The Game Baby Steps Includes One of the Most Meaningful Choices I Have Ever Encountered in a Game

I've encountered some difficult choices in interactive entertainment. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima final sequence prompted me to set down my controller for several minutes while I weighed my choices. I am the cause of numerous Krogan demises in Mass Effect that I regret deeply. None of those moments hold a candle to what now might be the hardest choice I’ve had to make in a video game — and it involves a massive stairway.

The Game Baby Steps, the recent title from the creators of Ape Out game, isn’t exactly a selection-based adventure. Definitely not in the conventional way. You simply have to walk around a expansive environment as the protagonist Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can hardly stay upright on his wobbly legs. It appears to be a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps’s appeal is in its deceptively impactful story that will sneak up on you when it's most unexpected. There’s no situation that showcases that quality like a pivotal decision that I can’t stop thinking about.

Spoiler Warning

Some scene setting is necessary here. Baby Steps game starts when Nate is transported from his family's basement and into a magical realm. He immediately finds that navigating this world is a challenge, as a long time spent as a inactive individual have atrophied his limbs. The physical comedy of it all arises from users guiding Nate step by step, trying to maintain his balance.

Nate needs help, but he has trouble voicing that to anyone. As he progresses, he meets a group of unusual individuals in the world who each propose to give him a hand. A self-assured trekker seeks to provide Nate a navigation aid, but he clumsily declines in the game’s funniest instant. When he falls into an trapping cavity and is given a way out, he tries to play it off like he requires no assistance and genuinely desires to be trapped in the pit. As the plot unfolds, you experience no shortage of frustrating vignettes where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too self-conscious to receive help.

The Defining Decision

That comes to a head in Baby Steps’s single genuine instance of selection. As Nate gets close to finishing his journey, he finds that he must ascend of a frosty elevation. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) appears to inform him that there are two routes to the top. If he’s ready for a test, he can opt for a particularly extended and hazardous route called The Challenge. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps includes; choosing it looks risky to any human.

But there’s a second option: He can just walk up a enormous coiled steps in its place and arrive at the peak in a short time. The single stipulation? He’ll have to address the guardian “Sir” from now on if he takes the easy route.

An Agonizing Decision

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an painful decision in this situation. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself reaching a climax in one absurd moment. Part of Nate’s journey is revolves around the reality that he’s self-conscious 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 moment where he can prove that he’s as competent as his imagined opponent, but that road is bound to be paved with more awkward mishaps. Is it justified suffering just to make a statement?

The steps, on the other hand, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The user doesn't get to decide in whether or not they turn away a map, but they can opt to give Nate a break and take the stairs. It might seem like an easy choice, but Baby Steps is exceptionally cunning about making you feel paranoid whenever you find a gift horse. The world is filled with design traps that change a secure way into a difficulty suddenly. Are the stairs one more trick? Will Nate get to the very summit just to be disappointed by some last-second gag? And more concerning, is he prepared to be humiliated yet again by being forced to call a strange individual as Master?

No Right or Wrong

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no perfect selection. Each path brings about a genuine moment of character development and emotional release for Nate. If you decide to take on The Manbreaker, it’s an existential win. Nate finally gets a chance to prove that he’s as competent as others, voluntarily accepting a difficult route rather than enduring one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s challenging, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the moment of strength that he craves.

But there’s no embarrassment in the staircase as well. To opt for that way is to finally allow Nate to accept help. And when he does so, he realizes that there’s no hidden trick awaiting him. The steps are not a joke. They go on for a long time, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he doesn’t slide completely down if he trips. It’s a straightforward ascent after lengthy difficulty. Partway through, he even has a chat with the trekker who has, unsurprisingly, selected The Obstacle. He strives to appear composed, but you can tell that he’s fatigued, silently lamenting the pointless struggle. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to fulfill his obligation, calling the character Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so nasty. Who has time to be embarrassed by this freak?

Personal Reflection

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