Baby Steps Includes Among the Most Meaningful Choices I Have Ever Faced in Video Games

I've encountered some challenging choices in interactive entertainment. Several of my selections in Life is Strange continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima final sequence prompted me to put my controller down for a good 10 minutes while I weighed my alternatives. I am accountable for so many Krogan fatalities in the Mass Effect series that I wish I could undo. Not one of those instances hold a candle to what now might be the hardest choice I’ve had to make in a video game — and it involves a massive stairway.

The Game Baby Steps, the recent title from the makers of Ape Out game, is hardly a selection-based adventure. Definitely not in typical gaming terms. You only need to navigate a vast game world as Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can barely stand on his shaky limbs. It appears to be an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps game’s appeal is in its surprisingly deep narrative that will catch you off guard when you’re least expecting it. There’s no moment that exemplifies that strength like a pivotal decision that I can’t stop thinking about.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

Some scene setting is required here. Baby Steps game starts when the protagonist is suddenly taken from the basement of his home and into a magical realm. He soon realizes that moving around in it is a difficulty, as years spent as a inactive individual have atrophied his limbs. 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 anyone. During his adventure, he comes in contact with a collection of quirky personalities in the world who everyone tries to give him a hand. A composed outdoorsman tries to give Nate a map, but he awkwardly refuses in the game’s most hilarious scene. When he falls into an unavoidable hole and is given a way out, he tries to play it off like he can manage alone and actually wants to be confined in the cavity. During the narrative, you encounter plenty of annoying scenarios where Nate makes life harder for himself because he’s too insecure to take support.

The Defining Decision

Everything builds up in Baby Steps’s key situation of selection. As Nate nears the end his quest, he finds that he must reach the summit of a snow-capped peak. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) comes to let him know that there are two routes to the top. If he’s prepared for difficulty, he can choose a very lengthy and dangerous hiking trail dubbed The Challenge. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps includes; taking it seems inadvisable to any human.

But there’s a alternative choice: He can simply ascend a massive winding stairs in its place and reach the summit in a short time. The single stipulation? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Lord” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

A Painful Choice

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an painful decision in this situation. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself coming to a head in a particularly bizarre situation. A portion of Nate's adventure is focused on the fact that he’s self-conscious of his body and his masculinity. Each instance he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a painful recollection of everything he’s not. Taking on The Obstacle could be a instance where he can demonstrate that he’s as competent as his unilateral competitor, but that path is likely paved with more embarrassing pratfalls. Does it merit suffering just to make a statement?

The staircase, on the other hand, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to either accept or reject help. The player has no choice in whether or not they decline guidance, but they can decide to provide Nate with respite and opt for the steps. It should be an simple decision, but Baby Steps game is remarkably shrewd about creating doubt each time you find a gift horse. The game world contains intentional pitfalls that transform an easy path into a difficulty on a dime. Are the stairs yet another trap? Could Nate reach to the very summit just to be let down by some last-second gag? And more concerning, is he ready to be diminished another time by being forced to call some weirdo Lord?

No Right or Wrong

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no perfect selection. Each path brings about a real situation of personal growth and catharsis for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Manbreaker, it’s an existential win. Nate finally gets a chance to prove that he’s as able as anyone else, voluntarily accepting a difficult route rather than struggling through one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s difficult, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the moment of strength that he craves.

But there’s no disgrace in the steps either. To choose that path is to eventually enable Nate to take support. And when he does, he discovers that there’s no real catch awaiting him. The staircase is not a trick. They extend for some distance, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he doesn’t slide completely down if he falls. It’s a straightforward ascent after lengthy difficulty. Halfway up, he even has a discussion with the hiker who has, unsurprisingly, selected The Manbreaker. He tries to play it cool, but you can tell that he’s fatigued, silently lamenting 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 nasty. Who has time to be embarrassed by this odd character?

My Experience

When I played, I selected the steps. Part of me just {wanted to call