Baby Steps Features Among the Most Impactful Choices I've Ever Encountered in a Game

I've dealt with some challenging choices in interactive entertainment. Several of my selections in Life is Strange still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima final sequence led me to pause the game for around ten minutes while I thought through my options. I am responsible for countless Krogan demises in Mass Effect that I regret deeply. Not a single one of those situations measure up to what could be the hardest choice I've ever made in gaming — and it involves a massive stairway.

The Game Baby Steps, the recent title from the creators of Ape Out game, is hardly a selection-based adventure. Certainly not in the conventional way. You simply have to navigate a sprawling open world as the main character Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can hardly stay upright on his wobbly legs. It appears to be an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps game’s strength comes from its surprisingly deep narrative that will surprise you when you least anticipate it. There’s not a single instance that showcases that quality like a pivotal decision that I keep reflecting on.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

A bit of context is required here. Baby Steps begins as the protagonist is suddenly taken from his family's basement and into a fictional universe. He soon realizes that moving around in it is a difficulty, as a long time spent as a sedentary person have weakened his muscles. The humorous physicality of it all arises from players controlling Nate step by step, trying to maintain his balance.

Nate needs help, but he has difficulty expressing that to others. During his adventure, he meets a collection of quirky personalities in the world who everyone tries to assist him. A composed outdoorsman seeks to provide Nate a navigation aid, but he clumsily declines in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he drops into an trapping cavity and is given a way out, he strives to appear nonchalant like he can manage alone and genuinely desires to be confined in the cavity. Throughout the story, you encounter plenty of irritating episodes where Nate makes life harder for himself because he’s too self-conscious to accept any assistance.

The Pivotal Moment

This culminates in Baby Steps game’s key situation of decision. As Nate gets close to finishing his quest, he realizes that he must climb to the top of a frosty elevation. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) appears to let him know that there are two paths upward. If he’s prepared for difficulty, he can choose a very lengthy and risky path called The Manbreaker. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps has to offer; attempting it appears unwise 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 single stipulation? He’ll have to address the guardian “Sir” from now on if he takes the easy route.

A Painful Choice

I am very serious when I say that this is an painful decision in context. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself culminating in a particularly bizarre situation. Part of Nate’s journey is revolves around the fact that he’s unconfident of his body and his masculinity. Each instance he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a painful recollection of everything he’s not. Taking on The Manbreaker could be a time where he can prove that he’s as competent as his unilateral competitor, but that path is likely paved with more awkward mishaps. Does it merit striving just to demonstrate something?

The stairs, on the other hand, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to choose whether to take assistance or not. The player has no choice in about they turn away a map, but they can opt to provide Nate with respite and take the stairs. It should be an easy choice, but Baby Steps game is devilishly clever about causing suspicion anytime you see a simple solution. The world is filled with design traps that change a secure way into a obstacle on a dime. Is the staircase one more trick? Could Nate reach all the way to the top just to be let down by an ending prank? And even worse, is he ready to be diminished once again by being made to address some weirdo Lord?

No Right or Wrong

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Each path leads to a authentic instance of character development and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you decide to take on The Obstacle, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate finally gets a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as able as others, willingly taking on a challenging way rather than enduring one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s challenging, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he craves.

But there’s no disgrace in the steps too. To select that route is to at last permit Nate to take support. And when he accomplishes that, he realizes that there’s no hidden trick waiting for him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They continue for a while, but they’re easy to walk up and he doesn’t slide all the way down if he trips. It’s a simple climb after extended challenges. Midway through, he even has a discussion with the outdoorsman who has, unsurprisingly, selected The Manbreaker. He attempts to act casual, but you can tell that he’s worn out, silently lamenting the unnecessary challenge. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to pay his debt, calling the character Lord, the deal hardly seems so unpleasant. Who has time to be embarrassed by this strange individual?

My Choice

When I played, I chose the staircase. Some part of my reasoning just {wanted to call