The Game Baby Steps Features One of the Most Impactful Choices I Have Ever Faced in Video Games

I've dealt with some hard choices in interactive entertainment. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange series remain on my mind. Ghost of Tsushima ending section made me set down my controller for a good 10 minutes while I weighed my choices. I am accountable for so many Krogan fatalities in the Mass Effect series that I wish I could undo. Not a single one of those situations measure up to what now might be the hardest choice I've ever made in a video game — and it has to do with a enormous set of steps.

The Game Baby Steps, the latest game from the creators of Ape Out game, isn’t exactly a choice-driven game. Certainly not in the conventional way. You must explore a expansive environment as the protagonist Nate, a adult in a onesie who can hardly stay upright on his shaky limbs. It looks like one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps game’s strength comes from its deceptively impactful story that will sneak up on you when you’re least expecting it. There’s no moment that showcases that quality like one major choice that I keep reflecting on.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

Some background information is required here. Baby Steps game begins as Nate is magically whisked away from his family's basement and into a fictional universe. He quickly discovers that moving around in it is a struggle, as years spent as a couch potato have atrophied his limbs. The humorous physicality of it all comes from players controlling Nate step by step, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

Nate needs help, but he has problems articulating that to others. Throughout his hero’s journey, he comes in contact with a group of unusual individuals in the world who each propose to assist him. A self-assured trekker attempts to offer Nate a guide, but he clumsily declines in the game’s funniest instant. When he plunges into an unavoidable hole and is offered a ladder, he strives to appear nonchalant like he doesn’t need the help and genuinely desires to be confined in the cavity. As the plot unfolds, you experience no shortage of irritating episodes where Nate makes life harder for himself because he’s too insecure to take support.

The Ultimate Choice

This culminates in Baby Steps’s one true moment of selection. As Nate approaches the conclusion his journey, he finds that he must ascend of a snowy mountain. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) appears to inform him that there are two paths upward. If he’s up for a challenge, he can opt for a particularly extended and dangerous hiking trail dubbed The Obstacle. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps provides; attempting it appears unwise to anyone.

But there’s a other possibility: He can merely climb a massive winding stairs instead and reach the summit in a few minutes. The sole condition? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Lord” from now on if he takes the easy route.

A Painful Choice

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an difficult selection in this situation. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself reaching a climax in one absurd moment. An element of Nate's story is revolves around the reality that he’s insecure of his body and his masculinity. Whenever he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a difficult memory of everything he’s not. Attempting The Manbreaker could be a instance where he can prove that he’s as competent as his unilateral competitor, but that road is bound to be paved with more embarrassing pratfalls. Is it justified suffering just to prove a point?

The stairs, on the flip side, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The player has no choice in about they reject navigation help, but they can choose to allow Nate some relief and opt for the steps. It might seem like an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps is devilishly clever about causing suspicion each time you find a gift horse. The environment includes design traps that transform an easy path into a difficulty on a dime. Is the staircase one more trick? Might Nate arrive to the very summit just to be fooled by an ending prank? And more concerning, is he ready to be diminished yet again by being made to address some weirdo Lord?

No Perfect Choice

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no correct or incorrect choice. Either one results in a genuine moment of personal growth and emotional release for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Obstacle, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate at last receives a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as competent as everyone else, voluntarily accepting a difficult route rather than struggling through one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s hard, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he requires.

But there’s no disgrace in the stairs as well. To opt for that way is to at last permit Nate to take support. And when he does so, he realizes that there’s no secret drawback in store for him. The staircase is not a trick. They continue for a while, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he doesn’t slide all the way down if he trips. It’s a straightforward ascent after extended challenges. Midway through, he even has a conversation with the hiker who has, naturally, chosen to take The Challenge. He attempts to act casual, but you can see that he’s fatigued, subtly ruing the needless difficulty. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to pay his debt, calling the character Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so bad. Who has concern for humiliation by this odd character?

My Experience

In my playthrough, I selected the steps. Some part of my reasoning just {wanted to call