The Game Baby Steps Includes Among the Most Meaningful Decisions I Have Ever Encountered in a Game

I've encountered some challenging decisions in gaming. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange series still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima final sequence made me pause the game for several minutes while I weighed my alternatives. I am the cause of so many Krogan deaths in the Mass Effect series that I would love to reverse. Not a single one of those situations measure up to what possibly is the most difficult decision I’ve had to make in a video game — and it involves a giant staircase.

The Game Baby Steps, the newest release from the creators of Ape Out game, isn’t exactly a selection-based adventure. Certainly not in any traditional sense. You must explore a vast game world as Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can hardly stay upright on his shaky limbs. It appears to be an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps’s power lies in its deceptively impactful story that will catch you off guard when you least anticipate it. There’s no situation that showcases that quality like a pivotal decision that I can’t stop thinking about.

Alert: Spoilers

Some scene setting is necessary here. Baby Steps starts when Nate is magically whisked away from the basement of his home and into a magical realm. He soon realizes that moving around in it is a struggle, as a long time spent as a inactive individual have deteriorated his physical condition. The slapstick elements of it all comes from gamers directing Nate one step at a time, trying to prevent him from falling over.

Nate requires assistance, but he has problems articulating that to anyone. As he progresses, he meets a collection of quirky personalities in the world who all offer to give him a hand. A composed outdoorsman tries to give Nate a guide, but he clumsily declines in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he drops into an inescapable pit and is presented with a ladder, he strives to appear nonchalant like he can manage alone and actually wants to be trapped in the pit. During the narrative, you see numerous frustrating vignettes where Nate makes life harder for himself because he’s not confident enough to receive help.

The Ultimate Choice

That comes to a head in Baby Steps game’s key situation of selection. As Nate approaches the conclusion his journey, he realizes that he must climb to the top of a frosty elevation. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) appears to inform him that there are two paths upward. If he’s up for a challenge, he can opt for a particularly extended and dangerous hiking trail called The Obstacle. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps includes; taking it seems inadvisable to anyone.

But there’s a other possibility: He can simply ascend a enormous coiled steps instead and arrive at the peak in just moments. The only caveat? He’ll have to address the guardian “Lord” from now on if he takes the easy route.

A Difficult Selection

I am very serious when I say that this is an difficult selection in context. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself culminating in a single ridiculous instant. Part of Nate’s journey is centered around the fact that he’s unconfident of his body and his masculinity. Whenever he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a hard reminder of everything he’s not. Attempting The Manbreaker could be a moment where he can show that he’s as able as his imagined opponent, but that route is sure to be laden with more humiliating failures. Is it worth struggling just to make a statement?

The stairs, on the contrary, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The user doesn't get to decide in if they turn away a map, but they can decide to provide Nate with respite and choose the staircase. It might seem like an easy choice, but Baby Steps game is remarkably shrewd about making you feel paranoid each time you find a gift horse. The environment includes intentional pitfalls that transform an easy path into a difficulty suddenly. Could the steps one more trick? Could Nate reach all the way to the top just to be fooled by a final joke? And more troubling, is he willing to be emasculated once again by being compelled to refer to some weirdo Lord?

No Perfect Choice

The beauty of that moment is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Either one leads to a real situation of personal growth and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Challenge, it’s an personal triumph. Nate eventually obtains a moment to show that he’s as capable as everyone else, voluntarily accepting a tough path rather than suffering through one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s hard, and possibly risky, but it’s the moment of strength that he craves.

But there’s no embarrassment in the staircase as well. To opt for that way is to at last permit Nate to receive assistance. And when he does, he discovers that there’s no hidden trick in store for him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They extend for some distance, but they’re easy to walk up and he does not fall all the way down if he trips. It’s a easy journey after hours of struggle. Midway through, he even has a chat with the trekker who has, of course, selected The Manbreaker. He tries to play it cool, but you can discern that he’s worn out, subtly ruing the pointless struggle. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to meet his agreement, hailing his new Lord, the agreement barely appears so unpleasant. Who has energy for shame by this strange individual?

My Experience

In my playthrough, I opted for the stairs. Part of me just {wanted to call