The Game Baby Steps Presents Among the Most Impactful Decisions I've Ever Faced in Video Games

I've faced some challenging decisions in interactive entertainment. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima's ending section made me set down my controller for a good 10 minutes while I considered my alternatives. I am the cause of numerous Krogan fatalities in Mass Effect that I wish I could undo. None of those moments hold a candle to what could be the most difficult decision I've faced in a video game — and it has to do with a giant staircase.

The Game Baby Steps, the latest game from the creators of Ape Out, is hardly a decision-focused experience. Definitely not in any traditional sense. You simply have to walk around a vast game world as the protagonist Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can hardly stay upright on his unsteady feet. It looks like a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps game’s appeal is in its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will sneak up on you when you’re least expecting it. There’s not a single instance that exemplifies that strength like a key selection that remains on my mind.

Spoiler Warning

A bit of context is necessary here. Baby Steps game starts when Nate is transported from his parents’ basement and into a fictional universe. He quickly discovers that walking through it is a difficulty, as years spent as a inactive individual have weakened his muscles. The slapstick elements of it all comes from users guiding Nate one step at a time, trying to maintain his balance.

Nate requires assistance, but he has problems articulating that to others. During his adventure, he encounters a cast of eccentric characters in the world who all offer to assist him. A composed outdoorsman seeks to provide Nate a navigation aid, but he clumsily declines in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he falls into an unavoidable hole and is offered a ladder, he tries to play it off like he requires no assistance and actually wants to be confined in the cavity. As the plot unfolds, you experience no shortage of irritating episodes where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too insecure to receive help.

The Defining Decision

This culminates in Baby Steps game’s single genuine instance of selection. As Nate approaches the conclusion his quest, he finds that he must ascend of a snow-capped peak. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) shows up to let him know that there are two routes to the top. If he’s ready for a test, he can opt for a particularly extended and risky path named The Challenge. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps game provides; attempting it appears unwise to anyone.

But there’s a alternative choice: He can just walk up a enormous coiled steps instead and arrive at the peak in a short time. The sole condition? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Lord” from now on if he takes the easy route.

A Difficult Selection

I am very serious 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 single ridiculous instant. An element of Nate's story is focused on the reality that he’s self-conscious of his body and his masculinity. Every time he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a difficult memory of everything he’s not. Attempting The Manbreaker could be a moment where he can demonstrate that he’s as able as his imagined opponent, but that path is likely paved with more embarrassing pratfalls. Does it merit struggling just to demonstrate something?

The stairs, on the other hand, give Nate another big moment to choose whether to take assistance or not. The player has no choice in about they decline guidance, but they can choose to allow Nate some relief and take the stairs. It might seem like an simple decision, but Baby Steps game is devilishly clever about causing suspicion each time you encounter an easy option. The environment includes intentional pitfalls that turn a safe route into a obstacle instantly. Could the steps one more trick? Will Nate get all the way to the top just to be disappointed by an ending prank? And more troubling, is he prepared to be humiliated yet again by being forced to call a strange individual as Master?

No Right or Wrong

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no perfect selection. Each path brings about a authentic instance of personal growth and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Obstacle, it’s an personal triumph. Nate at last receives a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as able as others, consciously choosing a challenging way rather than enduring one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s challenging, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the dose of confidence that he needs.

But there’s no embarrassment in the steps as well. To opt for that way is to eventually enable Nate to take support. And when he accomplishes that, he finds that there’s no hidden trick waiting for him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They continue for a while, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he won't slip completely down if he trips. It’s a straightforward ascent after hours of struggle. Midway through, he even has a chat with the outdoorsman who has, unsurprisingly, selected The Obstacle. He attempts to act casual, but you can tell that he’s fatigued, silently lamenting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to pay his debt, hailing his new Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so bad. Who has energy for shame by this strange individual?

Personal Reflection

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