Baby Steps Presents One of the Most Impactful Decisions I Have Ever Faced in Video Games

I've dealt with some challenging decisions in video games. Several of my selections in Life is Strange series still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima ending section prompted me to pause the game for around ten minutes while I thought through my alternatives. I am responsible for so many Krogan deaths in Mass Effect that I regret deeply. Not one of those instances hold a candle to what could be the toughest selection I've faced in gaming — and it has to do with a massive stairway.

Baby Steps, the latest game from the makers of Ape Out game, is not really a decision-focused experience. Definitely not in typical gaming terms. You simply have to explore a sprawling open world as Nate, a adult in a onesie who can struggle to remain 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 no moment that exemplifies that strength like one major choice that I keep reflecting on.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

Some background information is needed at this point. Baby Steps game starts when Nate is transported from his family's basement and into a fantasy world. He quickly discovers that moving around in it is a challenge, as a long time spent as a sedentary person have atrophied his limbs. The physical comedy of it all arises from players controlling Nate gradually, trying to maintain his balance.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has difficulty expressing that to other characters. Throughout his hero’s journey, he encounters a collection of quirky personalities in the world who all offer to help him out. A self-assured trekker attempts to offer Nate a map, but he clumsily declines in the game’s funniest instant. When he falls into an inescapable pit and is given a way out, he strives to appear nonchalant like he can manage alone and truly prefers to be confined in the cavity. Throughout the story, you see numerous frustrating vignettes where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too self-conscious to accept any assistance.

The Defining Decision

This culminates in Baby Steps’s single genuine instance of choice. As Nate gets close to finishing his adventure, he finds that he must reach the summit of a snow-capped peak. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) shows up to inform him that there are two paths upward. If he’s ready for a test, he can take an extremely long and risky path named The Manbreaker. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps includes; choosing it looks risky to anyone.

But there’s a second option: He can just walk up a massive winding stairs instead and reach the summit in a few minutes. The sole condition? He’ll have to call the groundskeeper “Sir” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

A Painful Choice

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an painful decision in context. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself reaching a climax in a particularly bizarre situation. Part of Nate’s journey is focused on the reality that he’s unconfident of his physical appearance and manhood. Each instance he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a difficult memory of what he fails to be. Attempting The Challenge could be a instance where he can prove that he’s as competent as his one-sided rival, but that path is likely paved with more awkward mishaps. Is it justified suffering just to prove a point?

The steps, on the contrary, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The player has no choice in if they reject navigation help, but they can decide to provide Nate with respite and opt for the steps. It might seem like an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps game is remarkably shrewd about causing suspicion anytime you see a simple solution. The game world contains intentional pitfalls that turn a safe route into a obstacle instantly. Are the stairs an additional deception? Will Nate get all the way to the top just to be fooled by a final joke? And more troubling, is he willing to be emasculated another time by being compelled to refer to a strange individual as Master?

No Perfect Choice

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no perfect selection. Both options brings about a genuine moment of character development and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Manbreaker, it’s an existential win. Nate finally gets a chance to prove that he’s as competent as anyone else, willingly taking on a difficult route rather than suffering through one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s challenging, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the moment of strength that he craves.

But there’s no embarrassment in the steps as well. To choose that path is to eventually enable Nate to receive assistance. And when he accomplishes that, he discovers that there’s no hidden trick in store for him. The steps are not a joke. They extend for some distance, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he doesn’t slide to the bottom if he stumbles. It’s a simple climb after hours of struggle. Partway through, he even has a conversation with the hiker who has, of course, selected The Challenge. He tries to play it cool, but you can tell that he’s worn out, quietly regretting the unnecessary challenge. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to fulfill his obligation, hailing his new Lord, the agreement barely appears so bad. Who has time to be embarrassed by this strange individual?

My Choice

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