Baby Steps Includes Among the Most Impactful Decisions I've Ever Experienced in a Game

I've encountered some hard choices in video games. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange series still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima's concluding moments led me to set down my controller for several minutes while I considered my alternatives. I am responsible for countless Krogan deaths in Mass Effect that I wish I could undo. Not one of those instances measure up to what possibly is the most difficult decision I've ever made in a video game — and it has to do with a enormous set of steps.

The Game Baby Steps, the latest game from the creators of Ape Out game, isn’t exactly a choice-driven game. At least not in any traditional sense. You only need to walk around a sprawling open world as Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can hardly stay upright on his shaky limbs. It seems like an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps’s power lies in its deceptively impactful story that will surprise you when it's most unexpected. There’s no moment that exemplifies that strength like one major choice that remains on my mind.

Alert: Spoilers

A bit of context is necessary here. Baby Steps game begins as the protagonist is suddenly taken from the basement of his home and into a magical realm. He immediately finds that walking through it is a difficulty, as a lifetime spent as a sedentary person have deteriorated his physical condition. The physical comedy of it all comes from users guiding Nate step by step, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

Nate needs help, but he has difficulty expressing that to anyone. During his adventure, he encounters a group of unusual individuals in the world who everyone tries to assist him. A composed outdoorsman tries to give Nate a navigation aid, but he clumsily declines in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he plunges 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 trapped in the pit. Throughout the story, you encounter plenty of irritating episodes where Nate makes life harder for himself because he’s too insecure to take support.

The Defining Decision

Everything builds up in Baby Steps game’s key situation of selection. As Nate approaches the conclusion his adventure, he finds that he must climb to the top of a snowy mountain. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) shows up to tell 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 intimidating challenge Baby Steps provides; choosing it looks risky to any human.

But there’s a second option: He can just walk up a gigantic spiral staircase instead and arrive at the peak in just moments. The only caveat? He’ll have to address the guardian “Sir” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

An Agonizing Decision

I am very serious when I say that this is an difficult selection in the game's narrative. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself reaching a climax in one absurd moment. An element of Nate's story is focused on the truth that he’s self-conscious of his physical appearance and manhood. Whenever he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a difficult memory of everything he’s not. Taking on The Challenge could be a moment where he can demonstrate that he’s as able as his one-sided rival, but that road is bound to be paved with more awkward mishaps. Is it worth suffering just to demonstrate something?

The staircase, on the other hand, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The player has no choice in whether or not they reject navigation help, but they can opt to provide Nate with respite and choose the staircase. It should be an simple decision, but Baby Steps game is exceptionally cunning about creating doubt whenever you find a gift horse. The game world contains planned obstacles that turn a safe route into a difficulty on a dime. Are the stairs one more trick? Might Nate arrive to the very summit just to be fooled by a final joke? And more concerning, is he prepared to be humiliated yet again by being compelled to refer to an odd character as Lord?

No Right or Wrong

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no perfect selection. Either one results in a authentic instance of protagonist evolution and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Manbreaker, it’s an personal triumph. Nate finally gets a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as capable as others, consciously choosing a tough path rather than enduring one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s challenging, and possibly risky, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he needs.

But there’s no shame in the staircase as well. To select that route is to finally allow Nate to accept help. And when he does so, he realizes that there’s no hidden trick in store 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 all the way down if he falls. It’s a straightforward ascent after hours of struggle. Partway through, he even has a chat with the hiker who has, unsurprisingly, selected The Obstacle. He strives to appear composed, but you can discern that he’s worn out, subtly ruing the needless difficulty. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to pay his debt, calling the character Lord, the deal hardly seems so unpleasant. Who has energy for shame by this odd character?

My Choice

During my game, I opted for the stairs. Some part of my reasoning just {wanted to call