Baby Steps Features Among the Most Meaningful Choices I Have Ever Experienced in Video Games

I've encountered some hard choices in video games. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima's concluding moments prompted me to put my controller down for several minutes while I considered my options. I am the cause of so many Krogan fatalities in Mass Effect that I wish I could undo. Not a single one of those situations compare to what could be the hardest choice I've ever made in gaming — and it concerns a enormous set of steps.

The Game Baby Steps, the recent title from the developers of Ape Out game, is hardly a decision-focused experience. Certainly not in the conventional way. You only need to explore a expansive environment as the main character Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can barely stand on his wobbly legs. It looks like an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps’s strength comes from its surprisingly deep narrative that will surprise you when you’re least expecting it. There’s no moment that showcases that quality like a key selection that remains on my mind.

Alert: Spoilers

A bit of context is necessary here. Baby Steps begins as Nate is transported from his family's basement and into a fantasy world. He immediately finds that moving around in it is a difficulty, as years spent as a couch potato have atrophied his limbs. The humorous physicality of it all arises from players controlling Nate step by step, trying to prevent him from falling over.

Nate requires assistance, but he has problems articulating that to anyone. During his adventure, he comes in contact with a group of unusual individuals in the world who all offer to assist him. A composed outdoorsman seeks to provide Nate a map, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s funniest instant. When he plunges into an trapping cavity and is offered a ladder, he strives to appear nonchalant like he doesn’t need the help and truly prefers to be confined in the cavity. As the plot unfolds, you see numerous frustrating vignettes where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too insecure to accept any assistance.

The Pivotal Moment

This culminates in Baby Steps’s single genuine instance of selection. As Nate approaches the conclusion his adventure, he finds that he must ascend of a frosty elevation. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) comes to let him know that there are two paths upward. If he’s prepared for difficulty, he can choose a very lengthy and hazardous route called The Manbreaker. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps game includes; taking it seems inadvisable 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 just moments. The single stipulation? He’ll have to address the guardian “Lord” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

An Agonizing Decision

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an difficult selection in the game's narrative. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself reaching a climax in one absurd moment. An element of Nate's story is focused on the reality that he’s self-conscious of his physique and male identity. Each instance he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a painful recollection of what he fails to be. Undertaking The Obstacle could be a moment where he can demonstrate that he’s as able as his unilateral competitor, but that path is likely laden with more humiliating failures. Is it worth suffering just to demonstrate something?

The staircase, on the contrary, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The user doesn't get to decide in about they turn away a map, but they can choose to allow Nate some relief and choose the staircase. It should be an simple decision, but Baby Steps is exceptionally cunning about creating doubt whenever you see a simple solution. The environment includes intentional pitfalls that turn a safe route into a difficulty suddenly. Are the stairs yet another trap? Might Nate arrive all the way to the top just to be let down by a final joke? And more concerning, is he ready to be diminished once again by being made to address an odd character as Lord?

No Correct Answer

The beauty of that moment is that there’s no correct or incorrect choice. Each path leads to a authentic instance of personal growth and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Challenge, 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 suffering through one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s challenging, and possibly risky, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he craves.

But there’s no embarrassment in the steps as well. To choose that path is to eventually enable Nate to accept help. And when he does, he realizes that there’s no real catch in store for him. The staircase is not a trick. They continue for a while, but they’re simple to climb and he does not fall to the bottom if he trips. It’s a straightforward ascent after extended challenges. Partway through, he even has a conversation with the outdoorsman who has, unsurprisingly, opted for The Challenge. He tries to play it cool, but you can see that he’s worn out, subtly ruing the pointless struggle. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to pay his debt, calling the character Lord, the agreement barely appears so nasty. Who has time to be embarrassed by this odd character?

Personal Reflection

In my playthrough, I chose the staircase. Some part of my reasoning just {wanted to call