Baby Steps Presents Among the Most Impactful Choices I've Ever Experienced in a Game

I've faced some hard decisions in gaming. Several of my selections in Life is Strange still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima concluding moments led me to set down my controller for several minutes while I weighed my alternatives. I am accountable for numerous Krogan fatalities in the Mass Effect series that I would love to reverse. Not one of those instances measure up to what now might be the most difficult decision I've ever made in a video game — and it concerns a giant staircase.

The Game Baby Steps, the recent title from the creators of Ape Out, isn’t exactly a decision-focused experience. Certainly not in any traditional sense. You only need to walk around a expansive environment as the main character Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can barely stand on his wobbly legs. It seems like a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps’s appeal is in its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will catch you off guard when you’re least expecting it. There’s no moment that demonstrates that power like a pivotal decision that remains on my mind.

Spoiler Warning

Some scene setting is necessary here. Baby Steps game begins as the protagonist is suddenly taken from his family's basement and into a fictional universe. He quickly discovers that moving around in it is a struggle, as years spent as a inactive individual have deteriorated his physical condition. The physical comedy of it all comes from users guiding Nate step by step, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

Nate requires assistance, but he has trouble voicing that to anyone. As he progresses, he comes in contact with a collection of quirky personalities in the world who all offer to help him out. A composed outdoorsman seeks to provide Nate a navigation aid, but he clumsily declines in the game’s most hilarious scene. When he drops into an unavoidable hole and is offered a ladder, he tries to play it off like he requires no assistance and genuinely desires to be confined in the cavity. Throughout the story, you encounter plenty of annoying scenarios where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s not confident enough to receive help.

The Ultimate Choice

Everything builds up in Baby Steps’s single genuine instance of decision. As Nate approaches the conclusion his quest, he discovers that he must ascend of a snowy mountain. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) comes to let him know that there are two routes to the top. If he’s up for a challenge, he can take an extremely long and dangerous hiking trail called The Manbreaker. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps has to offer; attempting it appears unwise to any human.

But there’s a second option: He can merely climb a gigantic spiral staircase instead and arrive at the peak in a few minutes. The single stipulation? He’ll have to call the groundskeeper “Sir” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

A Painful Choice

I am completely earnest when I say that this is an painful decision in the game's narrative. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself reaching a climax in a single ridiculous instant. An element of Nate's story is revolves around the truth that he’s unconfident of his physical appearance and manhood. Each instance he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a difficult memory of everything he’s not. Attempting The Manbreaker could be a instance where he can prove that he’s as able as his one-sided rival, but that route is sure to be filled with more humiliating failures. Is it worth suffering just to prove a point?

The staircase, on the contrary, 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 decline guidance, but they can opt to provide Nate with respite and take the stairs. It should be an easy choice, but Baby Steps game is devilishly clever about causing suspicion each time you find a gift horse. The world is filled with planned obstacles that change a secure way into a difficulty suddenly. Are the stairs yet another trap? Will Nate get to the very summit just to be disappointed by an ending prank? And more troubling, is he prepared to be humiliated another time by being forced to call some weirdo Lord?

No Correct Answer

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no perfect selection. Both options results in a genuine moment of character development and catharsis 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 anyone else, consciously choosing a challenging way rather than struggling through one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s challenging, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the dose of confidence that he requires.

But there’s no embarrassment in the staircase either. To select that route is to at last permit Nate to take support. And when he does so, he realizes that there’s no secret drawback waiting for him. The staircase is not a trick. They continue for a while, but they’re simple to climb and he won't slip to the bottom if he falls. It’s a straightforward ascent after lengthy difficulty. Midway through, he even has a conversation with the hiker who has, unsurprisingly, selected The Obstacle. He tries to play it cool, but you can tell that he’s worn out, silently lamenting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to pay his debt, calling the character Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so bad. Who has time to be embarrassed by this odd character?

My Choice

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