Baby Steps Includes Among the Most Meaningful Decisions I Have Ever Experienced in a Game

I've dealt with some difficult choices in interactive entertainment. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange series remain on my mind. Ghost of Tsushima final sequence led me to pause the game for several minutes while I considered my options. I am the cause of countless Krogan deaths in Mass Effect that I wish I could undo. Not a single one of those situations compare to what possibly is the hardest choice I’ve had to make in interactive media — and it involves a massive stairway.

The Game Baby Steps, the newest release from the developers of Ape Out game, is hardly a choice-driven game. Definitely not in typical gaming terms. You only need to walk around a vast game world as Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can hardly stay upright on his unsteady feet. It seems like one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps game’s strength comes from its deceptively impactful story that will sneak up on you when you’re least expecting it. There’s not a single instance that showcases that quality like a key selection that I keep reflecting on.

Alert: Spoilers

Some scene setting is needed at this point. Baby Steps starts when Nate is transported from his family's basement and into a fantasy world. He soon realizes that walking through it is a difficulty, as a long time spent as a couch potato have atrophied his limbs. The physical comedy of it all stems from users guiding Nate one step at a time, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

Nate needs help, but he has trouble voicing that to anyone. During his adventure, he meets a cast of eccentric characters in the world who each propose to give him a hand. A self-assured trekker tries to give Nate a map, but he clumsily declines in the game’s funniest instant. When he plunges into an trapping cavity and is given a way out, he tries to play it off like he doesn’t need the help and truly prefers to be confined in the cavity. During the narrative, you see numerous annoying scenarios where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too insecure to take support.

The Pivotal Moment

Everything builds up in Baby Steps game’s one true moment of selection. As Nate nears the end his quest, he realizes that he must ascend of a frosty elevation. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) appears to let him know that there are two paths upward. If he’s up for a challenge, he can choose a very lengthy and risky path dubbed The Challenge. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps has to offer; attempting it appears unwise to any human.

But there’s a alternative choice: He can merely climb a gigantic spiral staircase as an alternative and reach the summit in a short time. The single stipulation? He’ll have to call the groundskeeper “Sir” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

A Painful Choice

I am very serious when I say that this is an agonizing choice in context. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself coming to a head in one absurd moment. A portion of Nate's adventure is centered around the reality that he’s insecure of his physique and male identity. Every time he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a hard reminder of everything he’s not. Undertaking The Challenge could be a time where he can prove that he’s as competent as his one-sided rival, but that road is bound to be laden with more humiliating failures. Is it worth striving just to make a statement?

The staircase, on the other hand, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to choose whether to take assistance or not. The gamer cannot choose in whether or not they turn away a map, but they can choose to provide Nate with respite and take the stairs. It might seem like an simple decision, but Baby Steps is devilishly clever about causing suspicion each time you encounter an easy option. The game world contains intentional pitfalls that turn a safe route into a difficulty suddenly. Is the staircase yet another trap? Might Nate arrive to the very summit just to be disappointed by a final joke? And even worse, is he prepared to be humiliated once again by being forced to call some weirdo Lord?

No Right or Wrong

The beauty of that moment is that there’s no perfect selection. Each path brings about a real situation of character development and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Obstacle, it’s an existential win. Nate finally gets a chance to prove that he’s as able as others, willingly taking on a difficult route rather than enduring one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s challenging, and possibly risky, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he craves.

But there’s no disgrace in the stairs too. To opt for that way is to at last permit 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 easy to walk up and he won't slip completely down if he falls. It’s a easy journey after extended challenges. Halfway up, he even has a discussion with the outdoorsman who has, naturally, chosen to take The Manbreaker. He attempts to act casual, but you can tell that he’s exhausted, subtly ruing the pointless struggle. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to pay his debt, calling the character Lord, the deal hardly seems so bad. Who has time to be embarrassed by this strange individual?

My Choice

When I played, I chose the staircase. Some part of my reasoning just {wanted to call