Baby Steps Presents One of the Most Significant Decisions I've Ever Encountered in Video Games

I've faced some difficult decisions in interactive entertainment. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima ending section made me pause the game for several minutes while I considered my alternatives. I am accountable for countless Krogan demises in Mass Effect that I regret deeply. None of those moments hold a candle to what now might be the toughest selection I've ever made in gaming — and it involves a enormous set of steps.

The Game Baby Steps, the latest game from the developers of Ape Out game, is not really a choice-driven game. Certainly not in the conventional way. You must explore a sprawling open world as the protagonist Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can struggle to remain on his wobbly legs. It appears to be an exercise in frustration, 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 demonstrates that power like a key selection that I keep reflecting on.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

Some background information is needed at this point. Baby Steps game begins as Nate is transported from his parents’ basement and into a magical realm. He immediately finds that walking through it is a difficulty, as a lifetime spent as a sedentary person have weakened his muscles. The physical comedy of it all arises from players controlling Nate one step at a time, trying to maintain his balance.

Nate needs help, but he has difficulty expressing that to others. Throughout his hero’s journey, he encounters a group of unusual individuals in the world who everyone tries to help him out. 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 falls into an inescapable pit and is presented with a ladder, he attempts to act casual like he doesn’t need the help and genuinely desires to be confined in the cavity. During the narrative, you see numerous frustrating vignettes where Nate makes life harder for himself because he’s too self-conscious to accept any assistance.

The Defining Decision

Everything builds up in Baby Steps’s one true moment of selection. As Nate nears the end his journey, he finds that he must climb to the top of a snowy mountain. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) shows up to tell him 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 Challenge. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps provides; choosing it looks risky to any human.

But there’s a other possibility: He can merely climb a enormous coiled steps as an alternative and get to the top in a few minutes. The single stipulation? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Sir” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

A Difficult Selection

I am completely earnest when I say that this is an difficult selection in context. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself culminating in one absurd moment. Part of Nate’s journey is focused on the reality that he’s unconfident of his physical appearance and manhood. Whenever he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a hard reminder of what he fails to be. Undertaking The Challenge could be a time where he can show that he’s as able as his unilateral competitor, but that route is sure to be filled with more humiliating failures. Is it worth struggling just to prove a point?

The staircase, on the flip side, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to either accept or reject help. The user doesn't get to decide in if they reject navigation help, but they can opt to allow Nate some relief and take the stairs. It might seem like an easy choice, but Baby Steps game is remarkably shrewd about creating doubt whenever you find a gift horse. The environment includes planned obstacles that transform an easy path into a setback instantly. Could the steps one more trick? Could Nate reach all the way to the top just to be disappointed by an ending prank? And even worse, is he ready to be diminished yet again by being made to address some weirdo Lord?

No Correct Answer

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no perfect selection. Either one results in a authentic instance of protagonist evolution and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Manbreaker, it’s an existential win. Nate at last receives a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as capable as everyone else, willingly taking on a tough path rather than struggling through one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s hard, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the moment of strength that he requires.

But there’s no shame in the steps as well. To choose that path is to finally allow Nate to accept help. And when he does so, he discovers that there’s no hidden trick awaiting him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They go on for a long time, but they’re easy to walk up and he does not fall completely down if he falls. It’s a straightforward ascent after lengthy difficulty. Midway through, he even has a discussion with the hiker who has, naturally, chosen to take The Manbreaker. He attempts to act casual, but you can discern that he’s fatigued, subtly ruing the needless difficulty. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to pay his debt, addressing his new Master, the arrangement scarcely looks so bad. Who has energy for shame by this strange individual?

Personal Reflection

When I played, I chose the staircase. Part of me just {wanted to call