The Game Baby Steps Includes Among the Most Meaningful Choices I've Ever Faced in Gaming

I've encountered some hard decisions in interactive entertainment. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange series remain on my mind. Ghost of Tsushima's ending section made me put my controller down for around ten minutes while I weighed my choices. I am the cause of so many Krogan deaths in Mass Effect 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 interactive media — and it has to do with a massive stairway.

Baby Steps, the recent title from the makers of Ape Out, isn’t exactly a decision-focused experience. Certainly not in any traditional sense. You simply have to navigate a expansive environment as the protagonist Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can barely stand on his wobbly legs. It looks like an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps game’s strength comes from its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will catch you off guard when you’re least expecting it. There’s not a single instance that exemplifies that strength like one major choice that I can’t stop thinking about.

Alert: Spoilers

Some background information is necessary here. Baby Steps game starts when Nate is transported from his parents’ basement and into a fictional universe. He immediately finds that navigating this world is a challenge, as years spent as a inactive individual have atrophied his limbs. The humorous physicality of it all stems from gamers directing Nate gradually, trying to maintain his balance.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has problems articulating that to others. During his adventure, he comes in contact with a group of unusual individuals in the world who all offer to assist him. A cool, confident hiker tries to give Nate a navigation aid, but he clumsily declines in the game’s funniest instant. When he plunges into an inescapable pit and is presented with a ladder, he attempts to act casual like he doesn’t need the help and genuinely desires to be confined in the cavity. Throughout the story, you see numerous annoying scenarios where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too self-conscious to accept any assistance.

The Pivotal Moment

This culminates in Baby Steps game’s single genuine instance of selection. As Nate nears the end his adventure, he realizes that he must reach the summit of a snow-capped peak. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) comes to let him know that there are two routes to the top. If he’s prepared for difficulty, he can opt for a particularly extended and dangerous hiking trail named The Challenge. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps includes; choosing it looks risky to any person.

But there’s a other possibility: He can just walk up a massive winding stairs instead and get to the top in a few minutes. The sole condition? He’ll have to call the groundskeeper “Lord” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

A Difficult Selection

I am completely earnest when I say that this is an agonizing choice in this situation. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself culminating in a single ridiculous instant. An element of Nate's story is centered around the fact that he’s unconfident of his physical appearance and manhood. Every time he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a hard reminder of what he fails to be. Undertaking The Challenge could be a instance where he can prove that he’s as able as his unilateral competitor, but that path is likely laden with more awkward mishaps. Is it justified struggling just to prove a point?

The stairs, on the other hand, give Nate another big moment to either accept or reject help. The player has no choice in about they reject navigation help, but they can choose to allow Nate some relief and opt for the steps. It should be an easy choice, but Baby Steps is remarkably shrewd about causing suspicion each time you encounter an easy option. The game world contains intentional pitfalls that transform an easy path into a difficulty suddenly. Could the steps one more trick? Might Nate arrive at the peak just to be let down by a final joke? And more troubling, is he prepared to be humiliated yet again by being forced to call a strange individual as Master?

No Right or Wrong

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no perfect selection. Both options leads to a real situation of character development and emotional release for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Manbreaker, it’s an existential win. Nate finally gets a moment to show that he’s as capable as anyone else, consciously choosing a difficult route rather than enduring one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s difficult, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the moment of strength that he needs.

But there’s no disgrace in the steps too. To choose that path is to eventually enable Nate to accept help. And when he does, he finds that there’s no real catch in store for him. The steps are not a joke. They continue for a while, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he does not fall all the way down if he trips. It’s a simple climb after lengthy difficulty. Halfway up, he even has a conversation with the outdoorsman who has, naturally, chosen to take The Challenge. He tries to play it cool, but you can see that he’s exhausted, quietly regretting the unnecessary challenge. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to pay his debt, calling the character Lord, the agreement barely appears so nasty. Who has time to be embarrassed by this odd character?

My Experience

During my game, I opted for the stairs. A portion of my thinking just {wanted to call