The Game Baby Steps Presents One of the Most Meaningful Choices I Have Ever Experienced in Gaming

I've faced some challenging decisions in interactive entertainment. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange remain on my mind. Ghost of Tsushima ending section made me put my controller down for several minutes while I thought through my options. I am accountable for numerous Krogan demises in the Mass Effect series that I would love to reverse. 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 has to do with a giant staircase.

The Game Baby Steps, the newest release from the developers of Ape Out game, is hardly a selection-based adventure. Definitely not in any traditional sense. You must navigate a expansive environment as the main character Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can barely stand on his shaky limbs. It looks like a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps’s appeal is in its surprisingly deep narrative that will sneak up on you when you least anticipate it. There’s not a single instance that exemplifies that strength like a key selection that I can’t stop thinking about.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

Some scene setting is needed at this point. Baby Steps begins as the protagonist is suddenly taken from his family's basement and into a magical realm. He soon realizes that moving around in it is a difficulty, as a long time spent as a sedentary person have weakened his muscles. The slapstick elements of it all stems from players controlling Nate one step at a time, trying to prevent him from falling over.

Nate needs help, but he has difficulty expressing that to anyone. Throughout his hero’s journey, he meets a cast of eccentric characters in the world who everyone tries to assist him. A composed outdoorsman tries to give Nate a guide, but he awkwardly refuses in the game’s most hilarious scene. When he drops into an unavoidable hole and is presented with a ladder, he tries to play it off like he doesn’t need the help and genuinely desires to be trapped in the pit. As the plot unfolds, you experience no shortage of annoying scenarios where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too self-conscious to receive help.

The Defining Decision

This culminates in Baby Steps game’s one true moment of decision. As Nate approaches the conclusion his journey, he finds that he must climb to the top of a snow-capped peak. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) shows up to inform him that there are two paths upward. If he’s up for a challenge, he can choose a very lengthy and hazardous route named The Obstacle. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps includes; choosing it looks risky to anyone.

But there’s a other possibility: He can merely climb a enormous coiled steps instead and get to the top in a few minutes. The sole condition? He’ll have to address the guardian “Sir” from now on if he takes the easy route.

An Agonizing Decision

I am completely earnest when I say that this is an difficult selection in this situation. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself reaching a climax in a single ridiculous instant. Part of Nate’s journey is revolves around the fact that he’s unconfident of his physical appearance and manhood. Every time he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a difficult memory of everything he’s not. Attempting The Obstacle could be a moment where he can demonstrate that he’s as capable as his unilateral competitor, but that route is sure to be filled with more humiliating failures. Is it justified struggling just to make a statement?

The staircase, on the contrary, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The gamer cannot choose in about they decline guidance, but they can decide to give Nate a break and take the stairs. It ought to be an easy choice, but Baby Steps game is remarkably shrewd about causing suspicion anytime you encounter an easy option. The game world contains planned obstacles that change a secure way into a setback on a dime. Is the staircase yet another trap? Could Nate reach at the peak just to be disappointed by a final joke? And even worse, is he ready to be diminished yet again by being made to address a strange individual as Master?

No Perfect Choice

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Either one results in a authentic instance of personal growth and emotional release for Nate. If you decide to take on The Challenge, it’s an existential win. Nate at last receives a chance to prove that he’s as able as others, voluntarily accepting a difficult route rather than enduring one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s difficult, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the dose of confidence that he needs.

But there’s no disgrace in the stairs either. To select that route is to finally allow Nate to take support. And when he does so, he finds that there’s no real catch in store for him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They extend for some distance, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he doesn’t slide all the way down if he stumbles. It’s a easy journey after hours of struggle. Partway through, he even has a chat with the trekker who has, of course, chosen to take The Obstacle. He attempts to act casual, but you can tell that he’s fatigued, quietly regretting the unnecessary challenge. By the time Nate arrives at the peak 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

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