips. It’s a simple climb after lengthy difficulty. Halfway up, he even has a chat with the outdoorsman who has, of course, opted for The Challenge. He strives to appear composed, but you can tell that he’s fatigued, quietly regretting the pointless struggle. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to fulfill his obligation, hailing his new Lord, the agreement barely appears so bad. Who has energy for shame by this strange individual?

My Choice

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