The Game Baby Steps Features One of the Most Significant Choices I Have Ever Encountered in a Game

I've faced some difficult decisions in video games. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima final sequence led me to pause the game for several minutes while I considered my options. I am responsible for so many Krogan deaths in Mass Effect that I regret deeply. Not one of those instances compare to what could be the most difficult decision I've faced in gaming — and it has to do with a enormous set of steps.

The Game Baby Steps, the newest release from the makers of Ape Out, is not really a selection-based adventure. Certainly not in any traditional sense. You must navigate a sprawling open world as the main character Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can struggle to remain on his wobbly legs. It seems like an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps game’s appeal is in its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will sneak up on you 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 fictional universe. He immediately finds that walking through it is a difficulty, as a lifetime spent as a sedentary person have atrophied his limbs. The slapstick elements of it all stems from gamers directing Nate step by step, trying to prevent him from falling over.

Nate needs help, but he has problems articulating that to other characters. As he progresses, he meets a group of unusual individuals in the world who all offer to help him out. A cool, confident hiker seeks to provide Nate a map, but he clumsily declines in the game’s most hilarious scene. When he falls into an inescapable pit and is given a way out, he strives to appear nonchalant like he requires no assistance and truly prefers to be trapped in the pit. Throughout the story, you experience no shortage of annoying scenarios where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s not confident enough to accept any assistance.

The Defining Decision

That comes to a head in Baby Steps game’s key situation of selection. As Nate nears the end his journey, he finds that he must reach the summit 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 take an extremely long 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 just walk up a enormous coiled steps in its place and get to the top in just moments. The only caveat? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Sir” from now on if he takes the easy route.

A Difficult Selection

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an difficult selection in context. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself coming to a head in a single ridiculous instant. Part of Nate’s journey is centered around the fact that he’s insecure of his physique and male identity. Every time he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a painful recollection of all he lacks. Undertaking The Manbreaker could be a instance where he can show that he’s as able as his imagined opponent, but that path is likely filled with more humiliating failures. Is it justified suffering just to demonstrate something?

The steps, on the other hand, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The gamer cannot choose in if they decline guidance, but they can choose to give Nate a break and take the stairs. It should be an easy choice, but Baby Steps game is remarkably shrewd about causing suspicion whenever you find a gift horse. The game world contains design traps that turn a safe route into a setback instantly. Could the steps yet another trap? Could Nate reach to the very summit just to be disappointed by an ending prank? And more concerning, 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 therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Obstacle, it’s an personal triumph. Nate finally gets a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as capable as everyone else, willingly taking on a tough path rather than enduring one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s hard, and possibly risky, but it’s the dose of confidence that he craves.

But there’s no shame in the steps too. To select that route is to finally allow Nate to receive assistance. And when he does, he realizes that there’s no hidden trick waiting for him. The staircase is not a trick. They extend for some distance, but they’re easy to walk up and he does not fall all the way down if he stumbles. It’s a straightforward ascent after hours of struggle. Halfway up, he even has a chat with the trekker who has, unsurprisingly, selected The Manbreaker. He attempts to act casual, but you can tell that he’s fatigued, subtly ruing the pointless struggle. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to fulfill his obligation, hailing his new Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so unpleasant. Who has concern for humiliation by this strange individual?

Personal Reflection

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