The Game Baby Steps Features One of the Most Meaningful Decisions I Have Ever Faced in Video Games

I've dealt with some hard decisions in interactive entertainment. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange series continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima's concluding moments led me to pause the game for around ten minutes while I considered my options. I am the cause of so many Krogan deaths in Mass Effect that I regret deeply. None of those moments hold a candle to what could be the hardest choice I've ever made in gaming — and it has to do with a giant staircase.

Baby Steps, the recent title from the developers of Ape Out, isn’t exactly a selection-based adventure. Certainly not in the conventional way. You only need to walk around a sprawling open world as Nate, a adult in a onesie who can barely stand on his wobbly legs. It looks like an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps’s power lies in its surprisingly deep narrative that will sneak up on you when you least anticipate it. There’s not a single instance that exemplifies that strength like a key selection that I can’t stop thinking about.

Spoiler Warning

A bit of context is required here. Baby Steps begins as Nate is transported from the basement of his home and into a fictional universe. He quickly discovers that walking through it is a difficulty, as a long time spent as a couch potato have deteriorated his physical condition. The humorous physicality of it all stems from players controlling Nate one step at a time, trying to maintain his balance.

Nate requires assistance, but he has trouble voicing that to others. As he progresses, he meets a collection of quirky personalities in the world who all offer to assist him. A composed outdoorsman attempts to offer Nate a navigation aid, but he awkwardly refuses in the game’s funniest instant. When he plunges into an trapping cavity and is offered a ladder, he strives to appear nonchalant like he doesn’t need the help and genuinely desires to be stuck in the hole. During the narrative, you experience no shortage of annoying scenarios where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too self-conscious to accept any assistance.

The Defining Decision

That comes to a head in Baby Steps’s one true moment of choice. As Nate nears the end his adventure, he finds that he must ascend of a frosty elevation. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) shows up to tell him that there are two paths upward. If he’s ready for a test, he can take an extremely long and dangerous hiking trail called The Manbreaker. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps includes; attempting it appears unwise to any human.

But there’s a alternative choice: He can simply ascend a massive winding stairs in its place and get to the top in just moments. The single stipulation? He’ll have to address the guardian “Sir” from now on if he takes the easy route.

A Painful Choice

I am very serious when I say that this is an agonizing choice in context. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself coming to a head in one absurd moment. A portion of Nate's adventure is focused on the fact that he’s insecure of his physical appearance and manhood. Each instance he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a hard reminder of everything he’s not. Undertaking The Obstacle could be a instance where he can demonstrate that he’s as competent as his one-sided rival, but that route is sure to be laden with more embarrassing pratfalls. Is it worth suffering just to make a statement?

The staircase, on the contrary, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to choose whether to take assistance or not. The gamer cannot choose in about they decline guidance, but they can opt to give Nate a break and take the stairs. It ought to be an simple decision, but Baby Steps game is remarkably shrewd about causing suspicion anytime you find a gift horse. The environment includes planned obstacles that transform an easy path into a setback instantly. Are the stairs yet another trap? Might Nate arrive at the peak just to be disappointed by a final joke? And even worse, is he prepared to be humiliated yet again by being made to address a strange individual as Master?

No Right or Wrong

The beauty of that moment is that there’s no correct or incorrect choice. Both options results in a real situation of personal growth and emotional release for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Obstacle, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate eventually obtains a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as able as others, consciously choosing a tough path rather than struggling through one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s difficult, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the dose of confidence that he needs.

But there’s no embarrassment in the staircase too. To select that route is to finally allow Nate to accept help. And when he does, he realizes that there’s no secret drawback awaiting him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They go on for a long time, but they’re simple to climb and he won't slip completely down if he trips. It’s a simple climb after hours of struggle. Halfway up, he even has a chat with the hiker who has, unsurprisingly, chosen to take The Manbreaker. He tries to play it cool, but you can tell that he’s exhausted, quietly regretting the unnecessary challenge. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to meet his agreement, calling the character Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so bad. Who has concern for humiliation by this odd character?

My Choice

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