The Game Baby Steps Includes Among the Most Meaningful Choices I've Ever Experienced in Video Games

I've faced some challenging decisions in video games. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange series continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima's concluding moments prompted me to put my controller down for several minutes while I weighed my options. I am accountable for so many Krogan fatalities in the Mass Effect series that I regret deeply. Not a single one of those situations measure up to what now might be the hardest choice I’ve had to make in a video game — and it concerns a massive stairway.

Baby Steps, the newest release from the creators of Ape Out game, is hardly a decision-focused experience. Certainly not in typical gaming terms. You must navigate a sprawling open world as Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can struggle to remain on his shaky limbs. It looks like an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps game’s strength comes from its deceptively impactful story that will sneak up on you when you least anticipate it. There’s no moment that showcases that quality like a key selection that I can’t stop thinking about.

Spoiler Warning

Some background information is needed at this point. Baby Steps game begins as Nate is magically whisked away from his parents’ basement and into a magical realm. He immediately finds that navigating this world is a difficulty, as a lifetime spent as a couch potato have atrophied his limbs. The humorous physicality of it all arises from users guiding Nate gradually, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

Nate needs help, but he has problems articulating that to others. Throughout his hero’s journey, he meets a collection of quirky personalities in the world who each propose to give him a hand. A cool, confident hiker seeks to provide Nate a guide, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he plunges into an trapping cavity and is presented with a ladder, he strives to appear nonchalant like he can manage alone and actually wants to be stuck in the hole. As the plot unfolds, you encounter plenty of irritating episodes where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too self-conscious to accept any assistance.

The Ultimate Choice

Everything builds up in Baby Steps game’s one true moment of selection. As Nate approaches the conclusion his journey, he finds that he must reach the summit 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 ways up. If he’s up for a challenge, he can opt for a particularly extended and hazardous route dubbed The Manbreaker. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps provides; taking it seems inadvisable to any human.

But there’s a second option: He can simply ascend a enormous coiled steps instead and reach the summit in a few minutes. The sole condition? He’ll have to call the groundskeeper “Lord” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

A Difficult Selection

I am very serious when I say that this is an painful decision in the game's narrative. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself reaching a climax in a single ridiculous instant. Part of Nate’s journey is revolves around the truth that he’s self-conscious of his physical appearance and manhood. Each instance he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a difficult memory of all he lacks. Attempting The Obstacle could be a moment where he can demonstrate that he’s as capable as his unilateral competitor, but that road is bound to be paved with more embarrassing pratfalls. Is it worth struggling just to prove a point?

The staircase, on the contrary, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to either accept or reject help. The gamer cannot choose in whether or not they reject navigation help, but they can choose to allow Nate some relief and choose the staircase. It should be an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps is devilishly clever about making you feel paranoid anytime you encounter an easy option. The game world contains planned obstacles that transform an easy path into a difficulty on a dime. Is the staircase an additional deception? Will Nate get all the way to the top just to be let down by some last-second gag? And more troubling, is he ready to be diminished another time by being made to address an odd character as Lord?

No Correct Answer

The beauty of that moment is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Both options results in a real situation of personal growth and catharsis for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Manbreaker, it’s an personal triumph. Nate at last receives a moment to show that he’s as capable as others, consciously choosing a challenging way rather than suffering through one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s hard, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he needs.

But there’s no shame in the stairs too. To opt for that way is to finally allow Nate to accept help. And when he does, he discovers that there’s no secret drawback awaiting him. The steps are not a joke. They continue for a while, but they’re simple to climb and he does not fall all the way down if he falls. It’s a easy journey after extended challenges. Partway through, he even has a discussion with the hiker who has, of course, selected The Manbreaker. He tries to play it cool, but you can tell that he’s exhausted, subtly ruing the needless difficulty. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to fulfill his obligation, calling the character Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so nasty. Who has concern for humiliation by this freak?

My Experience

When I played, I opted for the stairs. A portion of my thinking just {wanted to call