The Game Baby Steps Features One of the Most Significant Choices I Have Ever Faced in Gaming

I've dealt with some challenging choices in interactive entertainment. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange series remain on my mind. Ghost of Tsushima concluding moments made me put my controller down for several minutes while I thought through my options. I am responsible for countless Krogan deaths in the Mass Effect series that I regret deeply. Not a single one of those situations compare to what now might be the hardest choice I’ve had to make in gaming — and it has to do with a massive stairway.

Baby Steps, the recent title from the makers of Ape Out game, is not really a decision-focused experience. At least not in the conventional way. You must navigate a expansive environment as the main character Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can hardly stay upright on his wobbly legs. It appears to be one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps’s strength comes from its deceptively impactful story that will sneak up on you when you least anticipate it. There’s no moment that exemplifies that strength like a key selection that I can’t stop thinking about.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

A bit of context is required here. Baby Steps begins as Nate is transported from his parents’ basement and into a fantasy world. He soon realizes that moving around in it is a difficulty, as years spent as a couch potato have weakened his muscles. The humorous physicality of it all stems from players controlling Nate gradually, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

Nate requires assistance, but he has trouble voicing that to other characters. During his adventure, he meets a cast of eccentric characters in the world who everyone tries to assist him. A cool, confident hiker attempts to offer Nate a guide, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s funniest instant. When he plunges into an inescapable pit and is presented with a ladder, he strives to appear nonchalant like he requires no assistance and truly prefers to be stuck in the hole. As the plot unfolds, you experience no shortage of annoying scenarios where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too self-conscious to receive help.

The Ultimate Choice

That comes to a head in Baby Steps’s one true moment of decision. As Nate approaches the conclusion his quest, he realizes that he must ascend of a snowy mountain. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) comes to inform him that there are two ways up. If he’s prepared for difficulty, he can choose a very lengthy and hazardous route named The Manbreaker. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps game includes; choosing it looks risky to any person.

But there’s a second option: He can just walk up a enormous coiled steps in its place and get to the top in a few minutes. The sole condition? He’ll have to address the guardian “Master” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

A Difficult Selection

I am completely earnest when I say that this is an difficult selection in context. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself reaching a climax in a single ridiculous instant. An element of Nate's story is centered around the reality that he’s insecure of his body and his masculinity. Each instance he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a hard reminder of what he fails to be. Undertaking The Challenge could be a time where he can show that he’s as able as his one-sided rival, but that route is sure to be paved with more awkward mishaps. Is it justified striving just to demonstrate something?

The steps, on the contrary, give Nate another big moment to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The gamer cannot choose in if they turn away a map, but they can choose to provide Nate with respite and opt for the steps. It ought to be an simple decision, but Baby Steps game is remarkably shrewd about making you feel paranoid whenever you see a simple solution. The environment includes design traps that change a secure way into a difficulty on a dime. Are the stairs one more trick? Could Nate reach all the way to the top just to be disappointed by a final joke? And even worse, is he ready to be diminished another time by being made to address some weirdo Lord?

No Perfect Choice

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no perfect selection. Each path brings about a real situation of character development and emotional release for Nate. If you decide to take on The Manbreaker, it’s an existential win. Nate finally gets a chance to prove that he’s as capable as everyone else, voluntarily accepting a tough path rather than enduring one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s difficult, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the dose of confidence that he needs.

But there’s no disgrace in the stairs too. To select that route is to at last permit Nate to receive assistance. And when he accomplishes that, he finds that there’s no secret drawback awaiting him. The staircase is not a trick. They extend for some distance, but they’re simple to climb and he doesn’t slide completely down if he falls. It’s a simple climb after extended challenges. Midway through, he even has a conversation with the outdoorsman who has, unsurprisingly, selected The Challenge. He tries to play it cool, but you can see that he’s worn out, subtly ruing the pointless struggle. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to pay his debt, addressing his new Master, the arrangement scarcely looks so bad. Who has time to be embarrassed by this odd character?

Personal Reflection

During my game, I chose the staircase. A portion of my thinking just {wanted to call