Baby Steps Presents Among the Most Significant Choices I've Ever Faced in Video Games

I've dealt with some hard decisions in video games. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange remain on my mind. Ghost of Tsushima concluding moments led me to put my controller down for several minutes while I weighed my options. I am the cause of numerous Krogan demises in the Mass Effect series that I would love to reverse. Not one of those instances compare to what now might be the most difficult decision I’ve had to make in interactive media — and it has to do with a massive stairway.

The Game Baby Steps, the recent title from the creators of Ape Out game, is hardly a choice-driven game. Certainly not in the conventional way. You must navigate a expansive environment as the protagonist Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can barely stand on his wobbly legs. It looks like one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps game’s strength comes from its deceptively impactful story that will surprise you when it's most unexpected. There’s no moment that demonstrates that power like one major choice that I can’t stop thinking about.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

Some background information is necessary here. Baby Steps begins as the protagonist is suddenly taken from his parents’ basement and into a fictional universe. He immediately finds that walking through it is a challenge, as a long time spent as a couch potato have deteriorated his physical condition. The slapstick elements of it all arises from players controlling Nate step by step, trying to maintain his balance.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has problems articulating that to other characters. During his adventure, he meets a group of unusual individuals in the world who each propose to help him out. A self-assured trekker attempts to offer Nate a navigation aid, but he clumsily declines in the game’s funniest instant. When he falls into an unavoidable hole and is presented with a ladder, he tries to play it off like he doesn’t need the help and truly prefers to be stuck in the hole. As the plot unfolds, you see numerous annoying scenarios where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too self-conscious to take support.

The Pivotal Moment

Everything builds up in Baby Steps game’s one true moment of decision. As Nate gets close to finishing his journey, he discovers that he must climb to the top of a frosty elevation. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) comes to let him know that there are two ways up. If he’s prepared for difficulty, he can take an extremely long and dangerous hiking trail named The Challenge. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps game includes; choosing it looks risky to any human.

But there’s a alternative choice: He can just walk up a enormous coiled steps instead and get to the top in just moments. The only caveat? He’ll have to address the guardian “Master” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

An Agonizing Decision

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an painful decision in context. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities 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. Each instance he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a difficult memory of everything he’s not. Taking on The Manbreaker could be a time where he can prove that he’s as competent as his one-sided rival, but that path is likely filled with more embarrassing pratfalls. Does it merit suffering just to prove a point?

The stairs, on the contrary, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to choose whether to take assistance or not. The user doesn't get to decide in if they turn away a map, but they can choose to give Nate a break and choose the staircase. It ought to be an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps game is exceptionally cunning about creating doubt anytime you see a simple solution. The game world contains intentional pitfalls that turn a safe route into a difficulty on a dime. Are the stairs one more trick? Will Nate get all the way to the top just to be fooled by a final joke? And more concerning, is he prepared to be humiliated once again by being made to address an odd character as Lord?

No Perfect Choice

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no perfect selection. Both options leads to a authentic instance of personal growth and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you decide to take on The Challenge, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate at last receives a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as competent as others, voluntarily accepting a challenging way rather than struggling through one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s challenging, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he requires.

But there’s no embarrassment in the steps too. To choose that path is to finally allow Nate to accept help. And when he does so, he discovers that there’s no secret drawback in store for him. The steps are not a joke. They extend for some distance, but they’re simple to climb and he won't slip completely down if he falls. It’s a easy journey after lengthy difficulty. Partway through, he even has a conversation with the trekker who has, naturally, chosen to take The Obstacle. He attempts to act casual, but you can discern that he’s fatigued, subtly ruing the pointless struggle. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to fulfill his obligation, addressing his new Master, the arrangement scarcely looks so nasty. Who has concern for humiliation by this strange individual?

Personal Reflection

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