The Game Baby Steps Features One of the Most Impactful Decisions I've Ever Encountered in a Game

I've faced some difficult decisions in video games. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange series continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima's concluding moments made me pause the game for several minutes while I considered my alternatives. I am responsible for so many Krogan fatalities in Mass Effect that I wish I could undo. Not one of those instances hold a candle to what possibly is the most difficult decision I've faced in interactive media — and it concerns a enormous set of steps.

Baby Steps, the latest game from the makers of Ape Out game, is not really a selection-based adventure. Certainly not in the conventional way. You must walk around a expansive environment as Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can hardly stay upright on his shaky limbs. It looks like one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps game’s power lies in its deceptively impactful story that will surprise you when you’re least expecting it. There’s no situation that demonstrates that power like one major choice that I keep reflecting on.

Spoiler Warning

Some scene setting is necessary here. Baby Steps game starts when Nate is transported from the basement of his home and into a fictional universe. He quickly discovers that moving around in it is a challenge, as a long time spent as a sedentary person have weakened his muscles. The humorous physicality of it all arises from gamers directing Nate step by step, trying to prevent him from falling over.

Nate needs help, but he has trouble voicing that to anyone. Throughout his hero’s journey, he encounters a cast of eccentric characters in the world who all offer to help him out. A cool, confident hiker seeks to provide Nate a guide, but he clumsily declines in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he plunges into an unavoidable hole and is offered a ladder, he tries to play it off like he doesn’t need the help and truly prefers to be stuck in the hole. As the plot unfolds, you experience no shortage of frustrating vignettes 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 one true moment of decision. As Nate gets close to finishing his journey, he discovers that he must climb to the top of a snow-capped peak. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) shows up to tell him that there are two ways up. If he’s prepared for difficulty, he can choose a very lengthy and dangerous hiking trail called The Challenge. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps game has to offer; attempting it appears unwise to any human.

But there’s a other possibility: He can simply ascend a gigantic spiral staircase instead and arrive at the peak in a few minutes. The single stipulation? He’ll have to call the groundskeeper “Lord” from now on if he takes the easy route.

A Difficult Selection

I am completely earnest when I say that this is an painful decision in context. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself coming to a head in a single ridiculous instant. An element of Nate's story is revolves around the reality that he’s unconfident of his physical appearance and manhood. Each instance he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a hard reminder of everything he’s not. Undertaking The Obstacle could be a instance where he can prove that he’s as able as his imagined opponent, but that path is likely filled with more embarrassing pratfalls. Is it worth striving just to make a statement?

The stairs, on the other hand, give Nate another big moment to choose whether to take assistance or not. The player has no choice in about they turn away a map, but they can decide to give Nate a break and choose the staircase. It should be an easy choice, but Baby Steps game is remarkably shrewd about making you feel paranoid anytime you see a simple solution. The world is filled with planned obstacles that transform an easy path into a setback suddenly. Is the staircase an additional deception? Could Nate reach all the way to the top just to be fooled by some last-second gag? And more troubling, is he prepared to be humiliated another time by being compelled to refer to a strange individual as Master?

No Perfect Choice

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no perfect selection. Both options leads to a genuine moment of protagonist evolution and emotional release for Nate. If you decide to take on The Challenge, it’s an personal triumph. Nate finally gets a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as capable as everyone else, consciously choosing a tough path rather than enduring one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s challenging, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he requires.

But there’s no shame in the stairs either. To select that route is to finally allow Nate to take support. And when he does so, he finds that there’s no secret drawback waiting for him. The staircase is not a trick. They extend for some distance, but they’re easy to walk up and he won't slip completely down if he trips. It’s a straightforward ascent after lengthy difficulty. Midway through, he even has a discussion with the outdoorsman who has, naturally, chosen to take The Challenge. He strives to appear composed, but you can see that he’s worn out, quietly regretting the unnecessary challenge. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to fulfill his obligation, addressing his new Master, the agreement barely appears so unpleasant. Who has energy for shame by this odd character?

My Choice

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