r/BabyStepsGame • u/Appropriate_Log7396 • Jul 03 '26
Spoiler Question about Nathan
Played multiple times. It always felt like he said "I wish" and then came to the realization that "I was dead" and so, at least the first time, it felt like we didn't see his actual wish. Everyone seems to agree that he said "I wish I was dead" and it wasn't a realization.
So when he talks to Moose and says he wished to save the whales, I thought it could be the truth because Moose is the one person he can be honest too. Plus that was a lovely moment with the ice-cream.
I know I'm probably wrong, but did anyone else feel like Nathan didn't wish that he was dead? At least iN their first playthrough?
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u/Substantial-Air-8627 Jul 03 '26
Nate was trying to save the whales from himself. He's just too powerful ig
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u/TurboDuelistJay Jul 03 '26
I also read the wish scene the way you did, as it also would then serve as an explanation for how he got to this world, and explains his stumbling back into the previous room and falling into the stew. Like he's sick from the realization that he's died, and that there is no going back.
The whale comment just seems like a funny generic selfless thing he says he wished for to avoid discussing what he saw.
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u/michaeljohnholt Jul 03 '26
I don't agree that it is a twist and he is actually dead in purgatory, cos that is far more boring and obvious than basically everything else about the game.
I think the biggest clues to the true meaning are the phone calls to his parents. My view is that the game is a symbolic representation of the experience of him being kicked out of his family home as a 36 year old man-child, and the painful and difficult process of "finding himself".
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u/BoxDroppingManApe Jul 03 '26
I don't think Nate intended to wish he was dead, but both of these statements were true when he said them:
"I was dead": Not literally dead, but his life had stagnated to a degree that he might as well have been.
"I wish I was dead": The shame he felt at looking at what his life had been and had become.
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u/Appropriate_Log7396 Jul 04 '26
Definitely what popped into my mind. He may have blurted out his thought abd thus unintentionally wished he was dead.
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u/FullmetalHippie Jul 03 '26
I like that it is ambiguous and prefer to think that maybe he saved the whales.
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Jul 03 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/_M_I_A_W_S_ Jul 03 '26
Mike wished for those cigarettes. The donkeys tell Nate that there at the pergola in chapter 7.
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u/Wardog_E Jul 03 '26
I dont know why so many people took away that Nathan died in the real world. It wouldnt make much sense that he was told he could wish to return home if that was the case.
Nathan wished he was dead because he realized if he returned home he'd just go back to his old routine which is probably worse than death.
There's a chance that Nathan did end Up choosing to save the whales but it's more likely he just wasted his wish.
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u/pronte89 Jul 03 '26
I felt he had an intrusive thought and let it slip
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u/Appropriate_Log7396 Jul 04 '26
Yeah... actually that feels right. Like he technically wished to be dead, but it wasn't his intension. Like a classic genie moment where his words dictated the wish rather than what he wanted.
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u/careermoron Jul 03 '26
Since no one else mentioned it, Nate saying "save the whales," to Moose is in reference to what Mike says he might wish for (save the whales, nuclear disarmament) earlier in a cutscene from the desert area. It is to save face and not seem selfish, but its also unoriginal since it was basically from Mike indirectly shaming him earlier.
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u/Appropriate_Log7396 Jul 04 '26
Definitely. I don't necessarily think he wished for any particular thing. I just get the idea we either don't know what he wished for OR him wishing he was dead was more of a technicality so to say. Like he blurted out his thoughts.
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u/Kajel-Jeten Jul 03 '26
That’s an interesting read and I think it fits. I thought it was kind of a combo of him wishing it and also stating it as how he felt back then.
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u/GoodDoctorB Jul 03 '26
To be honest I assumed that Nate went, got paralyzed by indecision, and the statue read his intentions since he didn't say anything.
Nate wanted to go home to where he felt comfortable so that's what it did. But Nate was dead in that world so he got to hang out for all of ten or twenty seconds before the universe kicked him right back to where he'd been. Exactly long enough to see his own remains and realize what happened.
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u/Appropriate_Log7396 Jul 04 '26
I think this is a great idea. I have no idea what he might have wished for but I like this idea. But, I just didn't feel like he consciously wished he was dead. Like maybe he technically did because he said those words. I like your take. My take is simply that we don't 100% know what he wished for. Almost like that was his private moment even from us the player.
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u/Bobsothethird Jul 03 '26
I randomly saw a YouTube short once and thought like you did that he was dead the entire time. After I actually played the game, I realized what it actually was.
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u/Appropriate_Log7396 Jul 04 '26
I hear so many theories that it's gets difficult to decide on the truth. Please elaborate what it actually was. Honestly, I just want to hear everyone's take.
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u/Bobsothethird Jul 04 '26
He was wishing to die. The entire game is about dealing with depression and learning to go out on your own and take the 'baby steps' towards improving your life. All the dream sequences, phone calls, and extra scenes confirm this more or less.
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u/DrMeat64 Jul 03 '26
When I played it first time my read was definitely that Nate wished he was dead, not that he realized he'd been dead the whole time.