Baby Steps Features Among the Most Meaningful Choices I Have Ever Experienced in a Game

I've faced some challenging decisions in interactive entertainment. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange series continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima final sequence prompted me to set down my controller for around ten minutes while I thought through my alternatives. I am responsible for so many Krogan deaths in the Mass Effect series that I would love to reverse. Not one of those instances measure up to what now might be the most difficult decision I've faced in a video game — and it has to do with a massive stairway.

The Game Baby Steps, the newest release from the developers of Ape Out game, is hardly a choice-driven game. At least not in any traditional sense. You simply have to navigate a vast game world as Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can barely stand on his unsteady feet. It seems like one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps’s appeal is in its surprisingly deep narrative that will surprise you when you least anticipate it. There’s no situation that showcases that quality like one major choice that remains on my mind.

Alert: Spoilers

Some background information is necessary here. Baby Steps game starts when Nate is transported from the basement of his home and into a fictional universe. He quickly discovers that navigating this world is a struggle, as a long time spent as a couch potato have weakened his muscles. The slapstick elements of it all comes from users guiding Nate step by step, trying to prevent him from falling over.

Nate needs help, but he has problems articulating that to anyone. Throughout his hero’s journey, he comes in contact with a cast of eccentric characters in the world who everyone tries to give him a hand. A self-assured trekker seeks to provide Nate a map, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he plunges into an inescapable pit and is presented with a ladder, he strives to appear nonchalant like he doesn’t need the help and genuinely desires to be trapped in the pit. Throughout the story, you experience no shortage of frustrating vignettes where Nate makes life harder for himself because he’s too self-conscious to accept any assistance.

The Defining Decision

That comes to a head in Baby Steps’s key situation of decision. As Nate nears the end his quest, he finds that he must climb to the top of a snow-capped peak. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) comes to tell him that there are two routes to the top. If he’s ready for a test, he can choose a very lengthy and dangerous hiking trail named The Manbreaker. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps includes; choosing it looks risky to anyone.

But there’s a other possibility: He can merely climb a enormous coiled steps in its place and get to the top in just moments. The single stipulation? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Master” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

An Agonizing Decision

I am completely earnest when I say that this is an difficult selection in the game's narrative. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself coming to a head in a particularly bizarre situation. An element of Nate's story is revolves around the truth that he’s self-conscious of his physique and male identity. Whenever he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a difficult memory of what he fails to be. Taking on The Obstacle could be a moment where he can prove that he’s as able as his unilateral competitor, but that route is sure to be filled with more humiliating failures. Does it merit suffering just to prove a point?

The steps, on the contrary, give Nate another big moment to either accept or reject help. The gamer cannot choose in if they reject navigation help, but they can choose to give Nate a break and take the stairs. It should be an easy choice, but Baby Steps game is exceptionally cunning about creating doubt whenever you find a gift horse. The world is filled with planned obstacles that transform an easy path into a setback on a dime. Is the staircase an additional deception? Will Nate get at the peak just to be fooled by a final joke? And more concerning, is he willing to be emasculated 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. Each path leads to a authentic instance of protagonist evolution and catharsis for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Challenge, it’s an existential win. Nate at last receives a chance to prove that he’s as competent as others, consciously choosing a difficult route rather than enduring one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s difficult, and possibly risky, but it’s the moment of strength that he craves.

But there’s no embarrassment in the staircase as well. To choose that path is to finally allow Nate to accept help. And when he accomplishes that, he realizes that there’s no hidden trick in store for him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They continue for a while, but they’re simple to climb and he does not fall to the bottom if he falls. It’s a easy journey after extended challenges. Partway through, he even has a conversation with the hiker who has, naturally, chosen to take The Manbreaker. He attempts to act casual, but you can discern that he’s fatigued, quietly regretting the pointless struggle. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to pay his debt, hailing his new Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so nasty. Who has concern for humiliation by this strange individual?

My Choice

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