The Game Baby Steps Features One of the Most Significant Decisions I've Ever Experienced in a Game

I've encountered some hard choices in interactive entertainment. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima ending section prompted me to put my controller down for a good 10 minutes while I weighed my alternatives. I am accountable for countless Krogan fatalities in the Mass Effect series that I wish I could undo. None of those moments compare to what possibly is the toughest selection I’ve had to make in a video game — and it involves a massive stairway.

Baby Steps, the newest release from the makers of Ape Out game, is not really a selection-based adventure. Definitely not in the conventional way. You simply have to navigate a expansive environment as the main character Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can struggle to remain on his wobbly legs. It appears to be an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps’s power lies in its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will catch you off guard when you least anticipate it. There’s no situation that showcases that quality like a key selection that I keep reflecting on.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

Some scene setting 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 immediately finds that navigating this world is a difficulty, as years spent as a couch potato have weakened his muscles. The physical comedy of it all comes from users guiding Nate one step at a time, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

Nate needs help, but he has problems articulating that to other characters. During his adventure, he comes in contact with a cast of eccentric characters in the world who everyone tries to help him out. A self-assured trekker seeks to provide Nate a map, but he awkwardly refuses in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he plunges into an unavoidable hole and is given a way out, he tries to play it off like he can manage alone and actually wants to be trapped in the pit. Throughout the story, you experience no shortage of irritating episodes where Nate makes life harder for himself because he’s not confident enough to accept any assistance.

The Ultimate Choice

That comes to a head in Baby Steps game’s one true moment of decision. As Nate approaches the conclusion his adventure, he finds that he must climb to the top of a snowy mountain. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) comes to inform him that there are two ways up. If he’s up for a challenge, he can take an extremely long and dangerous hiking trail named The Obstacle. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps game includes; taking it seems inadvisable to anyone.

But there’s a other possibility: He can just walk up a enormous coiled steps instead and get to the top in just moments. The only caveat? He’ll have to address the guardian “Master” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

An Agonizing Decision

I am very serious when I say that this is an painful decision in this situation. 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 revolves around the truth that he’s insecure of his body and his masculinity. Each instance he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a hard reminder of what he fails to be. Taking on The Manbreaker could be a moment where he can show that he’s as capable as his unilateral competitor, but that path is likely filled with more humiliating failures. Is it justified struggling just to demonstrate something?

The steps, on the contrary, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to either accept or reject help. The user doesn't get to decide in if they turn away a map, but they can decide to give Nate a break and choose the staircase. It might seem like an easy choice, but Baby Steps is exceptionally cunning about making you feel paranoid each time you find a gift horse. The environment includes design traps that transform an easy path into a obstacle suddenly. Could the steps yet another trap? Will Nate get at the peak just to be let down by some last-second gag? And even worse, is he willing to be emasculated another time by being made to address some weirdo Lord?

No Correct Answer

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Either one leads to a authentic instance of protagonist evolution and emotional release for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Manbreaker, it’s an existential win. Nate eventually obtains a chance to prove that he’s as competent as anyone else, willingly taking on a tough path rather than enduring one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s difficult, and possibly risky, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he needs.

But there’s no disgrace in the steps either. To select that route is to finally allow Nate to receive assistance. And when he does, he finds that there’s no real catch awaiting him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They go on for a long time, but they’re simple to climb and he doesn’t slide to the bottom if he trips. It’s a simple climb after lengthy difficulty. Midway through, he even has a conversation with the hiker who has, naturally, selected The Challenge. He strives to appear composed, but you can tell that he’s fatigued, quietly regretting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to meet his agreement, calling the character Lord, the deal hardly seems so nasty. Who has energy for shame by this odd character?

My Choice

During my game, I chose the staircase. Some part of my reasoning just {wanted to call