Baby Steps Includes One of the Most Meaningful Choices I Have Ever Experienced in a Game

I've encountered some hard decisions in interactive entertainment. Several of my selections in Life is Strange series remain on my mind. Ghost of Tsushima concluding moments made me put my controller down for around ten minutes while I weighed my options. I am responsible for countless Krogan fatalities in the Mass Effect series that I regret deeply. Not one of those instances measure up to what now might be the most difficult decision I’ve had to make in gaming — and it concerns a massive stairway.

The Game Baby Steps, the latest game from the makers of Ape Out, is hardly a choice-driven game. At least not in the conventional way. You must navigate a expansive environment as the main character Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can struggle to remain on his wobbly legs. It seems like a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps game’s strength comes from its surprisingly deep narrative that will catch you off guard when you’re least expecting it. There’s no situation that exemplifies that strength like a key selection that I can’t stop thinking about.

Spoiler Warning

Some scene setting is required here. Baby Steps starts when Nate is magically whisked away from his family's basement and into a fantasy world. He quickly discovers that walking through it is a difficulty, as years spent as a couch potato have weakened his muscles. The humorous physicality of it all comes from gamers directing Nate gradually, trying to prevent him from falling over.

Nate requires assistance, but he has difficulty expressing that to anyone. During his adventure, he meets a cast of eccentric characters in the world who all offer to give him a hand. A self-assured trekker attempts to offer Nate a navigation aid, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he plunges into an trapping cavity and is presented with a ladder, he attempts to act casual like he doesn’t need the help and truly prefers to be stuck in the hole. Throughout the story, you encounter plenty of annoying scenarios where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too insecure to take support.

The Ultimate Choice

Everything builds up in Baby Steps game’s single genuine instance of selection. As Nate gets close to finishing his quest, he realizes that he must ascend of a snow-capped peak. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) shows up to tell him that there are two ways up. If he’s up for a challenge, he can opt for a particularly extended and risky path dubbed The Obstacle. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps game includes; taking it seems inadvisable to any person.

But there’s a alternative choice: He can merely climb a gigantic spiral staircase in its place and reach the summit in a few minutes. The sole condition? He’ll have to address the guardian “Master” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

A Difficult Selection

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an painful decision in context. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself culminating in a particularly bizarre situation. Part of Nate’s journey is revolves around the reality that he’s insecure of his body and his masculinity. Whenever he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a difficult memory of all he lacks. Undertaking The Manbreaker could be a time where he can prove that he’s as able as his imagined opponent, but that road is bound to be paved with more humiliating failures. Is it justified suffering just to prove a point?

The stairs, on the other hand, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The user doesn't get to decide in about they turn away a map, but they can opt to provide Nate with respite and choose the staircase. It should 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 setback on a dime. Could the steps one more trick? Could Nate reach at the peak just to be let down by a final joke? And more troubling, is he willing to be emasculated yet again by being made to address an odd character as Lord?

No Correct Answer

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no perfect selection. Both options leads to a genuine moment of character development and catharsis for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Manbreaker, it’s an existential win. Nate eventually obtains a chance to prove that he’s as capable as everyone else, consciously choosing a difficult route rather than suffering through one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s challenging, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the moment of strength that he craves.

But there’s no embarrassment in the steps as well. To opt for that way is to at last permit Nate to accept help. And when he does, he discovers 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 trips. It’s a simple climb after lengthy difficulty. Partway through, he even has a chat with the hiker who has, naturally, selected The Obstacle. He tries to play it cool, but you can tell that he’s exhausted, quietly regretting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to meet his agreement, addressing his new Master, the arrangement scarcely looks so unpleasant. Who has concern for humiliation by this odd character?

My Choice

In my playthrough, I selected the steps. A portion of my thinking just {wanted to call