The Game Baby Steps Features One of the Most Significant Decisions I Have Ever Encountered in Gaming

I've encountered some difficult decisions in interactive entertainment. Several of my selections in Life is Strange continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima ending section led me to pause the game for a good 10 minutes while I thought through my alternatives. I am the cause of numerous Krogan demises in the Mass Effect series that I wish I could undo. None of those moments measure up to what now might be the hardest choice I've faced in interactive media — and it concerns a giant staircase.

Baby Steps, the latest game from the creators of Ape Out game, isn’t exactly a decision-focused experience. Certainly not in any traditional sense. You must explore a expansive environment as the protagonist Nate, a adult in a onesie who can hardly stay upright on his unsteady feet. It seems like an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps’s power lies in its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will surprise you when you’re least expecting it. There’s not a single instance that showcases that quality like a key selection that remains on my mind.

Spoiler Warning

A bit of context is necessary here. Baby Steps starts when the protagonist is suddenly taken from his parents’ basement and into a fantasy world. He soon realizes that moving around in it is a struggle, as a lifetime spent as a sedentary person have weakened his muscles. The physical comedy of it all comes from players controlling Nate gradually, trying to maintain his balance.

Nate requires assistance, but he has problems articulating that to others. As he progresses, he meets a collection of quirky personalities in the world who everyone tries to help him out. A self-assured trekker tries to give Nate a map, but he clumsily declines in the game’s funniest instant. When he falls into an trapping cavity and is offered a ladder, he strives to appear nonchalant like he doesn’t need the help and truly prefers to be trapped in the pit. As the plot unfolds, you encounter plenty of annoying scenarios where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too insecure to receive help.

The Defining Decision

This culminates in Baby Steps’s single genuine instance of decision. As Nate approaches the conclusion his quest, he finds that he must ascend of a snow-capped peak. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) shows up to tell him that there are two routes to the top. If he’s ready for a test, he can choose a very lengthy and risky path called The Manbreaker. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps provides; taking it seems inadvisable to any human.

But there’s a other possibility: He can simply ascend a enormous coiled steps in its place and arrive at the peak in a few minutes. The sole condition? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Sir” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

A Painful Choice

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an agonizing choice in context. 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 focused on the fact that he’s insecure of his body and his masculinity. Each instance he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a painful recollection of what he fails to be. Attempting The Obstacle could be a instance where he can demonstrate that he’s as competent as his one-sided rival, but that path is likely filled with more embarrassing pratfalls. Does it merit struggling just to make a statement?

The steps, on the flip side, give Nate another big moment to choose whether to take assistance or not. The player has no choice in whether or not they turn away a map, but they can choose to give Nate a break and choose the staircase. It ought to be an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps game is devilishly clever about creating doubt whenever you encounter an easy option. The game world contains intentional pitfalls that turn a safe route into a obstacle suddenly. Could the steps yet another trap? Might Nate arrive to the very summit just to be fooled by some last-second gag? And more concerning, is he prepared to be humiliated yet again by being made to address some weirdo Lord?

No Correct Answer

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no correct or incorrect choice. Each path results in a real situation of personal growth and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you decide to take on The Manbreaker, it’s an personal triumph. Nate at last receives a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as able as anyone else, voluntarily accepting a challenging way rather than struggling through one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s difficult, and possibly risky, but it’s the dose of confidence that he requires.

But there’s no shame in the steps as well. To opt for that way is to at last permit Nate to accept help. And when he does so, he realizes that there’s no hidden trick awaiting him. The staircase is not a trick. They go on for a long time, but they’re simple to climb and he doesn’t slide to the bottom if he falls. It’s a straightforward ascent after extended challenges. Partway through, he even has a conversation with the hiker who has, naturally, chosen to take The Challenge. He tries to play it cool, but you can tell that he’s fatigued, subtly ruing the unnecessary challenge. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to fulfill his obligation, hailing his new Lord, the deal hardly seems so bad. Who has time to be embarrassed by this odd character?

My Experience

During my game, I chose the staircase. Part of me just {wanted to call