Baby Steps Presents Among the Most Meaningful Decisions I Have Ever Faced in Gaming

I've encountered some hard decisions in gaming. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima's final sequence prompted me to pause the game for several minutes while I weighed my options. I am the cause of so many Krogan fatalities in the Mass Effect series that I would love to reverse. Not one of those instances compare to what possibly is the toughest selection I've faced in gaming — and it concerns a giant staircase.

Baby Steps, the newest release from the makers of Ape Out game, is not really a decision-focused experience. Definitely 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 shaky limbs. It looks like one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps game’s appeal is in its surprisingly deep narrative that will surprise you when it's most unexpected. There’s no situation that exemplifies that strength like a pivotal decision that I can’t stop thinking about.

Spoiler Warning

Some background information is needed at this point. Baby Steps game starts when Nate is magically whisked away from the basement of his home and into a fictional universe. He soon realizes that moving around in it is a difficulty, as a lifetime spent as a sedentary person have atrophied his limbs. The physical comedy of it all arises from users guiding Nate gradually, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

Nate requires assistance, but he has difficulty expressing that to other characters. As he progresses, he encounters a collection of quirky personalities in the world who all offer to assist him. A composed outdoorsman tries to give Nate a guide, but he clumsily declines in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he plunges into an inescapable pit and is offered a ladder, he attempts to act casual like he requires no assistance and genuinely desires to be confined in the cavity. As the plot unfolds, you experience no shortage of annoying scenarios where Nate makes life harder for himself because he’s too insecure to take support.

The Pivotal Moment

Everything builds up in Baby Steps game’s one true moment of choice. As Nate approaches the conclusion his journey, he finds that he must ascend of a snowy mountain. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded 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 choose a very lengthy and hazardous route dubbed The Obstacle. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps game has to offer; attempting it appears unwise to any person.

But there’s a other possibility: He can just walk up a massive winding stairs in its place and reach the summit in a short time. The single stipulation? He’ll have to address the guardian “Master” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

A Difficult Selection

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an agonizing choice in this situation. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself coming to a head in one absurd moment. A portion of Nate's adventure is focused on the truth that he’s insecure of his physical appearance and manhood. Each instance he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a hard reminder of what he fails to be. Undertaking The Obstacle could be a time where he can demonstrate that he’s as able as his unilateral competitor, but that route is sure to be filled with more humiliating failures. Does it merit struggling just to demonstrate something?

The staircase, on the flip side, give Nate another big moment to choose whether to take assistance or not. The user doesn't get to decide in about they turn away a map, but they can choose to give Nate a break and opt for the steps. It might seem like an easy choice, but Baby Steps is remarkably shrewd about causing suspicion whenever you encounter an easy option. The environment includes planned obstacles that change a secure way into a difficulty instantly. Could the steps yet another trap? Could Nate reach at the peak just to be fooled by an ending prank? And more troubling, is he prepared to be humiliated once again by being made to address a strange individual as Master?

No Perfect Choice

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Either one brings about a genuine moment of personal growth and emotional release for Nate. If you decide to take on The Manbreaker, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate finally gets a chance to prove that he’s as competent as everyone else, willingly taking on a tough path rather than suffering through one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s difficult, and possibly risky, but it’s the moment of strength that he craves.

But there’s no embarrassment in the steps as well. To select that route is to finally allow Nate to accept help. And when he accomplishes that, he discovers that there’s no secret drawback awaiting him. The staircase is not a trick. They go on for a long time, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he doesn’t slide to the bottom if he trips. It’s a easy journey after lengthy difficulty. Partway through, he even has a chat with the trekker who has, unsurprisingly, opted for The Obstacle. He tries to play it cool, but you can see that he’s worn out, subtly ruing the pointless struggle. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to pay his debt, hailing his new Lord, the deal hardly seems so bad. Who has concern for humiliation by this odd character?

Personal Reflection

During my game, I selected the steps. Part of me just {wanted to call