Baby Steps Presents One of the Most Significant Decisions I Have Ever Encountered in Video Games

I've dealt with some challenging decisions in video games. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima final sequence led me to put my controller down for several minutes while I weighed my choices. I am responsible for countless Krogan deaths in the Mass Effect series that I regret deeply. Not a single one of those situations measure up to what possibly is the most difficult decision I've faced in a video game — and it involves a enormous set of steps.

The Game Baby Steps, the latest game from the creators of Ape Out, is hardly a selection-based adventure. At least not in any traditional sense. You must navigate a sprawling open world as the protagonist Nate, a adult in a onesie who can hardly stay upright on his shaky limbs. It seems like one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps’s strength comes from its deceptively impactful story that will sneak up on you when you least anticipate it. There’s not a single instance that demonstrates that power like a key selection that I can’t stop thinking about.

Spoiler Warning

A bit of context is necessary here. Baby Steps game starts when Nate is magically whisked away from the basement of his home and into a magical realm. He quickly discovers that walking through it is a difficulty, as years spent as a inactive individual have deteriorated his physical condition. The physical comedy of it all comes from players controlling Nate step by step, trying to maintain his balance.

Nate needs help, but he has problems articulating that to anyone. During his adventure, he encounters a collection of quirky personalities in the world who everyone tries to give him a hand. A self-assured trekker attempts to offer Nate a map, but he clumsily declines in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he plunges into an inescapable pit and is given a way out, he strives to appear nonchalant like he can manage alone and genuinely desires to be trapped in the pit. During the narrative, you see numerous irritating episodes where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too insecure to receive help.

The Defining Decision

This culminates in Baby Steps’s key situation of choice. As Nate gets close to finishing his adventure, he realizes that he must climb to the top of a snowy mountain. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) shows up to tell him that there are two ways up. If he’s ready for a test, he can take an extremely long and hazardous route called The Obstacle. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps provides; taking it seems inadvisable to any person.

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 call the groundskeeper “Lord” from now on if he takes the easy route.

A Painful Choice

I am very serious when I say that this is an difficult selection in this situation. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself reaching a climax in a particularly bizarre situation. 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 dashing hiker, it’s a difficult memory of everything he’s not. Undertaking The Obstacle could be a moment where he can demonstrate that he’s as competent as his imagined opponent, but that route is sure to be laden with more awkward mishaps. Does it merit suffering just to demonstrate something?

The steps, on the contrary, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to choose whether to take assistance or not. The user doesn't get to decide in whether or not they reject navigation help, but they can opt to provide Nate with respite and choose the staircase. It should be an easy choice, but Baby Steps is exceptionally cunning about causing suspicion each time you find a gift horse. The game world contains planned obstacles that change a secure way into a setback instantly. Is the staircase yet another trap? Might Nate arrive at the peak just to be fooled by a final joke? And even worse, is he prepared to be humiliated yet again by being made to address an odd character as Lord?

No Correct Answer

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no correct or incorrect choice. Either one results in a real situation of personal growth and emotional release for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Obstacle, it’s an existential win. Nate eventually obtains a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as able as anyone else, willingly taking on a difficult route rather than struggling through one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s hard, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the dose of confidence that he requires.

But there’s no disgrace in the steps too. To select that route is to at last permit Nate to receive assistance. And when he does, he discovers that there’s no secret drawback awaiting him. The steps are not a joke. They extend for some distance, but they’re easy to walk up and he doesn’t slide completely down if he stumbles. It’s a simple climb after hours of struggle. Halfway up, he even has a chat with the outdoorsman who has, unsurprisingly, chosen to take The Manbreaker. He strives to appear composed, but you can discern that he’s exhausted, silently lamenting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to pay his debt, addressing his new Master, the arrangement scarcely looks so bad. Who has concern for humiliation by this odd character?

Personal Reflection

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