The Game Baby Steps Includes One of the Most Meaningful Choices I've Ever Experienced in a Game

I've faced some difficult decisions in gaming. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima concluding moments led me to put my controller down for around ten minutes while I considered my options. I am accountable for countless Krogan demises in Mass Effect that I regret deeply. Not one of those instances hold a candle to what possibly is the toughest selection I've ever made in interactive media — and it involves a giant staircase.

Baby Steps, the newest release from the developers of Ape Out, isn’t exactly a decision-focused experience. Certainly not in any traditional sense. You must navigate a expansive environment as Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can hardly stay upright on his shaky limbs. It appears to be one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps’s power lies in its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will sneak up on you when it's most unexpected. There’s no moment that showcases that quality like a pivotal decision that remains on my mind.

Alert: Spoilers

Some background information is required here. Baby Steps starts when Nate is transported from his family's basement and into a fantasy world. He soon realizes that navigating this world is a struggle, as a lifetime spent as a sedentary person have deteriorated his physical condition. The physical comedy of it all arises from gamers directing Nate gradually, trying to prevent him from falling over.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has difficulty expressing that to other characters. Throughout his hero’s journey, he meets a cast of eccentric characters in the world who each propose to help him out. A self-assured trekker seeks to provide Nate a navigation aid, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s funniest instant. When he plunges into an unavoidable hole and is presented with a ladder, he strives to appear nonchalant like he requires no assistance and truly prefers to be confined in the cavity. During the narrative, you encounter plenty of frustrating vignettes where Nate makes life harder for himself because he’s not confident enough to take support.

The Ultimate Choice

This culminates in Baby Steps’s one true moment of decision. As Nate nears the end his adventure, he finds that he must ascend of a frosty elevation. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) comes to tell him that there are two ways up. If he’s ready for a test, he can opt for a particularly extended and dangerous hiking trail named The Obstacle. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps has to offer; taking it seems inadvisable to any human.

But there’s a second option: He can simply ascend a massive winding stairs as an alternative and arrive at the peak in a few minutes. The single stipulation? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Sir” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

A Difficult Selection

I am very serious when I say that this is an painful decision in this situation. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself coming to a head in a particularly bizarre situation. An element of Nate's story is centered around the truth that he’s self-conscious of his physique and male identity. Every time he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a painful recollection of what he fails to be. Taking on The Manbreaker could be a time where he can demonstrate that he’s as competent as his unilateral competitor, but that path is likely laden with more embarrassing pratfalls. Is it worth striving just to prove a point?

The staircase, on the other hand, give Nate another big moment to choose whether to take assistance or not. The gamer cannot choose in if they reject navigation help, but they can choose to give Nate a break and take the stairs. It should be an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps is remarkably shrewd about causing suspicion whenever you find a gift horse. The world is filled with intentional pitfalls that change a secure way into a setback instantly. Are the stairs one more trick? Will Nate get at the peak just to be disappointed by a final joke? And more concerning, is he prepared to be humiliated another time by being compelled to refer to a strange individual as Master?

No Right or Wrong

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Both options leads to a real situation of personal growth and emotional release for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Obstacle, it’s an existential win. Nate at last receives a chance to prove that he’s as able as others, consciously choosing a difficult route rather than enduring one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s challenging, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the moment of strength that he craves.

But there’s no shame in the staircase too. To select that route is to finally allow Nate to accept help. And when he does so, he finds that there’s no hidden trick awaiting him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They extend for some distance, but they’re easy to walk up and he does not fall to the bottom if he trips. It’s a easy journey after hours of struggle. Halfway up, he even has a chat with the trekker who has, unsurprisingly, selected The Obstacle. He tries to play it cool, but you can see that he’s worn out, quietly regretting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to meet his agreement, hailing his new Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so unpleasant. Who has concern for humiliation by this odd character?

My Choice

In my playthrough, I opted for the stairs. Some part of my reasoning just {wanted to call