The Game Baby Steps Presents One of the Most Impactful Choices I've Ever Encountered in Video Games

I've faced some challenging choices in video games. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange series still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima concluding moments led me to put my controller down for several minutes while I weighed my alternatives. I am the cause of numerous Krogan deaths in Mass Effect that I wish I could undo. Not a single one of those situations compare to what could be the toughest selection I've faced in gaming — and it involves a enormous set of steps.

Baby Steps, the newest release from the developers of Ape Out game, is not really a decision-focused experience. Definitely not in typical gaming terms. You must walk around a expansive environment as the protagonist Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can barely stand on his shaky limbs. It looks like an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps’s strength comes from its deceptively impactful story that will sneak up on you when it's most unexpected. There’s no situation that demonstrates that power like a pivotal decision that I keep reflecting on.

Spoiler Warning

Some background information is necessary here. Baby Steps game starts when Nate is transported from his parents’ basement and into a magical realm. He soon realizes that walking through it is a difficulty, as a lifetime spent as a couch potato have weakened his muscles. The physical comedy of it all arises from players controlling Nate gradually, trying to maintain his balance.

Nate needs help, but he has difficulty expressing that to other characters. As he progresses, he encounters a cast of eccentric characters in the world who everyone tries to assist him. A cool, confident hiker attempts to offer Nate a map, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s most hilarious scene. When he drops into an trapping cavity and is given a way out, he strives to appear nonchalant like he can manage alone and actually wants to be trapped in the pit. As the plot unfolds, you experience no shortage of annoying scenarios where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too insecure to accept any assistance.

The Defining Decision

Everything builds up in Baby Steps game’s single genuine instance of selection. As Nate nears the end his journey, he discovers that he must ascend of a snow-capped peak. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) appears to inform him that there are two paths upward. If he’s up for a challenge, he can choose a very lengthy and dangerous hiking trail named The Challenge. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps game includes; taking it seems inadvisable to any human.

But there’s a alternative choice: He can simply ascend a gigantic spiral staircase in its place and arrive at the peak in a short time. The only caveat? He’ll have to address the guardian “Master” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

An Agonizing Decision

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an painful decision in context. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself reaching a climax in a particularly bizarre situation. Part of Nate’s journey is centered around the reality that he’s self-conscious of his physique and male identity. Whenever he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a painful recollection of all he lacks. Undertaking The Challenge could be a moment where he can show that he’s as able as his imagined opponent, but that path is likely paved with more awkward mishaps. Does it merit struggling just to demonstrate something?

The steps, on the flip side, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The player has no choice in about they turn away a map, but they can decide to give Nate a break and choose the staircase. It might seem like an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps is devilishly clever about creating doubt whenever you find a gift horse. The game world contains intentional pitfalls that turn a safe route into a difficulty suddenly. Are the stairs one more trick? Will Nate get all the way to the top just to be let down by an ending prank? And more concerning, is he prepared to be humiliated once again by being forced to call a strange individual as Master?

No Right or Wrong

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Each path results in a authentic instance of protagonist evolution and emotional release for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Manbreaker, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate finally gets a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as competent as everyone else, consciously choosing a difficult route rather than struggling through one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s challenging, and possibly risky, but it’s the moment of strength that he requires.

But there’s no disgrace in the staircase either. To select that route is to finally allow Nate to take support. And when he does so, he finds that there’s no secret drawback in store for him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They extend for some distance, but they’re easy to walk up and he does not fall to the bottom if he stumbles. It’s a straightforward ascent after hours of struggle. Midway through, he even has a chat with the trekker who has, of course, chosen to take The Challenge. He attempts to act casual, but you can discern that he’s fatigued, subtly ruing the unnecessary challenge. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to fulfill his obligation, calling the character Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so bad. Who has energy for shame by this freak?

My Experience

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