The Game Baby Steps Features Among the Most Impactful Decisions I've Ever Experienced in a Game

I've dealt with some difficult decisions in interactive entertainment. Some of my decisions 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 responsible for so many Krogan deaths in Mass Effect that I regret deeply. None of those moments hold a candle to what now might be the hardest choice I've faced in interactive media — and it involves a massive stairway.

The Game Baby Steps, the recent title from the developers of Ape Out game, isn’t exactly a choice-driven game. Certainly not in the conventional way. You only need to navigate a sprawling open world as the main character Nate, a adult in a onesie who can struggle to remain on his shaky limbs. It looks like one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps’s strength comes from its deceptively impactful story that will surprise you when it's most unexpected. There’s no situation that exemplifies that strength like one major choice that I keep reflecting on.

Alert: Spoilers

Some background information is required here. Baby Steps game starts when Nate is transported from the basement of his home and into a fictional universe. He quickly discovers that moving around in it is a difficulty, as years spent as a sedentary person have weakened his muscles. The slapstick elements of it all arises from users guiding Nate one step at a time, trying to prevent him from falling over.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has difficulty expressing that to others. Throughout his hero’s journey, he meets a cast of eccentric characters in the world who each propose to assist him. A self-assured trekker attempts to offer Nate a map, but he clumsily declines in the game’s funniest instant. When he falls into an trapping cavity and is presented with a ladder, he tries to play it off like he doesn’t need the help and actually wants to be confined in the cavity. During the narrative, you see numerous irritating episodes where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too self-conscious to take support.

The Defining Decision

That comes to a head in Baby Steps game’s one true moment of selection. As Nate approaches the conclusion his adventure, he realizes that he must climb to the top of a frosty elevation. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) comes to let him know that there are two paths upward. If he’s ready for a test, he can choose a very lengthy and dangerous hiking trail named The Obstacle. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps game provides; taking it seems inadvisable to anyone.

But there’s a alternative choice: He can just walk up a massive winding stairs as an alternative and reach the summit in just moments. The only caveat? He’ll have to address the guardian “Master” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

An Agonizing Decision

I am completely earnest when I say that this is an painful decision in context. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself coming to a head in one absurd moment. An element of Nate's story is revolves around the fact that he’s unconfident of his physique and male identity. Every time he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a painful recollection of everything he’s not. Undertaking The Manbreaker could be a moment where he can prove that he’s as able as his unilateral competitor, but that route is sure to be paved with more humiliating failures. Is it worth struggling just to demonstrate something?

The staircase, on the contrary, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to either accept or reject help. The player has no choice in about they reject navigation help, but they can decide to give Nate a break and opt for the steps. It should be an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps is exceptionally cunning about making you feel paranoid each time you encounter an easy option. The world is filled with design traps that change a secure way into a difficulty suddenly. Are the stairs one more trick? Will Nate get to the very summit just to be let down by a final joke? And more troubling, is he willing to be emasculated once again by being forced to call some weirdo Lord?

No Perfect Choice

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no perfect selection. Either one results in a genuine moment of character development and catharsis for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Manbreaker, it’s an existential win. Nate finally gets a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as capable as everyone else, voluntarily accepting a challenging way rather than struggling through one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s challenging, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the moment of strength that he requires.

But there’s no disgrace in the staircase as well. To select that route is to finally allow Nate to receive assistance. And when he does, he finds that there’s no hidden trick in store for him. The steps are not a joke. They go on for a long time, but they’re simple to climb and he doesn’t slide all the way down if he stumbles. It’s a easy journey after lengthy difficulty. Partway through, he even has a conversation with the hiker who has, unsurprisingly, chosen to take The Manbreaker. He tries to play it cool, but you can see that he’s fatigued, subtly ruing the pointless struggle. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to fulfill his obligation, addressing his new Master, the agreement barely appears so nasty. Who has time to be embarrassed by this freak?

My Choice

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