Baby Steps Features Among the Most Significant Decisions I Have Ever Experienced in a Game

I've encountered some difficult choices in gaming. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima final sequence prompted me to pause the game for several minutes while I thought through my choices. I am responsible for countless Krogan demises in Mass Effect that I wish I could undo. None of those moments measure up to what now might be the most difficult decision I've faced in a video game — and it has to do with a massive stairway.

The Game Baby Steps, the newest release from the makers of Ape Out game, isn’t exactly a choice-driven game. Certainly not in any traditional sense. You must 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 one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps game’s appeal is in its surprisingly deep narrative that will surprise you when you least anticipate it. There’s no situation that demonstrates that power like a pivotal decision that remains on my mind.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

Some background information is necessary here. Baby Steps game starts when Nate is magically whisked away from his family's basement and into a fantasy world. He immediately finds that moving around in it is a struggle, as a lifetime spent as a inactive individual have atrophied his limbs. The physical comedy of it all arises from gamers directing Nate gradually, trying to maintain his balance.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has problems articulating that to others. As he progresses, he meets a collection of quirky personalities in the world who everyone tries to give him a hand. A self-assured trekker tries to give Nate a guide, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s funniest instant. When he drops into an inescapable pit and is presented with a ladder, he attempts to act casual like he doesn’t need the help and genuinely desires to be stuck in the hole. 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 Pivotal Moment

This culminates in Baby Steps’s one true moment of decision. As Nate gets close to finishing his journey, he discovers that he must ascend of a snow-capped peak. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) shows up to tell him that there are two routes to the top. If he’s prepared for difficulty, he can choose a very lengthy and hazardous route named The Manbreaker. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps includes; taking it seems inadvisable to any human.

But there’s a second option: He can simply ascend a gigantic spiral staircase in its place and get to the top in a short time. The only caveat? He’ll have to call the groundskeeper “Lord” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

A Painful Choice

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an agonizing choice in the game's narrative. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself reaching a climax in one absurd moment. Part of Nate’s journey is revolves around the reality that he’s insecure of his physical appearance and manhood. Every time he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a difficult memory of all he lacks. Taking on The Obstacle could be a instance where he can demonstrate that he’s as competent as his imagined opponent, but that road is bound to be laden with more awkward mishaps. Does it merit striving just to prove a point?

The steps, on the other hand, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to choose whether to take assistance or not. The user doesn't get to decide in whether or not they decline guidance, but they can opt to give Nate a break and take the stairs. It ought to be an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps game is remarkably shrewd about creating doubt whenever you see a simple solution. The game world contains planned obstacles that turn a safe route into a difficulty instantly. Could the steps an additional deception? Might Nate arrive all the way to the top just to be disappointed by some last-second gag? And even worse, is he prepared to be humiliated another time by being forced to call a strange individual as Master?

No Perfect Choice

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no perfect selection. Either one leads to a genuine moment of protagonist evolution and catharsis for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Challenge, it’s an personal triumph. Nate eventually obtains a moment to show that he’s as competent as others, consciously choosing a difficult route rather than suffering through one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s challenging, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the dose of confidence that he needs.

But there’s no embarrassment in the steps as well. To select that route is to eventually enable Nate to receive assistance. And when he does so, he finds that there’s no real catch awaiting him. The staircase is not a trick. They go on for a long time, but they’re easy to walk up and he doesn’t slide all the way down if he trips. It’s a easy journey after lengthy difficulty. Partway through, he even has a discussion with the hiker who has, unsurprisingly, chosen to take The Obstacle. He strives to appear composed, but you can tell that he’s fatigued, subtly ruing the needless difficulty. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to fulfill his obligation, hailing his new Lord, the deal hardly seems so unpleasant. Who has time to be embarrassed by this strange individual?

My Choice

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