Baby Steps Presents One of the Most Meaningful Decisions I Have Ever Experienced in Video Games

I've faced some hard choices in gaming. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima ending section prompted me to set down my controller for a good 10 minutes while I thought through my options. I am accountable for countless Krogan fatalities in the Mass Effect series that I regret deeply. None of those moments compare to what could be the toughest selection I've faced in gaming — and it has to do with a massive stairway.

Baby Steps, the newest release from the developers of Ape Out, is not really a decision-focused experience. Certainly not in typical gaming terms. You must walk around a expansive environment as Nate, a adult in a onesie who can hardly stay upright on his unsteady feet. It seems like one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps’s power lies in its surprisingly deep narrative that will sneak up on you when it's most unexpected. There’s no situation that demonstrates that power like one major choice that remains on my mind.

Alert: Spoilers

A bit of context is required here. Baby Steps begins as Nate is magically whisked away from the basement of his home and into a fictional universe. He immediately finds that moving around in it is a difficulty, as a long time spent as a sedentary person have atrophied his limbs. The slapstick elements 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. As he progresses, he encounters a group of unusual individuals in the world who everyone tries to help him out. A self-assured trekker tries to give Nate a navigation aid, but he awkwardly refuses in the game’s funniest instant. When he plunges into an unavoidable hole and is presented with a ladder, he tries to play it off like he can manage alone and truly prefers to be stuck in the hole. During the narrative, you encounter plenty of frustrating vignettes where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too insecure to receive help.

The Pivotal Moment

That comes to a head in Baby Steps game’s key situation of choice. As Nate approaches the conclusion his adventure, he discovers that he must ascend of a snowy mountain. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) appears to tell him that there are two routes to the top. If he’s up for a challenge, he can take an extremely long and hazardous route named The Challenge. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps game provides; choosing it looks risky to any human.

But there’s a other possibility: He can just walk up a massive winding stairs as an alternative and get to the top in a short time. The only caveat? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Master” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

A Difficult Selection

I am completely earnest when I say that this is an agonizing choice in the game's narrative. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself culminating in a single ridiculous instant. A portion of Nate's adventure is revolves around the fact that he’s insecure of his physique and male identity. Each instance he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a difficult memory of all he lacks. Undertaking The Challenge could be a time where he can show that he’s as able as his unilateral competitor, but that path is likely paved with more humiliating failures. Is it worth suffering just to demonstrate something?

The staircase, on the contrary, give Nate another big moment to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The user doesn't get to decide in whether or not they reject navigation help, but they can decide to provide Nate with respite and choose the staircase. It might seem like an easy choice, but Baby Steps is exceptionally cunning about creating doubt whenever you see a simple solution. The environment includes intentional pitfalls that turn a safe route into a setback suddenly. Could the steps yet another trap? Might Nate arrive all the way to the top just to be let down by a final joke? And even worse, is he willing to be emasculated yet again by being forced to call an odd character as Lord?

No Perfect Choice

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no perfect selection. Both options brings about a genuine moment of protagonist evolution and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you decide to take on The Challenge, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate at last receives a moment to show that he’s as capable as anyone else, willingly taking on a difficult route rather than suffering through one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s challenging, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the moment of strength that he craves.

But there’s no shame in the stairs either. To opt for that way is to at last permit Nate to receive assistance. And when he accomplishes that, he finds that there’s no hidden trick in store for him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They go on for a long time, but they’re simple to climb and he won't slip all the way down if he falls. It’s a simple climb after hours of struggle. Partway through, he even has a conversation with the hiker who has, naturally, selected The Challenge. He tries to play it cool, but you can discern that he’s worn out, quietly regretting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to meet his agreement, hailing his new Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so bad. Who has time to be embarrassed by this freak?

My Experience

During my game, I selected the steps. A portion of my thinking just {wanted to call