The Game Baby Steps Includes Among the Most Impactful Decisions I Have Ever Encountered in Gaming

I've dealt with some challenging choices in video games. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange remain on my mind. Ghost of Tsushima's concluding moments prompted me to put my controller down for around ten minutes while I weighed my options. I am the cause of so many Krogan demises in the Mass Effect series that I regret deeply. Not one of those instances measure up to what now might be the toughest selection I've faced in a video game — and it concerns a enormous set of steps.

Baby Steps, the newest release from the creators of Ape Out game, isn’t exactly a choice-driven game. Certainly not in typical gaming terms. You simply have to navigate a vast game world as the protagonist Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can barely stand on his wobbly legs. It looks like an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps’s appeal is in its deceptively impactful story that will sneak up on you when you’re least expecting it. There’s no moment that exemplifies that strength like one major choice that remains on my mind.

Spoiler Warning

Some scene setting is necessary here. Baby Steps begins as the protagonist is suddenly taken from his parents’ basement and into a fictional universe. He soon realizes that navigating this world is a challenge, as a long time spent as a inactive individual have deteriorated his physical condition. The slapstick elements of it all stems from players controlling Nate one step at a time, trying to maintain his balance.

Nate needs help, but he has difficulty expressing that to anyone. Throughout his hero’s journey, he comes in contact with a group of unusual individuals in the world who everyone tries to assist him. A composed outdoorsman attempts to offer Nate a navigation aid, but he awkwardly refuses in the game’s most hilarious scene. When he falls into an trapping cavity and is presented with a ladder, he tries to play it off like he can manage alone and truly prefers to be stuck in the hole. Throughout the story, you see numerous frustrating vignettes where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too insecure to receive help.

The Ultimate Choice

This culminates in Baby Steps game’s key situation of choice. As Nate nears the end his quest, he discovers that he must ascend of a frosty elevation. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) appears to let him know that there are two paths upward. If he’s ready for a test, he can opt for a particularly extended and risky path dubbed The Challenge. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps provides; choosing it looks risky to any human.

But there’s a second option: He can just walk up a gigantic spiral staircase in its place and get to the top in just moments. The single stipulation? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Master” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

A Difficult Selection

I am very serious when I say that this is an difficult selection 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 focused on the truth that he’s insecure of his physique and male identity. Every time he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a painful recollection of everything he’s not. Undertaking The Manbreaker could be a moment where he can prove that he’s as competent as his one-sided rival, but that route is sure to be paved with more humiliating failures. Is it worth striving just to demonstrate something?

The stairs, on the flip side, give Nate another big moment to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The player has no choice in whether or not they reject navigation help, but they can opt to allow Nate some relief and choose the staircase. It ought to be an simple decision, but Baby Steps game is exceptionally cunning about causing suspicion whenever you encounter an easy option. The environment includes design traps that turn a safe route into a obstacle on a dime. Could the steps an additional deception? Could Nate reach at the peak just to be let down by an ending prank? And even worse, is he ready to be diminished once again by being compelled to refer to a strange individual as Master?

No Perfect Choice

The beauty of that moment is that there’s no correct or incorrect choice. Each path brings about a genuine moment of personal growth and emotional release for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Obstacle, it’s an personal triumph. Nate finally gets a chance to prove that he’s as able as others, consciously choosing a difficult route rather than suffering through one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s hard, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he requires.

But there’s no shame in the stairs either. To choose that path is to at last permit Nate to accept help. And when he does, he realizes that there’s no real catch in store for him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They extend for some distance, but they’re easy to walk up and he doesn’t slide to the bottom if he stumbles. It’s a straightforward ascent after extended challenges. Midway through, he even has a discussion with the outdoorsman who has, unsurprisingly, opted for The Manbreaker. He tries to play it cool, but you can tell that he’s fatigued, subtly ruing the pointless struggle. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to meet his agreement, hailing his new Lord, the agreement barely appears so bad. Who has concern for humiliation by this odd character?

My Choice

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