The Game Baby Steps Features Among the Most Impactful Choices I Have Ever Faced in Video Games

I've encountered some hard choices in interactive entertainment. Several of my selections in Life is Strange series continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima's ending section prompted me to put my controller down for several minutes while I thought through my alternatives. I am the cause of so many Krogan fatalities in Mass Effect that I wish I could undo. Not one of those instances compare to what could be the toughest selection I've ever made in interactive media — and it concerns a enormous set of steps.

The Game Baby Steps, the newest release from the developers of Ape Out game, is hardly a choice-driven game. Certainly not in typical gaming terms. You only need to walk around a vast game world as the protagonist Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can struggle to remain on his shaky limbs. It looks like a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps’s strength comes from its surprisingly deep narrative that will surprise you when it's most unexpected. There’s no moment that exemplifies that strength like one major choice that remains on my mind.

Spoiler Warning

Some background information is required here. Baby Steps game starts when the protagonist is suddenly taken from his parents’ basement and into a fictional universe. He soon realizes that walking through it is a challenge, as a long time spent as a inactive individual have weakened his muscles. The physical comedy of it all comes from gamers directing Nate step by step, trying to prevent him from falling over.

Nate needs help, but he has trouble voicing that to others. During his adventure, he meets a group of unusual individuals in the world who everyone tries to give him a hand. A cool, confident hiker tries to give Nate a map, but he clumsily declines in the game’s most hilarious scene. When he plunges into an inescapable pit and is given a way out, he attempts to act casual like he can manage alone and actually wants to be stuck in the hole. During the narrative, you see numerous annoying scenarios where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too self-conscious to accept any assistance.

The Defining Decision

That comes to a head in Baby Steps game’s single genuine instance of decision. As Nate approaches the conclusion his adventure, he realizes that he must reach the summit of a snowy mountain. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) appears to inform him that there are two paths upward. If he’s ready for a test, he can take an extremely long and hazardous route named The Manbreaker. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps game provides; choosing it looks risky to any person.

But there’s a other possibility: He can merely climb a massive winding stairs in its place and reach the summit in a short time. The sole condition? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Sir” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

An Agonizing Decision

I am completely earnest when I say that this is an agonizing choice in the game's narrative. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself coming to a head in a particularly bizarre situation. A portion of Nate's adventure is centered around the reality that he’s self-conscious of his body and his masculinity. Whenever he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a hard reminder of everything he’s not. Taking on The Manbreaker could be a time where he can prove that he’s as capable as his imagined opponent, but that path is likely filled with more humiliating failures. Is it worth struggling just to make a statement?

The steps, on the contrary, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to choose whether to take assistance or not. The player has no choice in about they reject navigation help, but they can choose to provide Nate with respite and opt for the steps. It ought to be an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps game is remarkably shrewd about creating doubt anytime you find a gift horse. The environment includes intentional pitfalls that turn a safe route into a difficulty on a dime. Could the steps an additional deception? Could Nate reach all the way to the top just to be disappointed by some last-second gag? And even worse, is he prepared to be humiliated once again by being forced to call some weirdo Lord?

No Right or Wrong

The beauty of that moment is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Either one results in a real situation of protagonist evolution and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you decide to take on The Manbreaker, it’s an existential win. Nate eventually obtains a moment to show that he’s as able as anyone else, willingly taking on a challenging way rather than enduring one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s difficult, and possibly risky, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he requires.

But there’s no shame in the stairs as well. To select that route is to eventually enable Nate to receive assistance. And when he does so, he realizes that there’s no secret drawback in store for him. The staircase is not a trick. They extend for some distance, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he doesn’t slide to the bottom if he falls. It’s a easy journey after lengthy difficulty. Midway through, he even has a chat with the hiker who has, unsurprisingly, chosen to take The Obstacle. He tries to play it cool, but you can tell that he’s exhausted, quietly regretting the pointless struggle. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to fulfill his obligation, calling the character Lord, the deal hardly seems so nasty. Who has concern for humiliation by this freak?

My Choice

When I played, I opted for the stairs. Part of me just {wanted to call