The Game Baby Steps Includes Among the Most Meaningful Decisions I've Ever Faced in Video Games

I've dealt with some difficult choices in interactive entertainment. Several of my selections in Life is Strange 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 would love to reverse. None of those moments compare to what possibly is the toughest selection I’ve had to make in gaming — and it involves a enormous set of steps.

Baby Steps, the newest release from the developers of Ape Out game, is not really a decision-focused experience. Definitely not in any traditional sense. You simply have to navigate a vast game world as the protagonist Nate, a adult in a onesie who can hardly stay upright on his shaky limbs. It looks like an exercise in frustration, 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 showcases that quality like a pivotal decision that I keep reflecting on.

Alert: Spoilers

Some scene setting is necessary here. Baby Steps game begins as Nate is transported from his parents’ basement and into a fictional universe. He immediately finds that navigating this world is a struggle, as a lifetime spent as a sedentary person have atrophied his limbs. The slapstick elements of it all stems from players controlling Nate step by step, trying to prevent him from falling over.

Nate needs help, but he has trouble voicing that to anyone. As he progresses, he encounters a group of unusual individuals in the world who each propose to assist him. A self-assured trekker tries to give Nate a navigation aid, but he awkwardly refuses 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 actually wants to be stuck in the hole. During the narrative, you see numerous annoying scenarios where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too self-conscious to receive help.

The Defining Decision

This culminates in Baby Steps game’s key situation of decision. As Nate nears the end his quest, he finds that he must ascend of a snowy mountain. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) comes to tell him that there are two ways up. If he’s up for a challenge, he can choose a very lengthy and dangerous hiking trail dubbed The Challenge. It is the most daunting obstacle 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 a short time. The single stipulation? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Master” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

A Difficult Selection

I am very serious 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 coming to a head in one absurd moment. An element of Nate's story is focused on the fact that he’s unconfident of his physical appearance and manhood. Whenever he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a painful recollection of all he lacks. Taking on The Manbreaker could be a moment where he can prove that he’s as capable as his unilateral competitor, but that road is bound to be paved with more awkward mishaps. Is it justified struggling just to make a statement?

The steps, on the contrary, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The player has no choice in whether or not they reject navigation help, 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 causing suspicion anytime you see a simple solution. The game world contains intentional pitfalls that change a secure way into a difficulty suddenly. Is the staircase yet another trap? Will Nate get all the way to the top just to be disappointed by a final joke? And more troubling, is he ready to be diminished once again by being compelled to refer to an odd character as Lord?

No Perfect Choice

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no correct or incorrect choice. Each path brings about a genuine moment of protagonist evolution and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Challenge, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate at last receives a moment to show that he’s as capable as others, consciously choosing a difficult route rather than struggling through one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s difficult, and possibly risky, but it’s the dose of confidence that he craves.

But there’s no disgrace in the steps either. To choose that path is to at last permit Nate to accept help. And when he does, he discovers that there’s no real catch awaiting him. The staircase is not a trick. They continue for a while, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he doesn’t slide to the bottom if he falls. It’s a straightforward ascent after lengthy difficulty. Partway through, he even has a discussion with the hiker who has, unsurprisingly, selected The Challenge. He tries to play it cool, but you can see that he’s worn out, quietly regretting the pointless struggle. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to meet his agreement, hailing his new Lord, the agreement barely appears so bad. Who has concern for humiliation by this odd character?

My Choice

During my game, I selected the steps. A portion of my thinking just {wanted to call