The Game Baby Steps Includes Among the Most Impactful Choices I Have Ever Faced in a Game

I've dealt with some challenging choices in gaming. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange series still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima's concluding moments made me set down my controller for around ten minutes while I weighed my choices. I am accountable for numerous Krogan demises in the Mass Effect series that I would love to reverse. None of those moments compare to what could be the toughest selection I've faced in interactive media — and it concerns a enormous set of steps.

Baby Steps, the recent title from the developers of Ape Out game, is not really a decision-focused experience. Definitely not in the conventional way. You only need to walk around a sprawling open world as the main character Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can struggle to remain on his shaky limbs. It looks like an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps’s appeal is in its surprisingly deep narrative that will catch you off guard when it's most unexpected. There’s not a single instance that exemplifies that strength like a pivotal decision that I keep reflecting on.

Alert: Spoilers

Some scene setting is needed at this point. Baby Steps begins as Nate is transported from his family's basement and into a magical realm. He quickly discovers that walking through it is a challenge, as a lifetime spent as a sedentary person have atrophied his limbs. The humorous physicality of it all arises from players controlling Nate one step at a time, trying to maintain his balance.

Nate requires assistance, but he has trouble voicing that to anyone. During his adventure, he comes in contact with a group of unusual individuals in the world who all offer to help him out. A cool, confident hiker tries to give Nate a guide, but he awkwardly refuses in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he drops into an trapping cavity and is given a way out, he attempts to act casual like he can manage alone and truly prefers to be confined in the cavity. During the narrative, you experience no shortage of frustrating vignettes where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too self-conscious to take support.

The Ultimate Choice

That comes to a head in Baby Steps game’s key situation of decision. As Nate nears the end his adventure, he finds that he must ascend of a frosty elevation. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) shows up to let him know that there are two paths upward. If he’s up for a challenge, he can opt for a particularly extended and risky path named The Manbreaker. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps game includes; taking it seems inadvisable to any human.

But there’s a second option: He can just walk up a massive winding stairs instead and reach the summit in a few minutes. The sole condition? He’ll have to address the guardian “Sir” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

A Painful Choice

I am completely earnest when I say that this is an difficult selection 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 centered around the truth that he’s self-conscious of his body and his masculinity. Every time he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a hard reminder of what he fails to be. Undertaking The Manbreaker could be a instance where he can prove that he’s as able as his unilateral competitor, but that road is bound to be paved with more humiliating failures. Is it justified striving just to demonstrate something?

The steps, on the other hand, offer Nate an additional crucial instance 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 choose to allow Nate some relief and take the stairs. It might seem like an simple decision, but Baby Steps game is exceptionally cunning about causing suspicion anytime you see a simple solution. The environment includes intentional pitfalls that change a secure way into a setback instantly. Are the stairs yet another trap? Could Nate reach all the way to the top just to be let down by an ending prank? And more concerning, is he willing to be emasculated once again by being forced to call a strange individual as Master?

No Perfect Choice

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Each path leads to a real situation of protagonist evolution and catharsis for Nate. If you decide to take on The Challenge, it’s an existential win. Nate finally gets a moment to show that he’s as able as everyone else, willingly taking on a challenging way rather than enduring one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s hard, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the moment of strength that he craves.

But there’s no shame in the steps too. To choose that path is to at last permit Nate to receive assistance. And when he does so, he realizes that there’s no hidden trick in store for him. The staircase is not a trick. They continue for a while, but they’re simple to climb and he won't slip all the way down if he stumbles. It’s a simple climb after extended challenges. Partway through, he even has a discussion with the hiker who has, naturally, selected The Manbreaker. He tries to play it cool, but you can see that he’s fatigued, quietly regretting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to fulfill his obligation, addressing his new Master, the agreement barely appears so unpleasant. Who has energy for shame by this odd character?

My Experience

In my playthrough, I opted for the stairs. Some part of my reasoning just {wanted to call