The Game Baby Steps Presents Among the Most Significant Choices I Have Ever Faced in a Game

I've faced some hard decisions in gaming. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange series still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima concluding moments prompted me to put my controller down for a good 10 minutes while I thought through my alternatives. I am accountable for so many Krogan demises in Mass Effect that I wish I could undo. None of those moments measure up to what now might be the hardest choice I’ve had to make in a video game — and it involves a giant staircase.

The Game Baby Steps, the latest game from the developers of Ape Out game, isn’t exactly a decision-focused experience. Certainly not in any traditional sense. You simply have to explore a expansive environment as Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can hardly stay upright on his wobbly legs. It seems like an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps game’s appeal is in its surprisingly deep narrative that will sneak up on you when you least anticipate it. There’s no moment that demonstrates that power like a key selection that I keep reflecting on.

Spoiler Warning

A bit of context is needed at this point. Baby Steps starts when Nate is transported from his family's basement and into a fantasy world. He quickly discovers that walking through it is a challenge, as a long time spent as a inactive individual have weakened his muscles. The humorous physicality of it all stems from gamers directing Nate gradually, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

Nate requires assistance, but he has trouble voicing that to others. As he progresses, he encounters a cast of eccentric characters in the world who each propose to assist him. A self-assured trekker seeks to provide Nate a guide, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he falls into an trapping cavity and is presented with a ladder, he strives to appear nonchalant like he doesn’t need the help and genuinely desires to be trapped in the pit. Throughout the story, you experience no shortage of annoying scenarios where Nate makes life harder for himself because he’s not confident enough to accept any assistance.

The Ultimate Choice

That comes to a head in Baby Steps’s one true moment of choice. As Nate gets close to finishing his adventure, he finds that he must ascend of a snow-capped peak. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) comes to inform him that there are two routes to the top. If he’s ready for a test, he can opt for a particularly extended and risky path called The Obstacle. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps provides; taking it seems inadvisable to anyone.

But there’s a second option: He can merely climb a massive winding stairs as an alternative and get to the top in just moments. The sole condition? He’ll have to call the groundskeeper “Lord” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

An Agonizing Decision

I am completely earnest when I say that this is an agonizing choice in context. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself culminating in one absurd moment. A portion of Nate's adventure is centered around the reality that he’s self-conscious of his physical appearance and manhood. Every time he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a difficult memory of everything he’s not. Taking on The Manbreaker could be a instance where he can prove that he’s as capable as his one-sided rival, but that route is sure to be laden with more humiliating failures. Does it merit striving just to prove a point?

The staircase, on the contrary, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to choose whether to take assistance or not. The user doesn't get to decide in whether or not they decline guidance, but they can choose to give Nate a break and take the stairs. It ought to be an easy choice, but Baby Steps is exceptionally cunning about making you feel paranoid anytime you find a gift horse. The world is filled with planned obstacles that transform an easy path into a obstacle on a dime. Is the staircase yet another trap? Could Nate reach all the way to the top just to be disappointed by a final joke? And more troubling, is he ready to be diminished yet again by being made to address a strange individual as Master?

No Perfect Choice

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no perfect selection. Either one leads to a authentic instance of protagonist evolution and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Manbreaker, it’s an personal triumph. Nate eventually obtains a chance to prove that he’s as competent as everyone else, willingly taking on a challenging way rather than suffering through one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s difficult, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the moment of strength that he requires.

But there’s no shame in the stairs too. To choose that path is to eventually enable Nate to take support. And when he does, he discovers that there’s no real catch waiting 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 extended challenges. Partway through, he even has a chat with the outdoorsman who has, unsurprisingly, opted for The Manbreaker. He attempts to act casual, but you can see that he’s exhausted, quietly regretting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to pay his debt, hailing his new Lord, the agreement barely appears so unpleasant. Who has energy for shame by this odd character?

My Experience

During my game, I selected the steps. A portion of my thinking just {wanted to call