Baby Steps Includes One of the Most Significant Decisions I've Ever Encountered in Gaming

I've faced some hard choices in interactive entertainment. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima's ending section led me to put my controller down for around ten minutes while I weighed my alternatives. I am responsible for so many Krogan demises in Mass Effect that I regret deeply. None of those moments hold a candle to what now might be the toughest selection I’ve had to make in interactive media — and it involves a massive stairway.

Baby Steps, the recent title from the creators of Ape Out, is hardly a selection-based adventure. At least not in the conventional way. You must explore a sprawling open world as the main character Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can hardly stay upright on his shaky limbs. It seems like an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps game’s appeal is in its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will sneak up on you when you’re least expecting it. There’s no moment that exemplifies that strength like one major choice that I keep reflecting on.

Spoiler Warning

Some scene setting is required here. Baby Steps game starts when the protagonist is suddenly taken from his parents’ basement and into a magical realm. He quickly discovers that navigating this world is a difficulty, as years spent as a couch potato have deteriorated his physical condition. The slapstick elements of it all stems from users guiding Nate step by step, trying to maintain his balance.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has problems articulating that to anyone. During his adventure, he encounters a collection of quirky personalities in the world who all offer to help him out. A self-assured trekker seeks to provide Nate a guide, but he awkwardly refuses in the game’s most hilarious scene. When he drops 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 trapped in the pit. As the plot unfolds, you experience no shortage of annoying scenarios where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too self-conscious to accept any assistance.

The Pivotal Moment

This culminates in Baby Steps’s key situation of choice. As Nate nears the end his adventure, he discovers that he must ascend of a frosty elevation. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) comes to tell him 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 provides; choosing it looks risky to any human.

But there’s a alternative choice: He can simply ascend a massive winding stairs in its place and get to the top in a few minutes. The single stipulation? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Lord” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

A Painful Choice

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an agonizing choice in this situation. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself culminating in one absurd moment. A portion of Nate's adventure is revolves around the reality that he’s self-conscious of his body and his masculinity. Each instance he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a painful recollection of what he fails to be. Undertaking The Manbreaker could be a instance where he can show that he’s as capable as his imagined opponent, but that road is bound to be laden with more humiliating failures. Does it merit striving just to demonstrate something?

The stairs, on the flip side, give Nate another big moment to either accept or reject help. The player has no choice in whether or not they turn away a map, but they can choose to provide Nate with respite and choose the staircase. It should be an easy choice, but Baby Steps game is devilishly clever about causing suspicion whenever you encounter an easy option. The environment includes design traps that transform an easy path into a difficulty suddenly. Are the stairs an additional deception? Will Nate get at the peak just to be disappointed by some last-second gag? And more concerning, is he prepared to be humiliated once again by being compelled to refer to an odd character as Lord?

No Perfect Choice

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no perfect selection. Both options brings about a genuine moment of protagonist evolution and emotional release for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Obstacle, it’s an existential win. Nate eventually obtains a moment to show that he’s as competent as everyone else, willingly taking on a difficult route rather than enduring one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s challenging, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the moment of strength that he needs.

But there’s no disgrace in the stairs as well. To select that route is to eventually enable Nate to accept help. And when he accomplishes that, he discovers that there’s no hidden trick awaiting him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They go on for a long time, but they’re easy to walk up and he won't slip to the bottom if he falls. It’s a straightforward ascent after extended challenges. Partway through, he even has a discussion with the trekker who has, of course, opted for The Challenge. He attempts to act casual, but you can see that he’s exhausted, subtly ruing the needless difficulty. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to pay his debt, calling the character Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so bad. Who has energy for shame by this freak?

Personal Reflection

When I played, I selected the steps. Part of me just {wanted to call