The Game Baby Steps Includes Among the Most Meaningful Choices I've Ever Encountered in Video Games

I've dealt with some challenging choices in interactive entertainment. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange series still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima's final sequence made me put my controller down for around ten minutes while I weighed my options. I am accountable for numerous Krogan demises in the Mass Effect series that I regret deeply. Not a single one of those situations measure up to what could be the hardest choice I've ever made in interactive media — and it concerns a massive stairway.

The Game Baby Steps, the newest release from the creators of Ape Out game, is not really a choice-driven game. Definitely not in typical gaming terms. You must navigate a expansive environment as the protagonist Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can barely stand on his wobbly legs. It seems like a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps’s appeal is in its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will catch you off guard when you least anticipate it. There’s not a single instance that exemplifies that strength like a pivotal decision that remains on my mind.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

Some scene setting is needed at this point. Baby Steps starts when the protagonist is suddenly taken from the basement of his home 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 weakened his muscles. The physical comedy of it all comes from users guiding Nate one step at a time, trying to maintain his balance.

Nate needs help, but he has problems articulating that to other characters. As he progresses, he encounters a collection of quirky personalities in the world who everyone tries to assist him. A cool, confident hiker seeks to provide Nate a navigation aid, but he awkwardly refuses in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he drops into an trapping cavity and is presented with a ladder, he strives to appear nonchalant like he requires no assistance and actually wants to be confined in the cavity. During the narrative, you experience no shortage of annoying scenarios where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too insecure to take support.

The Ultimate Choice

That comes to a head in Baby Steps’s one true moment of selection. As Nate gets close to finishing his journey, he discovers that he must climb to the top of a snow-capped peak. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) shows up to tell him that there are two paths upward. If he’s ready for a test, he can take an extremely long and dangerous hiking trail dubbed The Manbreaker. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps has to offer; taking it seems inadvisable to anyone.

But there’s a other possibility: He can just walk up a massive winding stairs instead and reach the summit in a few minutes. The single stipulation? He’ll have to call the groundskeeper “Sir” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

An Agonizing Decision

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an painful decision in the game's narrative. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself coming to a head in a single ridiculous instant. Part of Nate’s journey is revolves around the truth that he’s self-conscious of his body and his masculinity. Each instance he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a hard reminder of all he lacks. Undertaking The Obstacle could be a instance where he can prove that he’s as capable as his imagined opponent, but that road is bound to be laden with more awkward mishaps. Is it worth striving just to prove a point?

The staircase, on the flip side, give Nate another big moment to choose whether to take assistance or not. The user doesn't get to decide in if they turn away a map, but they can choose to allow Nate some relief and take the stairs. It ought to be an simple decision, but Baby Steps game is remarkably shrewd about creating doubt whenever you encounter an easy option. The environment includes intentional pitfalls that turn a safe route into a setback suddenly. Could the steps yet another trap? Might Nate arrive at the peak just to be disappointed by some last-second gag? And more troubling, is he willing to be emasculated another time by being made to address some weirdo Lord?

No Perfect Choice

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no perfect selection. Either one brings about a authentic instance of personal growth and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you decide to take on The Challenge, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate at last receives a chance to prove that he’s as able as others, consciously choosing a challenging way rather than struggling through one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s difficult, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he requires.

But there’s no shame in the stairs either. To opt for that way is to at last permit Nate to accept help. And when he does, he finds that there’s no hidden trick in store for him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They continue for a while, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he doesn’t slide all the way down if he stumbles. It’s a simple climb after lengthy difficulty. Partway through, he even has a discussion with the trekker who has, naturally, opted for 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 arrives at the peak and has to fulfill his obligation, calling the character Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so unpleasant. Who has energy for shame by this odd character?

My Experience

In my playthrough, I opted for the stairs. Some part of my reasoning just {wanted to call