The Game Baby Steps Includes One of the Most Significant Decisions I Have Ever Encountered in Video Games

I've encountered some challenging choices in interactive entertainment. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima concluding moments led me to put my controller down for several minutes while I weighed my options. I am accountable for so many Krogan fatalities in the Mass Effect series that I would love to reverse. Not one of those instances hold a candle to what could be the most difficult decision I’ve had to make in gaming — and it concerns a giant staircase.

The Game Baby Steps, the recent title from the creators of Ape Out, is hardly a choice-driven game. At least not in typical gaming terms. You must navigate a sprawling open world as Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can barely stand on his shaky limbs. It seems like a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps’s appeal is in its deceptively impactful story that will surprise you when it's most unexpected. There’s not a single instance that exemplifies that strength like a pivotal decision that remains on my mind.

Spoiler Warning

Some scene setting is necessary here. Baby Steps game starts when the protagonist is suddenly taken from his family's basement and into a fantasy world. He immediately finds that navigating this world is a challenge, as a long time spent as a inactive individual have deteriorated his physical condition. The physical comedy of it all comes from players controlling Nate step by step, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has difficulty expressing that to other characters. During his adventure, he comes in contact with a group of unusual individuals in the world who all offer to assist him. A self-assured trekker attempts to offer Nate a guide, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he drops into an trapping cavity and is offered a ladder, he strives to appear nonchalant like he requires no assistance and actually wants to be confined in the cavity. Throughout the story, you experience no shortage of annoying scenarios where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too self-conscious to take support.

The Defining Decision

That comes to a head in Baby Steps’s one true moment of choice. As Nate nears the end his quest, he realizes that he must climb to the top of a snowy mountain. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) shows up to tell him that there are two ways up. If he’s prepared for difficulty, he can opt for a particularly extended and hazardous route named The Manbreaker. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps game provides; attempting it appears unwise to any person.

But there’s a alternative choice: He can simply ascend a massive winding stairs in its place and arrive at the peak in a few minutes. The only caveat? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Master” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

A Difficult Selection

I am very serious when I say that this is an agonizing choice in the game's narrative. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself culminating in a single ridiculous instant. Part of Nate’s journey is revolves around the reality that he’s insecure of his physical appearance and manhood. Each instance he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a hard reminder of what he fails to be. Undertaking The Challenge could be a moment where he can prove that he’s as competent as his one-sided rival, but that path is likely paved with more humiliating failures. Does it merit suffering just to make a statement?

The staircase, on the contrary, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to either accept or reject help. The player has no choice in about they reject navigation help, but they can opt to give Nate a break and choose the staircase. It might seem like an easy choice, but Baby Steps game is remarkably shrewd about making you feel paranoid anytime you encounter an easy option. The game world contains planned obstacles that transform an easy path into a difficulty suddenly. Are the stairs one more trick? Could Nate reach all the way to the top just to be fooled by a final joke? And more concerning, is he prepared to be humiliated yet again by being made to address a strange individual as Master?

No Correct Answer

The beauty of that moment is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Either one leads to a genuine moment of personal growth and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Manbreaker, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate finally gets a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as able as everyone else, consciously choosing a challenging way rather than enduring one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s challenging, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the dose of confidence that he needs.

But there’s no shame in the steps too. To choose that path is to at last permit Nate to accept help. And when he accomplishes that, he realizes that there’s no real catch in store for him. The staircase is not a trick. They go on for a long time, 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. Partway through, he even has a discussion with the hiker who has, unsurprisingly, opted for The Challenge. He attempts to act casual, but you can tell that he’s exhausted, subtly ruing the pointless struggle. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to meet his agreement, calling the character Lord, the deal hardly seems so unpleasant. Who has concern for humiliation by this strange individual?

My Choice

In my playthrough, I selected the steps. Part of me just {wanted to call