Baby Steps Features One of the Most Impactful Decisions I've Ever Experienced in Video Games

I've faced some challenging decisions in gaming. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange series remain on my mind. Ghost of Tsushima's final sequence led me to put my controller down for several minutes while I weighed my choices. I am responsible for countless Krogan fatalities in Mass Effect that I would love to reverse. None of those moments compare to what now might be the toughest selection I've faced in gaming — and it has to do with a giant staircase.

The Game Baby Steps, the recent title from the creators of Ape Out, is hardly a decision-focused experience. Certainly not in the conventional way. You only need to walk around a sprawling open world as the main character Nate, a adult in a onesie who can struggle to remain on his shaky limbs. It appears to be one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps game’s appeal is in its deceptively impactful story that will sneak up on you when you’re least expecting it. There’s no moment that demonstrates that power like a pivotal decision that I keep reflecting on.

Alert: Spoilers

Some scene setting is necessary here. Baby Steps game begins as Nate is magically whisked away from his family's basement and into a fantasy world. He quickly discovers that walking through it is a challenge, as a long time spent as a sedentary person have weakened his muscles. The physical comedy of it all comes from players controlling Nate one step at a time, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

Nate requires assistance, but he has trouble voicing that to others. During his adventure, he comes in contact with a cast of eccentric characters in the world who all offer to assist him. A composed outdoorsman seeks to provide Nate a guide, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s funniest instant. When he plunges into an inescapable pit and is presented with a ladder, he strives to appear nonchalant like he requires no assistance and genuinely desires to be trapped in the pit. During the narrative, you experience no shortage of annoying scenarios where Nate makes life harder for himself because he’s too insecure to take support.

The Ultimate Choice

Everything builds up in Baby Steps’s single genuine instance of choice. As Nate nears the end his adventure, he discovers that he must reach the summit of a snow-capped peak. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) appears to let him know that there are two routes to the top. If he’s up for a challenge, he can choose a very lengthy and hazardous route named The Obstacle. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps has to offer; taking it seems inadvisable to anyone.

But there’s a second option: He can just walk up a gigantic spiral staircase in its place and reach the summit in just moments. The single stipulation? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Master” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

A Painful Choice

I am very serious when I say that this is an difficult selection in this situation. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself reaching a climax in a single ridiculous instant. Part of Nate’s journey is focused on the truth that he’s unconfident of his body and his masculinity. Each instance he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a difficult memory of everything he’s not. Attempting The Obstacle could be a moment where he can prove that he’s as competent as his unilateral competitor, but that path is likely laden with more humiliating failures. Is it justified struggling just to prove a point?

The stairs, on the contrary, give Nate another big moment to either accept or reject help. The user doesn't get to decide in if they decline guidance, but they can choose to allow Nate some relief and take the stairs. It should be an simple decision, but Baby Steps is devilishly clever about creating doubt each time you see a simple solution. The world is filled with intentional pitfalls that transform an easy path into a difficulty on a dime. Is the staircase one more trick? Will Nate get to the very summit just to be fooled by a final joke? And more troubling, is he willing to be emasculated another time by being forced to call an odd character as Lord?

No Correct Answer

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no correct or incorrect choice. Each path results in a genuine moment of personal growth and catharsis for Nate. If you decide to take on The Manbreaker, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate eventually obtains a chance to prove that he’s as capable as others, willingly taking on a difficult route rather than enduring one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s difficult, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the dose of confidence that he needs.

But there’s no shame in the steps as well. To opt for that way is to finally allow Nate to take support. And when he does, he finds that there’s no real catch awaiting him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They continue for a while, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he doesn’t slide completely down if he trips. It’s a straightforward ascent after hours of struggle. Midway through, he even has a chat with the outdoorsman who has, of course, selected The Challenge. He attempts to act casual, but you can tell that he’s fatigued, subtly ruing the unnecessary challenge. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to meet his agreement, addressing his new Master, the agreement barely appears so unpleasant. Who has concern for humiliation by this freak?

My Experience

When I played, I chose the staircase. A portion of my thinking just {wanted to call