The Game Baby Steps Includes One of the Most Significant Decisions I Have Ever Faced in Video Games

I've encountered some challenging choices in interactive entertainment. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange series still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima final sequence made me pause the game for around ten minutes while I thought through my options. I am the cause of countless Krogan deaths in Mass Effect that I regret deeply. Not a single one of those situations hold a candle to what now might be the most difficult decision I’ve had to make in interactive media — and it concerns a giant staircase.

The Game Baby Steps, the newest release from the creators of Ape Out game, is not really a selection-based adventure. Certainly not in any traditional sense. You simply have to walk around a sprawling open world as Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can hardly stay upright on his unsteady feet. It appears to be one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps’s strength comes from its surprisingly deep narrative that will sneak up on you when you’re least expecting it. There’s no moment that exemplifies that strength like a pivotal decision that remains on my mind.

Alert: Spoilers

A bit of context is required here. Baby Steps starts when Nate is magically whisked away from the basement of his home and into a fictional universe. He immediately finds that walking through it is a challenge, as years spent as a couch potato have deteriorated his physical condition. The humorous physicality of it all stems from users guiding Nate step by step, trying to prevent him from falling over.

Nate requires assistance, but he has trouble voicing that to anyone. During his adventure, he encounters a collection of quirky personalities in the world who everyone tries to help him out. A composed outdoorsman tries to give Nate a guide, but he clumsily declines in the game’s funniest instant. When he falls into an unavoidable hole and is given a way out, he strives to appear nonchalant like he doesn’t need the help and genuinely desires to be confined in the cavity. During the narrative, you experience no shortage of annoying scenarios where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too self-conscious to take support.

The Defining Decision

Everything builds up in Baby Steps game’s one true moment of choice. As Nate approaches the conclusion his quest, 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 paths upward. If he’s up for a challenge, he can take an extremely long and hazardous route dubbed The Challenge. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps includes; choosing it looks risky to any human.

But there’s a other possibility: He can just walk up a enormous coiled steps as an alternative and arrive at the peak in just moments. The only caveat? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Lord” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

An Agonizing Decision

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an difficult selection in context. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself reaching a climax in one absurd moment. An element of Nate's story is focused on the fact that he’s insecure of his physical appearance and manhood. Whenever he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a hard reminder of what he fails to be. Undertaking The Manbreaker could be a moment where he can prove that he’s as competent as his imagined opponent, but that path is likely laden with more humiliating failures. Is it worth striving just to demonstrate something?

The stairs, on the contrary, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to choose whether to take assistance or not. The user doesn't get to decide in if they decline guidance, but they can decide to allow Nate some relief and opt for the steps. It ought to be an simple decision, but Baby Steps game is exceptionally cunning about causing suspicion each time you find a gift horse. The game world contains planned obstacles that turn a safe route into a setback on a dime. Could the steps one more trick? Could Nate reach at the peak just to be disappointed by a final joke? And more troubling, is he ready to be diminished another time by being forced to call an odd character as Lord?

No Correct Answer

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no perfect selection. Each path results in a real situation of character development and catharsis for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Obstacle, it’s an existential win. Nate eventually obtains a chance to prove that he’s as capable as others, willingly taking on a difficult route rather than struggling through one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s hard, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he requires.

But there’s no shame in the stairs too. To select that route is to at last permit Nate to receive assistance. And when he accomplishes that, he discovers that there’s no real catch in store for him. The staircase is not a trick. They continue for a while, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he won't slip all the way down if he falls. It’s a easy journey after lengthy difficulty. Halfway up, he even has a conversation with the trekker who has, naturally, chosen to take The Challenge. He attempts to act casual, but you can see that he’s exhausted, silently lamenting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to fulfill his obligation, calling the character Lord, the agreement barely appears so nasty. Who has concern for humiliation by this freak?

My Experience

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