Baby Steps Includes Among the Most Meaningful Choices I've Ever Experienced in a Game

I've encountered some hard choices in video games. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima final sequence made me put my controller down for a good 10 minutes while I weighed my alternatives. I am responsible for numerous Krogan demises in Mass Effect that I would love to reverse. None of those moments compare to what now might be the most difficult decision I’ve had to make in gaming — and it involves a giant staircase.

Baby Steps, the recent title from the creators of Ape Out game, is not really a selection-based adventure. At least not in the conventional way. You simply have to navigate a expansive environment as the protagonist Nate, a adult in a onesie who can hardly stay upright on his shaky limbs. It appears to be a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps’s appeal is in its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will surprise you when you’re least expecting it. There’s no situation that showcases that quality like a pivotal decision that remains on my mind.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

Some background information is needed at this point. Baby Steps begins as the protagonist is suddenly taken from his family's basement and into a fantasy world. He immediately finds that navigating this world is a challenge, as a long time spent as a couch potato have deteriorated his physical condition. 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 difficulty expressing that to other characters. As he progresses, he meets a cast of eccentric characters in the world who everyone tries to give him a hand. A composed outdoorsman seeks to provide Nate a map, but he clumsily declines in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he drops into an unavoidable hole and is given a way out, he strives to appear nonchalant like he requires no assistance and truly prefers to be stuck in the hole. During the narrative, you encounter plenty of annoying scenarios where Nate makes life harder for himself because he’s too self-conscious to take support.

The Defining Decision

This culminates in Baby Steps game’s key situation of selection. As Nate nears the end his journey, he realizes that he must climb to the top of a snow-capped peak. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) shows up to inform him that there are two paths upward. If he’s ready for a test, he can take an extremely long and hazardous route dubbed The Challenge. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps game provides; taking it seems inadvisable to any person.

But there’s a other possibility: He can simply ascend a massive winding stairs in its place and reach the summit in a short time. The single stipulation? He’ll have to call the groundskeeper “Master” from now on if he takes the easy route.

A Difficult Selection

I am very serious when I say that this is an painful decision in this situation. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself culminating in a single ridiculous instant. An element of Nate's story is revolves around the reality that he’s insecure of his physical appearance and manhood. Whenever he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a hard reminder of all he lacks. Undertaking The Manbreaker could be a instance where he can prove that he’s as capable as his imagined opponent, but that route is sure to be laden with more humiliating failures. Is it worth striving just to prove a point?

The stairs, on the contrary, give Nate another big moment to choose whether to take assistance or not. The user doesn't get to decide in if they turn away a map, but they can choose to provide Nate with respite and choose the staircase. It should be an simple decision, but Baby Steps game is devilishly clever about creating doubt whenever you find a gift horse. The world is filled with design traps that change a secure way into a setback on a dime. Are the stairs yet another trap? Will Nate get to the very summit just to be let down by a final joke? And even worse, is he ready to be diminished another time by being compelled to refer to some weirdo Lord?

No Correct Answer

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no perfect selection. Both options brings about a authentic instance of character development and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you decide to take on The Challenge, it’s an existential win. Nate eventually obtains a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as competent as anyone else, voluntarily accepting a difficult route rather than struggling through one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s challenging, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the dose of confidence that he needs.

But there’s no embarrassment in the stairs as well. To opt for that way is to eventually enable Nate to receive assistance. And when he does, he finds that there’s no secret drawback waiting for him. The staircase is not a trick. They extend for some distance, but they’re simple to climb and he won't slip all the way down if he trips. It’s a straightforward ascent after hours of struggle. Midway through, he even has a conversation with the trekker who has, naturally, chosen to take The Obstacle. He attempts to act casual, but you can tell that he’s exhausted, subtly ruing the needless difficulty. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to meet his agreement, calling the character Lord, the deal hardly seems so nasty. Who has time to be embarrassed by this odd character?

My Choice

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