Baby Steps Includes Among the Most Significant Choices I Have Ever Experienced in a Game

I've encountered some difficult decisions in video games. Several of my selections in Life is Strange series still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima's final sequence led me to pause the game for around ten minutes while I thought through my options. I am the cause of so many Krogan fatalities in the Mass Effect series that I would love to reverse. Not one of those instances measure up to what possibly is the hardest choice I’ve had to make in a video game — and it involves a enormous set of steps.

Baby Steps, the recent title from the makers of Ape Out game, isn’t exactly a decision-focused experience. Definitely not in any traditional sense. You simply have to walk around a sprawling open world as the main character Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can struggle to remain on his shaky limbs. It looks like an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps’s appeal is in its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will catch you off guard when it's most unexpected. 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 magically whisked away from his parents’ basement and into a fictional universe. He quickly discovers that walking through it is a challenge, as a long time spent as a couch potato have atrophied his limbs. The slapstick elements of it all arises from players controlling Nate one step at a time, trying to prevent him from falling over.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has difficulty expressing that to other characters. As he progresses, he comes in contact with a group of unusual individuals in the world who each propose to give him a hand. A composed outdoorsman attempts to offer Nate a map, but he clumsily declines in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he falls into an trapping cavity and is presented with a ladder, he tries to play it off like he doesn’t need the help and truly prefers to be stuck in the hole. Throughout the story, you see numerous frustrating vignettes where Nate makes life harder for himself because he’s not confident enough to receive help.

The Ultimate Choice

This culminates in Baby Steps game’s one true moment of choice. As Nate approaches the conclusion his quest, he finds that he must climb to the top of a frosty elevation. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) shows up to inform him that there are two ways up. If he’s ready for a test, he can take an extremely long and dangerous hiking trail named The Manbreaker. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps game includes; attempting it appears unwise to any person.

But there’s a second option: He can merely climb a massive winding stairs in its place and get to the top in a few minutes. The only caveat? 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 difficult selection in this situation. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself culminating in a particularly bizarre situation. Part of Nate’s journey is centered around the truth that he’s insecure of his body and his masculinity. Whenever he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a difficult memory of everything he’s not. Taking on The Manbreaker could be a moment where he can demonstrate that he’s as able as his one-sided rival, but that route is sure to be filled with more awkward mishaps. Does it merit suffering just to make a statement?

The stairs, on the other hand, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to choose whether to take assistance or not. The user doesn't get to decide in whether or not they reject navigation help, but they can choose to allow Nate some relief and choose the staircase. It should be an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps is devilishly clever about making you feel paranoid anytime you find a gift horse. The environment includes intentional pitfalls that turn a safe route into a difficulty suddenly. Could the steps an additional deception? Might Nate arrive to the very summit just to be fooled by some last-second gag? And more troubling, is he prepared to be humiliated another time by being forced to call an odd character as Lord?

No Right or Wrong

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no perfect selection. Both options results in a authentic instance of personal growth and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Obstacle, it’s an personal triumph. Nate at last receives a chance to prove that he’s as competent as others, willingly taking on a challenging way rather than struggling through one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s challenging, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the moment of strength that he needs.

But there’s no shame in the staircase as well. To choose that path is to at last permit Nate to accept help. And when he does, he finds that there’s no hidden trick waiting for him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They go on for a long time, but they’re easy to walk up and he won't slip completely down if he falls. It’s a easy journey after hours of struggle. Midway through, he even has a chat with the trekker who has, unsurprisingly, chosen to take The Challenge. He tries to play it cool, but you can discern that he’s worn out, silently lamenting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to pay his debt, addressing his new Master, the agreement barely appears so unpleasant. Who has concern for humiliation by this odd character?

Personal Reflection

During my game, I opted for the stairs. Part of me just {wanted to call