The Game Baby Steps Presents One of the Most Meaningful Decisions I Have Ever Experienced in Gaming

I've dealt with some difficult choices in interactive entertainment. Several of my selections in Life is Strange series remain on my mind. Ghost of Tsushima concluding moments prompted me to put my controller down for a good 10 minutes while I weighed my choices. I am responsible for countless Krogan fatalities in the Mass Effect series that I wish I could undo. None of those moments compare to what now might be the hardest choice I’ve had to make in a video game — and it concerns a giant staircase.

The Game Baby Steps, the latest game from the makers of Ape Out, isn’t exactly a selection-based adventure. Definitely not in any traditional sense. You simply have to navigate a sprawling open world as the protagonist Nate, a adult in a onesie who can barely stand on his wobbly legs. It looks like one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps’s power lies in its deceptively impactful story that will catch you off guard when it's most unexpected. There’s not a single instance that exemplifies that strength like a pivotal decision that remains on my mind.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

Some scene setting is necessary here. Baby Steps game begins as Nate is transported from his parents’ basement and into a fantasy world. He quickly discovers that navigating this world 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 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 comes in contact with a collection of quirky personalities in the world who everyone tries to help him out. A composed outdoorsman tries to give Nate a map, but he clumsily declines in the game’s most hilarious scene. When he drops into an unavoidable hole and is given a way out, he tries to play it off like he requires no assistance and genuinely desires to be trapped in the pit. During the narrative, you encounter plenty of irritating episodes where Nate makes life harder for himself because he’s too insecure to receive help.

The Ultimate Choice

This culminates in Baby Steps’s single genuine instance of decision. As Nate approaches the conclusion his adventure, he finds that he must ascend of a snowy mountain. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) shows up to let him know that there are two routes to the top. If he’s prepared for difficulty, he can take an extremely long and hazardous route dubbed The Challenge. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps includes; choosing it looks risky to anyone.

But there’s a second option: He can just walk up a enormous coiled steps in its place and reach the summit in a short time. The sole condition? He’ll have to address the guardian “Master” from now on if he takes the easy route.

An Agonizing Decision

I am very serious when I say that this is an agonizing choice in this situation. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself coming to a head in a single ridiculous instant. A portion of Nate's adventure is focused on the fact that he’s insecure of his body and his masculinity. Every time he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a painful recollection of everything he’s not. Taking on The Manbreaker could be a instance where he can prove that he’s as competent as his imagined opponent, but that road is bound to be paved with more humiliating failures. Is it justified struggling just to prove a point?

The stairs, on the flip side, 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 opt to allow Nate some relief and take the stairs. It might seem like an easy choice, but Baby Steps game is exceptionally cunning about making you feel paranoid anytime you find a gift horse. The game world contains design traps that transform an easy path into a obstacle suddenly. Is the staircase an additional deception? Could Nate reach all the way to the top just to be disappointed by some last-second gag? And even worse, is he ready to be diminished yet again by being forced to call an odd character as Lord?

No Right or Wrong

The beauty of that moment is that there’s no perfect selection. Either one results in a authentic instance of character development and emotional release for Nate. If you decide to take on The Manbreaker, it’s an personal triumph. Nate at last receives a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as competent as anyone else, consciously choosing a challenging way rather than suffering through one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s hard, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the moment of strength that he craves.

But there’s no shame in the staircase either. To opt for that way is to finally allow Nate to receive assistance. And when he does, he realizes that there’s no real catch waiting for him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They continue for a while, but they’re easy to walk up and he does not fall to the bottom if he falls. It’s a easy journey after lengthy difficulty. Halfway up, he even has a conversation with the outdoorsman who has, unsurprisingly, chosen to take The Obstacle. He tries to play it cool, but you can discern that he’s exhausted, quietly regretting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to fulfill his obligation, calling the character Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so nasty. Who has energy for shame by this odd character?

My Choice

During my game, I chose the staircase. Part of me just {wanted to call