The Game Baby Steps Features One of the Most Meaningful Decisions I've Ever Faced in Video Games

I've faced some difficult choices in interactive entertainment. Several of my selections in Life is Strange series remain on my mind. Ghost of Tsushima final sequence made me set down my controller for several minutes while I weighed my alternatives. I am the cause of so many Krogan deaths in Mass Effect that I regret deeply. None of those moments measure up to what possibly is the hardest choice I’ve had to make in gaming — and it concerns a massive stairway.

The Game Baby Steps, the latest game from the developers of Ape Out, is hardly a choice-driven game. Certainly not in typical gaming terms. You only need to navigate a vast game world as the main character Nate, a adult in a onesie who can struggle to remain on his shaky limbs. It appears to be a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps game’s strength comes from its deceptively impactful story that will surprise you when it's most unexpected. There’s no situation that exemplifies that strength like one major choice that I can’t stop thinking about.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

Some background information is necessary here. Baby Steps begins as the protagonist is suddenly taken from his family's basement and into a fictional universe. He immediately finds that moving around in it is a difficulty, as years spent as a couch potato have deteriorated his physical condition. The physical comedy of it all comes from users guiding Nate gradually, trying to prevent him from falling over.

Nate needs help, but he has difficulty expressing that to others. Throughout his hero’s journey, he encounters a group of unusual individuals in the world who everyone tries to assist him. A self-assured trekker seeks to provide Nate a map, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he plunges into an trapping cavity and is given a way out, he tries to play it off like he doesn’t need the help and truly prefers to be trapped in the pit. Throughout the story, you encounter plenty of annoying scenarios where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too insecure to receive help.

The Defining Decision

This culminates in Baby Steps game’s key situation of selection. As Nate nears the end his adventure, he realizes that he must ascend of a snow-capped peak. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) comes to tell him that there are two paths upward. If he’s ready for a test, he can take an extremely long and hazardous route named The Manbreaker. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps provides; taking it seems inadvisable to any human.

But there’s a second option: He can just walk up a massive winding stairs instead and get to the top in a few minutes. The sole condition? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Lord” from now on if he takes the easy route.

A Painful Choice

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an painful decision in context. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself coming to a head in one absurd moment. A portion of Nate's adventure is centered around the truth that he’s self-conscious of his physical appearance and manhood. Every time he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a hard reminder of what he fails to be. Undertaking The Obstacle could be a time where he can demonstrate that he’s as able as his unilateral competitor, but that path is likely filled with more humiliating failures. Is it justified striving just to demonstrate something?

The steps, on the other hand, give Nate another big moment to choose whether to take assistance or not. The user doesn't get to decide in whether or not they turn away a map, but they can opt to give Nate a break and take the stairs. It might seem like an easy choice, but Baby Steps game is remarkably shrewd about creating doubt whenever you encounter an easy option. The game world contains intentional pitfalls that change a secure way into a obstacle on a dime. Are the stairs one more trick? Could Nate reach all the way to the top just to be disappointed by a final joke? And more troubling, is he ready to be diminished yet again by being compelled to refer to some weirdo Lord?

No Perfect Choice

The beauty of that moment is that there’s no correct or incorrect choice. Each path leads to a real situation of protagonist evolution and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Obstacle, it’s an personal triumph. Nate eventually obtains a moment to show that he’s as capable as anyone else, voluntarily accepting a difficult route rather than suffering through one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s difficult, and possibly risky, but it’s the moment of strength that he requires.

But there’s no embarrassment in the steps as well. To select that route is to eventually enable Nate to receive assistance. And when he does so, he discovers that there’s no secret drawback awaiting him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They go on for a long time, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he does not fall all the way down if he stumbles. It’s a straightforward ascent after lengthy difficulty. Midway through, he even has a discussion with the outdoorsman who has, of course, selected The Challenge. He attempts to act casual, but you can tell that he’s worn out, subtly ruing the needless difficulty. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to pay his debt, hailing his new Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so nasty. Who has concern for humiliation by this odd character?

Personal Reflection

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