The Game Baby Steps Includes One of the Most Meaningful Choices I've Ever Experienced in Gaming

I've dealt with some hard choices in gaming. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima's concluding moments made me put my controller down for several minutes while I weighed my choices. I am responsible for countless Krogan deaths in Mass Effect that I wish I could undo. Not one of those instances hold a candle to what now might be the toughest selection I've faced in interactive media — and it has to do with a giant staircase.

Baby Steps, the latest game from the developers of Ape Out, is not really a selection-based adventure. Definitely not in any traditional sense. You must explore a vast game world as the main character Nate, a adult in a onesie who can struggle to remain on his unsteady feet. It looks like one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps’s appeal is in its deceptively impactful story that will sneak up on you when it's most unexpected. There’s not a single instance that demonstrates that power like a key selection that I can’t stop thinking about.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

A bit of context is needed at this point. Baby Steps game begins as Nate is transported from the basement of his home and into a magical realm. He quickly discovers that moving around in it is a difficulty, as years spent as a inactive individual have atrophied his limbs. The slapstick elements of it all arises from gamers directing Nate gradually, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has problems articulating that to others. Throughout his hero’s journey, he meets a cast of eccentric characters in the world who everyone tries to give him a hand. A cool, confident hiker attempts to offer Nate a navigation aid, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he falls into an trapping cavity and is offered a ladder, he strives to appear nonchalant like he requires no assistance and actually wants to be trapped in the pit. As the plot unfolds, you experience no shortage of annoying scenarios where Nate makes life harder for himself because he’s too insecure to accept any assistance.

The Defining Decision

This culminates in Baby Steps game’s single genuine instance of selection. As Nate gets close to finishing his journey, he realizes that he must reach the summit of a snow-capped peak. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) shows up to tell him that there are two ways up. If he’s ready for a test, he can opt for a particularly extended and risky path called The Challenge. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps provides; taking it seems inadvisable to anyone.

But there’s a other possibility: He can merely climb a gigantic spiral staircase in its place and reach the summit in a short time. The sole condition? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Sir” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

An Agonizing Decision

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an painful decision in this situation. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself reaching a climax in one absurd moment. An element of Nate's story is revolves around the reality that he’s self-conscious of his body and his masculinity. Every time he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a difficult memory of everything he’s not. Taking on The Challenge could be a time where he can show that he’s as competent as his imagined opponent, but that path is likely filled with more awkward mishaps. Is it worth suffering just to make a statement?

The stairs, on the flip side, give Nate another big moment to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The user doesn't get to decide in about they decline guidance, but they can choose to provide Nate with respite and opt for the steps. It might seem like an simple decision, but Baby Steps is remarkably shrewd about making you feel paranoid whenever you find a gift horse. The game world contains design traps that change a secure way into a obstacle instantly. Is the staircase an additional deception? Might Nate arrive all the way to the top just to be disappointed by some last-second gag? And even worse, is he prepared to be humiliated once again by being made to address an odd character as Lord?

No Perfect Choice

The beauty of that moment is that there’s no correct or incorrect choice. Both options brings about a genuine moment of protagonist evolution and catharsis for Nate. If you decide to take on The Manbreaker, it’s an existential win. Nate finally gets a moment to show that he’s as capable as others, consciously choosing a challenging way rather than struggling through one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s hard, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the moment of strength that he needs.

But there’s no shame in the stairs either. To select that route is to finally allow Nate to receive assistance. And when he does, he finds that there’s no hidden trick 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 completely down if he stumbles. It’s a easy journey after lengthy difficulty. Midway through, he even has a conversation with the outdoorsman who has, of course, chosen to take The Manbreaker. He strives to appear composed, but you can discern that he’s worn out, silently lamenting the pointless struggle. By the time Nate arrives at the peak 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 chose the staircase. Part of me just {wanted to call