The Game Baby Steps Features Among the Most Meaningful Decisions I Have Ever Encountered in a Game

I've encountered some hard decisions in video games. Several of my selections in Life is Strange series continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima's ending section made me set down my controller for around ten minutes while I weighed my options. I am accountable for so many Krogan deaths in Mass Effect that I regret deeply. Not one of those instances measure up to what could be the most difficult decision I’ve had to make in gaming — and it has to do with a massive stairway.

The Game Baby Steps, the recent title from the developers of Ape Out, is hardly a selection-based adventure. At least not in the conventional way. You simply have to navigate a expansive environment as Nate, a adult in a onesie who can struggle to remain on his wobbly legs. It seems like an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps’s appeal is in its surprisingly deep narrative that will catch you off guard when you least anticipate it. There’s not a single instance that exemplifies that strength like one major choice that I can’t stop thinking about.

Spoiler Warning

Some background information is necessary here. Baby Steps game begins as the protagonist is suddenly taken from the basement of his home and into a fictional universe. He soon realizes that moving around in it is a challenge, as a lifetime spent as a couch potato have deteriorated his physical condition. The humorous physicality of it all arises from users guiding Nate one step at a time, trying to maintain his balance.

Nate needs help, but he has difficulty expressing that to anyone. Throughout his hero’s journey, he encounters a group of unusual individuals in the world who everyone tries to give him a hand. A self-assured trekker tries to give Nate a navigation aid, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s most hilarious scene. When he falls into an trapping cavity and is given a way out, he strives to appear nonchalant like he doesn’t need the help and actually wants to be confined in the cavity. As the plot unfolds, you encounter plenty of frustrating vignettes where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s not confident enough to accept any assistance.

The Defining Decision

Everything builds up in Baby Steps’s single genuine instance of decision. As Nate nears the end his adventure, he finds that he must climb to the top of a snowy mountain. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) comes to inform him that there are two ways up. If he’s up for a challenge, he can take an extremely long and hazardous route named The Manbreaker. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps provides; taking it seems inadvisable to any human.

But there’s a other possibility: He can simply ascend a gigantic spiral staircase instead and arrive at the peak in a short time. The single stipulation? He’ll have to call the groundskeeper “Sir” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

A Difficult Selection

I am completely earnest when I say that this is an difficult selection in the game's narrative. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself reaching a climax in a particularly bizarre situation. A portion of Nate's adventure is focused on the truth that he’s unconfident of his body and his masculinity. Each instance he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a hard reminder of what he fails to be. Attempting The Challenge could be a time where he can prove that he’s as able as his imagined opponent, but that route is sure to be laden with more humiliating failures. Is it worth struggling just to make a statement?

The stairs, on the contrary, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The user doesn't get to decide in if they decline guidance, but they can opt to allow Nate some relief and opt for the steps. It might seem like an easy choice, but Baby Steps game is remarkably shrewd about creating doubt whenever you find a gift horse. The environment includes planned obstacles that change a secure way into a setback instantly. Are the stairs one more trick? Could Nate reach to the very summit just to be let down by a final joke? And more troubling, is he willing to be emasculated yet again by being forced to call a strange individual as Master?

No Correct Answer

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no perfect selection. Each path brings about a authentic instance of protagonist evolution and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you decide to take on The Challenge, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate eventually obtains a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as able as anyone else, consciously choosing a tough path rather than struggling through one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s difficult, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the moment of strength that he needs.

But there’s no disgrace in the staircase as well. To opt for that way is to at last permit Nate to accept help. And when he accomplishes that, he realizes that there’s no secret drawback awaiting him. The steps are not a joke. They extend for some distance, but they’re easy to walk up and he doesn’t slide completely down if he stumbles. It’s a simple climb after hours of struggle. Partway through, he even has a chat with the hiker who has, naturally, chosen to take The Obstacle. He strives to appear composed, but you can discern that he’s worn out, subtly ruing the needless difficulty. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to pay his debt, addressing his new Master, the arrangement scarcely looks so nasty. Who has concern for humiliation by this freak?

My Experience

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