Baby Steps Includes One of the Most Meaningful Choices I Have Ever Faced in a Game

I've encountered some hard decisions in gaming. Several of my selections in Life is Strange series remain on my mind. Ghost of Tsushima ending section led me to pause the game for a good 10 minutes while I thought through my choices. I am the cause of so many Krogan demises in the Mass Effect series that I wish I could undo. Not one of those instances hold a candle to what now might be the hardest choice I've faced in a video game — and it concerns a giant staircase.

The Game Baby Steps, the recent title from the creators of Ape Out, is not really a selection-based adventure. At least not in the conventional way. You only need to walk around a sprawling open world as the main character Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can barely stand on his shaky limbs. It looks like a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps’s power lies in its surprisingly deep narrative that will surprise you when you’re least expecting it. There’s not a single instance that showcases that quality like one major choice that I keep reflecting on.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

A bit of context is required here. Baby Steps game begins as Nate is magically whisked away from his parents’ basement and into a fictional universe. He immediately finds that walking through it is a struggle, as a lifetime spent as a couch potato have weakened his muscles. The slapstick elements of it all stems from players controlling Nate one step at a time, trying to maintain his balance.

Nate needs help, but he has trouble voicing that to other characters. During his adventure, he encounters a cast of eccentric characters in the world who all offer to help him out. A composed outdoorsman seeks to provide Nate a navigation aid, but he clumsily declines in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he falls into an inescapable pit and is given a way out, he strives to appear nonchalant like he requires no assistance and genuinely desires to be confined in the cavity. As the plot unfolds, you experience no shortage of irritating episodes where Nate makes life harder for himself because he’s too insecure to accept any assistance.

The Pivotal Moment

That comes to a head in Baby Steps’s single genuine instance of choice. As Nate nears the end his adventure, he finds that he must reach the summit of a snow-capped peak. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) shows up to inform him that there are two routes to the top. If he’s prepared for difficulty, he can choose a very lengthy and dangerous hiking trail called The Challenge. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps includes; choosing it looks risky to any person.

But there’s a second option: He can merely climb a gigantic spiral staircase in its place and arrive at the peak in a short time. The single stipulation? He’ll have to address the guardian “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 difficult selection in this situation. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself coming to a head in a single ridiculous instant. An element of Nate's story is centered around the reality that he’s self-conscious of his physique and male identity. Each instance he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a painful recollection of all he lacks. Attempting The Challenge could be a moment where he can prove that he’s as capable as his unilateral competitor, but that path is likely filled with more embarrassing pratfalls. Does it merit struggling just to demonstrate something?

The stairs, on the contrary, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to either accept or reject help. The user doesn't get to decide in about they decline guidance, but they can decide to provide Nate with respite and choose the staircase. It should be an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps is exceptionally cunning about making you feel paranoid anytime you find a gift horse. The world is filled with intentional pitfalls that turn a safe route into a setback suddenly. Are the stairs an additional deception? Could Nate reach all the way to the top just to be disappointed by a final joke? And even worse, is he prepared to be humiliated once again by being made to address a strange individual as Master?

No Right or Wrong

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no correct or incorrect choice. Each path brings about a authentic instance of character development and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Challenge, it’s an personal triumph. Nate eventually obtains a moment to show that he’s as able as others, voluntarily accepting a difficult route rather than struggling through one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s difficult, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the moment of strength that he craves.

But there’s no embarrassment in the steps too. To opt for that way is to finally allow Nate to receive assistance. And when he accomplishes that, he discovers that there’s no hidden trick awaiting him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They continue for a while, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he won't slip all the way down if he falls. It’s a easy journey after lengthy difficulty. Midway through, he even has a conversation with the hiker who has, naturally, opted for The Challenge. He tries to play it cool, but you can discern that he’s fatigued, silently lamenting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to pay his debt, calling the character Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so bad. Who has concern for humiliation by this freak?

Personal Reflection

When I played, I selected the steps. Some part of my reasoning just {wanted to call