Baby Steps Presents One of the Most Significant Decisions I Have Ever Experienced in Gaming

I've faced some hard choices in interactive entertainment. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima final sequence prompted me to put my controller down for several minutes while I thought through my alternatives. I am accountable for countless Krogan fatalities in the Mass Effect series that I wish I could undo. Not one of those instances hold a candle to what now might be the most difficult decision I’ve had to make in a video game — and it involves a giant staircase.

The Game Baby Steps, the newest release from the creators of Ape Out, is not really a selection-based adventure. Definitely not in the conventional way. You only need to walk around a expansive environment as the protagonist Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can struggle to remain on his wobbly legs. It appears to be a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps game’s appeal is in its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will catch you off guard when you’re least expecting it. There’s no situation that showcases that quality like a key selection that I can’t stop thinking about.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

Some background information is needed at this point. Baby Steps starts when Nate is magically whisked away from the basement of his home and into a magical realm. He quickly discovers that moving around in it is a difficulty, as a long time spent as a sedentary person have deteriorated his physical condition. The humorous physicality of it all stems 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. During his adventure, he encounters a collection of quirky personalities in the world who all offer to assist him. A self-assured trekker seeks to provide Nate a map, but he clumsily declines 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 trapped in the pit. Throughout the story, you experience no shortage of irritating episodes where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too insecure to receive help.

The Defining Decision

This culminates in Baby Steps’s single genuine instance of decision. As Nate nears the end his quest, he finds that he must ascend of a frosty elevation. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) appears to tell him that there are two paths upward. If he’s up for a challenge, he can choose a very lengthy and hazardous route dubbed The Challenge. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps game provides; taking it seems inadvisable to any person.

But there’s a second option: He can just walk up a massive winding stairs as an alternative and reach the summit in a short time. The only caveat? He’ll have to address the guardian “Lord” from now on if he takes the easy route.

An Agonizing Decision

I am completely earnest when I say that this is an difficult selection in the game's narrative. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself culminating in a single ridiculous instant. An element of Nate's story is revolves around the fact that he’s self-conscious of his physical appearance and manhood. Every time he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a hard reminder of everything he’s not. Undertaking The Manbreaker could be a time where he can prove that he’s as able as his one-sided rival, but that road is bound to be filled with more awkward mishaps. Is it justified struggling just to demonstrate something?

The staircase, on the contrary, 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 decide to give Nate a break and take the stairs. It ought to be an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps game is remarkably shrewd about making you feel paranoid each time you encounter an easy option. The world is filled with design traps that change a secure way into a setback instantly. Is the staircase yet another trap? Could Nate reach at the peak just to be disappointed by a final joke? And more troubling, is he prepared to be humiliated another time by being forced to call a strange individual as Master?

No Right or Wrong

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no perfect selection. Each path leads to a authentic instance of character development and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Challenge, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate finally gets a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as capable as everyone else, willingly taking on a tough path rather than enduring one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s difficult, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the moment of strength that he needs.

But there’s no embarrassment in the stairs too. To choose that path is to eventually enable Nate to take support. And when he does so, he discovers that there’s no hidden trick awaiting him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They go on for a long time, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he won't slip all the way down if he falls. It’s a easy journey after extended challenges. Partway through, he even has a chat with the trekker who has, unsurprisingly, chosen to take The Challenge. He tries to play it cool, but you can tell that he’s fatigued, subtly ruing the unnecessary challenge. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to pay his debt, addressing his new Master, the deal hardly seems so unpleasant. Who has time to be embarrassed by this strange individual?

My Choice

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