Baby Steps Presents Among the Most Significant Decisions I Have Ever Encountered in Gaming

I've encountered some difficult decisions in video games. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange series remain on my mind. Ghost of Tsushima ending section prompted me to pause the game for several minutes while I thought through my alternatives. I am the cause of countless Krogan deaths in Mass Effect that I would love to reverse. Not a single one of those situations measure up to what now might be the most difficult decision I've faced in a video game — and it concerns a enormous set of steps.

Baby Steps, the newest release from the developers of Ape Out game, is not really a choice-driven game. Certainly not in any traditional sense. You only need to explore a expansive environment as the protagonist Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can struggle to remain on his shaky limbs. It appears to be one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps’s power lies in its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will catch you off guard when you’re least expecting it. There’s no moment that demonstrates that power like one major choice that remains on my mind.

Alert: Spoilers

Some background information is necessary here. Baby Steps starts when Nate is transported from his parents’ basement and into a fantasy world. He soon realizes that walking through it is a challenge, as a lifetime spent as a sedentary person have atrophied his limbs. The humorous physicality of it all stems from users guiding Nate gradually, trying to maintain his balance.

Nate needs help, but he has problems articulating 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 composed outdoorsman seeks to provide Nate a map, but he awkwardly refuses in the game’s most hilarious scene. When he plunges into an trapping cavity and is given a way out, he tries to play it off like he requires no assistance and actually wants to be trapped in the pit. During the narrative, you encounter plenty of frustrating vignettes where Nate makes life harder for himself because he’s too insecure to take support.

The Defining Decision

This culminates in Baby Steps’s one true moment of choice. As Nate approaches the conclusion his journey, he discovers that he must reach the summit of a frosty elevation. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) comes to tell him that there are two paths upward. If he’s ready for a test, he can choose a very lengthy and hazardous route dubbed The Manbreaker. 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 enormous coiled steps instead and reach the summit in just moments. The only caveat? He’ll have to address the guardian “Lord” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

A Painful Choice

I am very serious when I say that this is an painful decision in the game's narrative. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself coming to a head in a particularly bizarre situation. Part of Nate’s journey is centered around the reality that he’s insecure of his physical appearance and manhood. Whenever he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a hard reminder of everything he’s not. Undertaking The Challenge could be a instance where he can show that he’s as competent as his one-sided rival, but that path is likely paved with more humiliating failures. Is it worth striving just to make a statement?

The steps, on the flip side, give Nate another big moment to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The player has no choice in about they turn away a map, but they can opt to provide Nate with respite and take the stairs. It might seem like an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps game is remarkably shrewd about creating doubt each time you encounter an easy option. The environment includes design traps that change a secure way into a difficulty on a dime. Could the steps an additional deception? Could Nate reach to the very summit just to be disappointed by a final joke? And even worse, is he ready to be diminished another time by being made to address some weirdo Lord?

No Correct Answer

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no correct or incorrect choice. Either one brings about a real situation of personal growth and emotional release for Nate. If you decide to take on The Challenge, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate eventually obtains a moment to show that he’s as competent as anyone else, consciously choosing a difficult route rather than enduring one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s hard, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he requires.

But there’s no shame in the steps too. To opt for that way is to finally allow Nate to take support. And when he does, he finds that there’s no real catch waiting for him. The staircase is not a trick. They continue for a while, but they’re easy to walk up and he doesn’t slide to the bottom if he trips. It’s a easy journey after extended challenges. Partway through, he even has a chat with the trekker who has, of course, opted for The Manbreaker. He tries to play it cool, but you can discern that he’s fatigued, subtly ruing the needless difficulty. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to meet his agreement, hailing his new Lord, the deal hardly seems so unpleasant. Who has concern for humiliation by this freak?

My Choice

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