Baby Steps Features One of the Most Impactful Decisions I've Ever Encountered in Gaming

I've faced some hard decisions in gaming. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange remain on my mind. Ghost of Tsushima's final sequence prompted me to set down my controller for several minutes while I thought through my choices. I am accountable for countless Krogan deaths in Mass Effect that I wish I could undo. Not one of those instances compare to what could be the toughest selection I've ever made in gaming — and it has to do with a enormous set of steps.

Baby Steps, the latest game from the creators of Ape Out game, is hardly a choice-driven game. Certainly not in typical gaming terms. You must walk around a expansive environment as the protagonist Nate, a adult in a onesie who can barely stand on his wobbly legs. It seems like one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps game’s appeal is in its surprisingly deep narrative that will surprise you when you’re least expecting it. There’s no situation that exemplifies that strength like a key selection that I keep reflecting on.

Spoiler Warning

Some background information is needed at this point. Baby Steps begins as the protagonist is suddenly taken from his family's basement and into a fictional universe. He soon realizes that moving around in it is a difficulty, as a long time spent as a inactive individual have weakened his muscles. The humorous physicality of it all stems from players controlling Nate gradually, trying to maintain his balance.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has difficulty expressing that to others. Throughout his hero’s journey, he meets a collection of quirky personalities in the world who all offer to give him a hand. A self-assured trekker tries to give Nate a map, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s most hilarious scene. When he drops into an trapping cavity and is presented with a ladder, he tries to play it off like he requires no assistance and actually wants to be confined in the cavity. During the narrative, you encounter plenty of annoying scenarios where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too self-conscious to take support.

The Pivotal Moment

That comes to a head in Baby Steps’s key situation of decision. As Nate gets close to finishing his journey, he discovers that he must climb to the top of a snowy mountain. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) comes to inform him that there are two routes to the top. If he’s up for a challenge, he can opt for a particularly extended and dangerous hiking trail dubbed The Challenge. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps has to offer; taking it seems inadvisable to any person.

But there’s a other possibility: He can merely climb a gigantic spiral staircase as an alternative and reach the summit in just moments. The only caveat? He’ll have to call the groundskeeper “Sir” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

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 single ridiculous instant. An element of Nate's story is centered around the truth that he’s self-conscious of his physical appearance and manhood. Every time he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a difficult memory of what he fails to be. Undertaking The Obstacle could be a time where he can show that he’s as capable as his unilateral competitor, but that road is bound to be paved with more embarrassing pratfalls. Is it justified suffering just to demonstrate something?

The staircase, on the flip side, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to either accept or reject help. The player has no choice in about they decline guidance, but they can choose to give Nate a break and choose the staircase. It ought to be an easy choice, but Baby Steps is exceptionally cunning about creating doubt anytime you encounter an easy option. The game world contains intentional pitfalls that transform an easy path into a obstacle on a dime. Could the steps one more trick? Could Nate reach to the very summit just to be fooled by a final joke? And more troubling, is he prepared to be humiliated another time by being compelled to refer to an odd character as Lord?

No Perfect Choice

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no perfect selection. Each path results in a real situation of protagonist evolution and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Manbreaker, it’s an existential win. Nate at last receives a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as able as others, willingly taking on a tough path rather than enduring one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s difficult, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the dose of confidence that he needs.

But there’s no shame in the steps either. To select that route is to at last permit Nate to take support. And when he does, he finds that there’s no hidden trick in store for him. The steps are not a joke. They go on for a long time, but they’re easy to walk up and he doesn’t slide completely down if he falls. It’s a simple climb after lengthy difficulty. Midway through, he even has a discussion with the hiker who has, of course, opted for The Challenge. He attempts to act casual, but you can see that he’s worn out, subtly ruing the unnecessary challenge. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to fulfill his obligation, hailing his new Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so nasty. Who has time to be embarrassed by this freak?

My Choice

In my playthrough, I chose the staircase. Part of me just {wanted to call