The Game Baby Steps Features One of the Most Meaningful Decisions I Have Ever Faced in Gaming

I've encountered some challenging decisions in video games. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange series remain on my mind. Ghost of Tsushima's final sequence prompted me to put my controller down for around ten minutes while I weighed my alternatives. I am accountable for countless Krogan demises in the Mass Effect series that I wish I could undo. Not a single one of those situations compare to what now might be the toughest selection I've ever made in a video game — and it concerns a giant staircase.

The Game Baby Steps, the latest game from the developers of Ape Out game, is hardly a selection-based adventure. Definitely not in the conventional way. You must walk around a expansive environment as Nate, a adult in a onesie who can barely stand on his unsteady feet. It appears to be a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps game’s power lies in its deceptively impactful story that will surprise you when you least anticipate it. There’s not a single instance that demonstrates that power like a key selection that I keep reflecting on.

Alert: Spoilers

Some scene setting is needed at this point. Baby Steps starts when Nate is magically whisked away from his family's basement and into a fantasy world. He quickly discovers that moving around in it is a challenge, as years spent as a sedentary person have deteriorated his physical condition. The slapstick elements of it all comes from users guiding Nate step by step, trying to maintain his balance.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has trouble voicing that to anyone. Throughout his hero’s journey, he meets a group of unusual individuals in the world who each propose to help him out. A self-assured trekker tries to give Nate a map, but he clumsily declines in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he falls into an trapping cavity and is given a way out, he attempts to act casual like he doesn’t need the help and genuinely desires to be stuck in the hole. During the narrative, you encounter plenty of irritating episodes where Nate makes life harder for himself because he’s too insecure to take support.

The Defining Decision

That comes to a head in Baby Steps’s key situation of choice. As Nate gets close to finishing his quest, he realizes that he must reach the summit of a snowy mountain. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) appears to tell him that there are two ways up. If he’s up for a challenge, he can choose a very lengthy and dangerous hiking trail dubbed The Manbreaker. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps includes; choosing it looks risky to anyone.

But there’s a second option: He can just walk up a gigantic spiral staircase instead and arrive at the peak in a short time. The sole condition? He’ll have to call the groundskeeper “Sir” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

A Difficult Selection

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an difficult selection in this situation. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself coming to a head in one absurd moment. Part of Nate’s journey is revolves around the reality that he’s unconfident of his physical appearance and manhood. Each instance he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a difficult memory of all he lacks. Taking on The Obstacle could be a time where he can demonstrate that he’s as competent as his one-sided rival, but that path is likely filled with more awkward mishaps. Does it merit suffering just to demonstrate something?

The steps, on the contrary, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The gamer cannot choose in if they reject navigation help, but they can decide to provide Nate with respite and take the stairs. It should be an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps is remarkably shrewd about causing suspicion each time you see a simple solution. The environment includes intentional pitfalls that transform an easy path into a setback suddenly. Is the staircase yet another trap? Will Nate get at the peak just to be disappointed by an ending prank? And even worse, is he willing to be emasculated yet again by being forced to call an odd character as Lord?

No Correct Answer

The beauty of that moment is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Both options brings about a authentic instance of personal growth and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Obstacle, it’s an personal triumph. Nate finally gets a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as able as everyone else, willingly taking on a tough path rather than suffering through one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s challenging, and possibly risky, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he craves.

But there’s no embarrassment in the stairs too. To select that route is to at last permit Nate to receive assistance. And when he does so, he finds that there’s no secret drawback waiting for him. The steps are not a joke. They go on for a long time, but they’re easy to walk up and he does not fall all the way down if he trips. It’s a simple climb after extended challenges. Halfway up, he even has a conversation with the trekker who has, unsurprisingly, opted for The Manbreaker. He tries to play it cool, but you can discern that he’s exhausted, silently lamenting the unnecessary challenge. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to pay his debt, calling the character Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so unpleasant. Who has time to be embarrassed by this strange individual?

My Choice

When I played, I opted for the stairs. Some part of my reasoning just {wanted to call