The Game Baby Steps Features One of the Most Meaningful Decisions I've Ever Experienced in Gaming

I've encountered some difficult choices in interactive entertainment. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima's final sequence led me to set down my controller for several minutes while I weighed my options. I am accountable for countless Krogan fatalities in Mass Effect that I wish I could undo. Not a single one of those situations hold a candle to what possibly is the hardest choice I’ve had to make in a video game — and it involves a enormous set of steps.

The Game Baby Steps, the recent title from the makers of Ape Out game, isn’t exactly a selection-based adventure. At least not in typical gaming terms. You simply have to explore a expansive environment as the protagonist Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can struggle to remain on his unsteady feet. It looks like one big ragebait joke, 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 moment that demonstrates that power like a pivotal decision that remains on my mind.

Alert: Spoilers

A bit of context is required here. Baby Steps starts when Nate is transported from his family's basement and into a fantasy world. He immediately finds that navigating this world is a challenge, as years spent as a sedentary person have deteriorated his physical condition. The humorous physicality of it all stems from gamers directing Nate step by step, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

Nate requires assistance, but he has difficulty expressing that to others. During his adventure, he encounters a cast of eccentric characters in the world who everyone tries to give him a hand. A cool, confident hiker tries to give Nate a map, but he clumsily declines in the game’s funniest instant. When he drops into an inescapable pit and is presented with a ladder, he attempts to act casual like he can manage alone and actually wants to be stuck in the hole. Throughout the story, you experience no shortage of irritating episodes where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too self-conscious to receive help.

The Defining Decision

Everything builds up in Baby Steps game’s one true moment of selection. As Nate nears the end his journey, he discovers that he must ascend of a snowy mountain. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) appears to inform him that there are two ways up. If he’s ready for a test, he can choose a very lengthy and dangerous hiking trail named The Obstacle. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps includes; choosing it looks risky to anyone.

But there’s a alternative choice: He can just walk up a gigantic spiral staircase instead and get to the top in just moments. The only caveat? He’ll have to address the guardian “Lord” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

A Difficult Selection

I am very serious when I say that this is an agonizing choice in the game's narrative. 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 reality that he’s unconfident of his physique and male identity. Whenever he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a difficult memory of what he fails to be. Attempting The Challenge could be a instance where he can show that he’s as capable as his one-sided rival, but that road is bound to be paved with more humiliating failures. Is it worth struggling just to prove a point?

The stairs, on the flip side, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to either accept or reject help. The gamer cannot choose in if they decline guidance, but they can decide to provide Nate with respite and opt for the steps. It might seem like an easy choice, but Baby Steps is devilishly clever about making you feel paranoid each time you find a gift horse. The environment includes design traps that turn a safe route into a setback suddenly. Is the staircase yet another trap? Might Nate arrive at the peak just to be let down by some last-second gag? And more troubling, is he ready to be diminished once again by being made to address some weirdo Lord?

No Correct Answer

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Both options results in a authentic instance of character development and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Challenge, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate finally gets a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as competent as others, consciously choosing a tough path rather than struggling through one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s difficult, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the dose of confidence that he craves.

But there’s no disgrace in the steps either. To select that route is to finally allow Nate to receive assistance. And when he accomplishes that, he discovers that there’s no hidden trick awaiting 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 falls. It’s a straightforward ascent after extended challenges. Halfway up, he even has a conversation with the hiker who has, naturally, selected The Manbreaker. He attempts to act casual, but you can discern that he’s worn out, quietly regretting the pointless struggle. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to fulfill his obligation, calling the character Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so bad. Who has concern for humiliation by this strange individual?

My Experience

When I played, I chose the staircase. Part of me just {wanted to call