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

I've dealt with some hard decisions in interactive entertainment. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange series still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima's ending section led me to pause the game for several minutes while I weighed my alternatives. I am the cause of numerous Krogan fatalities in Mass Effect that I regret deeply. Not a single one of those situations measure up to what possibly is the hardest choice I’ve had to make in interactive media — and it has to do with a giant staircase.

The Game Baby Steps, the latest game from the makers of Ape Out game, is not really a choice-driven game. Certainly not in typical gaming terms. You must explore a expansive environment as Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can barely stand on his shaky limbs. It seems like one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps game’s strength comes from its surprisingly deep narrative that will catch you off guard when it's most unexpected. There’s no situation that demonstrates that power like one major choice that I keep reflecting on.

Spoiler Warning

A bit of context is necessary here. Baby Steps game begins as Nate is transported from the basement of his home and into a magical realm. He quickly discovers that navigating this world is a challenge, as years spent as a sedentary person have atrophied his limbs. The slapstick elements of it all stems from gamers directing Nate step by step, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

Nate requires assistance, but he has difficulty expressing that to other characters. As he progresses, he meets a group of unusual individuals 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 most hilarious scene. When he falls into an inescapable pit and is presented with a ladder, he attempts to act casual like he doesn’t need the help and actually wants to be trapped in the pit. As the plot unfolds, you experience no shortage of annoying scenarios where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too self-conscious to take support.

The Defining Decision

That comes to a head in Baby Steps’s key situation of choice. As Nate nears the end his journey, he finds that he must climb to the top of a snowy mountain. The default guardian 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 Manbreaker. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps game provides; attempting it appears unwise to anyone.

But there’s a alternative choice: He can just walk up a gigantic spiral staircase instead and reach the summit in just moments. The sole condition? He’ll have to address the guardian “Master” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

A Difficult Selection

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an agonizing choice in this situation. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself coming to a head in a single ridiculous instant. A portion of Nate's adventure is focused on the truth that he’s self-conscious of his physique and male identity. Whenever he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a painful recollection of all he lacks. Taking on The Manbreaker could be a instance where he can show that he’s as able as his imagined opponent, but that route is sure to be filled with more embarrassing pratfalls. Does it merit striving just to prove a point?

The stairs, on the flip side, give Nate another big moment to choose whether to take assistance or not. The player has no choice in whether or not they turn away a map, but they can choose to give Nate a break and take the stairs. It might seem like an simple decision, but Baby Steps is remarkably shrewd about creating doubt anytime you find a gift horse. The world is filled with design traps that transform an easy path into a obstacle instantly. Are the stairs yet another trap? Will Nate get to the very summit just to be fooled by an ending prank? And even worse, is he willing to be emasculated once again by being made to address some weirdo Lord?

No Correct Answer

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Each path leads to a authentic instance of protagonist evolution and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Obstacle, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate at last receives a moment to show that he’s as able as everyone else, voluntarily accepting a challenging way rather than enduring one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s difficult, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the dose of confidence that he needs.

But there’s no disgrace in the staircase as well. To select that route is to at last permit Nate to take support. And when he does, he finds that there’s no real catch waiting for him. The staircase is not a trick. They go on for a long time, but they’re easy to walk up and he does not fall all the way down if he falls. It’s a simple climb after hours of struggle. Halfway up, he even has a discussion with the trekker who has, unsurprisingly, opted for The Manbreaker. He tries to play it cool, but you can discern that he’s fatigued, subtly ruing the pointless struggle. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to pay his debt, calling the character Lord, the deal hardly seems so unpleasant. Who has time to be embarrassed by this odd character?

My Choice

During my game, I selected the steps. Part of me just {wanted to call