The Game Baby Steps Includes Among the Most Significant Decisions I've Ever Faced in a Game

I've encountered some difficult decisions in gaming. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima's final sequence prompted me to pause the game for several minutes while I weighed my alternatives. I am the cause of countless Krogan fatalities in Mass Effect that I wish I could undo. None of those moments measure up to what possibly is the toughest selection I've ever made in a video game — and it involves a giant staircase.

Baby Steps, the recent title from the creators of Ape Out game, is hardly a selection-based adventure. Certainly not in any traditional sense. You simply have to walk around a vast game world as the main character Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can barely stand on his shaky limbs. It seems like one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps’s strength comes from its surprisingly deep narrative that will sneak up on you when you’re least expecting it. There’s no situation that showcases that quality like a pivotal decision that remains on my mind.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

A bit of context is necessary here. Baby Steps game begins as the protagonist is suddenly taken from his parents’ basement and into a fantasy world. He soon realizes that walking through it is a challenge, as years spent as a sedentary person have atrophied his limbs. The slapstick elements of it all stems from players controlling Nate step by step, trying to maintain his balance.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has problems articulating that to anyone. During his adventure, he encounters a cast of eccentric characters in the world who all offer to assist him. A self-assured trekker attempts to offer Nate a guide, but he clumsily declines in the game’s most hilarious scene. When he drops into an inescapable pit and is presented with a ladder, he tries to play it off like he can manage alone and actually wants to be trapped in the pit. During the narrative, you encounter plenty of frustrating vignettes where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too insecure to take support.

The Ultimate Choice

Everything builds up in Baby Steps’s one true moment of decision. As Nate nears the end his quest, he discovers that he must climb to the top of a snowy mountain. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) shows up to inform him that there are two routes to the top. If he’s prepared for difficulty, he can opt for a particularly extended and dangerous hiking trail named The Manbreaker. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps has to offer; choosing it looks risky to anyone.

But there’s a alternative choice: He can just walk up a enormous coiled steps instead and get to the top in just moments. The sole condition? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Master” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

An Agonizing Decision

I am very serious when I say that this is an agonizing choice in this situation. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself reaching a climax in a particularly bizarre situation. An element of Nate's story is focused on the fact that he’s self-conscious of his body and his masculinity. Each instance he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a painful recollection of what he fails to be. Attempting The Obstacle could be a instance where he can show that he’s as able as his one-sided rival, but that route is sure to be laden with more awkward mishaps. Does it merit suffering just to prove a point?

The steps, on the contrary, give Nate another big moment to either accept or reject help. The gamer cannot choose in about they turn away a map, but they can opt to give Nate a break and opt for the steps. It should be an easy choice, but Baby Steps game is exceptionally cunning about making you feel paranoid anytime you encounter an easy option. The world is filled with planned obstacles that change a secure way into a obstacle instantly. Are the stairs an additional deception? Will Nate get at the peak just to be disappointed by some last-second gag? And even worse, is he willing to be emasculated once again by being forced to call a strange individual as Master?

No Correct Answer

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no perfect selection. Each path results in a real situation of character development and catharsis for Nate. If you decide to take on The Obstacle, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate eventually obtains a chance to prove that he’s as competent as anyone else, willingly taking on a challenging way rather than suffering through one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s hard, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the dose of confidence that he requires.

But there’s no shame in the staircase too. To choose that path is to at last permit Nate to accept help. And when he does so, he realizes that there’s no real catch waiting for him. The staircase is not a trick. They continue for a while, but they’re easy to walk up and he doesn’t slide all the way down if he falls. It’s a easy journey after extended challenges. Partway through, he even has a chat with the hiker who has, of course, selected The Manbreaker. He tries to play it cool, but you can see that he’s worn out, quietly regretting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to pay his debt, calling the character Lord, the agreement barely appears so nasty. Who has energy for shame by this strange individual?

My Experience

When I played, I opted for the stairs. A portion of my thinking just {wanted to call