The Game Baby Steps Features One of the Most Significant Decisions I Have Ever Encountered in Video Games

I've dealt with some challenging choices in gaming. Certain choices I made 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 numerous Krogan deaths in Mass Effect that I wish I could undo. Not one of those instances compare to what could be the toughest selection I’ve had to make in gaming — and it involves a enormous set of steps.

Baby Steps, the latest game from the makers of Ape Out game, is hardly a decision-focused experience. Certainly not in typical gaming terms. You must walk around a vast game world as the protagonist Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can barely stand on his unsteady feet. It seems like a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps’s power lies in its surprisingly deep narrative that will catch you off guard when you’re least expecting it. There’s no situation that demonstrates that power like one major choice that I keep reflecting on.

Spoiler Warning

Some background information is necessary here. Baby Steps starts when Nate is magically whisked away from his family's basement and into a fictional universe. He quickly discovers that navigating this world is a difficulty, as years spent as a inactive individual have weakened his muscles. The slapstick elements of it all comes from users guiding Nate one step at a time, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has trouble voicing that to others. Throughout his hero’s journey, he meets a collection of quirky personalities in the world who each propose to give him a hand. A cool, confident hiker attempts to offer Nate a navigation aid, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he falls into an trapping cavity and is given a way out, he attempts to act casual like he can manage alone and genuinely desires to be stuck in the hole. Throughout the story, you see numerous 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 game’s one true moment of selection. As Nate approaches the conclusion his journey, he finds that he must climb to the top of a snowy mountain. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) appears to tell him that there are two ways up. If he’s up for a challenge, he can opt for a particularly extended and risky path named The Manbreaker. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps has to offer; taking it seems inadvisable to anyone.

But there’s a second option: He can merely climb a massive winding stairs in its place and get to the top in a short time. The single stipulation? He’ll have to call the groundskeeper “Sir” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

A Painful Choice

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an agonizing choice in the game's narrative. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself reaching a climax in a single ridiculous instant. Part of Nate’s journey is focused on the fact that he’s self-conscious of his body and his masculinity. Each instance he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a difficult memory of what he fails to be. Attempting The Challenge could be a moment where he can demonstrate that he’s as competent as his unilateral competitor, but that route is sure to be paved with more humiliating failures. Does it merit striving just to make a statement?

The stairs, on the other hand, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The user doesn't get to decide in whether or not they turn away a map, but they can opt to provide Nate with respite and opt for the steps. It should be an easy choice, but Baby Steps game is remarkably shrewd about creating doubt whenever you encounter an easy option. The environment includes design traps that change a secure way into a obstacle instantly. Are the stairs an additional deception? Will Nate get to the very summit just to be fooled by a final joke? And even worse, is he willing to be emasculated once again by being forced to call some weirdo Lord?

No Correct Answer

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no correct or incorrect choice. Both options leads to a real situation of protagonist evolution and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you decide to take on The Challenge, it’s an existential win. Nate eventually obtains a moment to show that he’s as able as others, willingly taking on a tough path rather than struggling through one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s challenging, and possibly risky, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he needs.

But there’s no shame in the steps too. To choose that path is to at last permit Nate to take support. And when he does, he realizes that there’s no secret drawback waiting for him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They go on for a long time, but they’re simple to climb and he doesn’t slide all the way down if he stumbles. It’s a straightforward ascent after hours of struggle. Midway through, he even has a chat with the outdoorsman who has, naturally, selected The Manbreaker. He strives to appear composed, but you can see that he’s exhausted, quietly regretting the pointless struggle. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to fulfill his obligation, addressing his new Master, the deal hardly seems so nasty. Who has energy for shame by this freak?

My Choice

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