The Game Baby Steps Features One of the Most Impactful Decisions I've Ever Faced in Video Games

I've dealt with some difficult decisions in video games. Several of my selections in Life is Strange series remain on my mind. Ghost of Tsushima's final sequence prompted me to put my controller down for several minutes while I weighed my choices. I am the cause of countless Krogan deaths in Mass Effect that I regret deeply. Not one of those instances measure up to what possibly is the toughest selection I've faced in a video game — and it concerns a giant staircase.

Baby Steps, the newest release from the creators of Ape Out, is hardly a selection-based adventure. Certainly not in typical gaming terms. You only need to navigate a sprawling open world as the protagonist Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can hardly stay upright on his shaky limbs. It appears to be an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps’s power lies in its deceptively impactful story that will surprise you when you least anticipate it. There’s no moment that demonstrates that power like a key selection that I can’t stop thinking about.

Alert: Spoilers

Some scene setting is required here. Baby Steps starts when the protagonist is suddenly taken from the basement of his home and into a fantasy world. He immediately finds that navigating this world is a struggle, as a long time spent as a inactive individual have atrophied his limbs. The slapstick elements of it all stems from players controlling Nate gradually, trying to maintain his balance.

Nate requires assistance, but he has difficulty expressing that to others. Throughout his hero’s journey, he encounters a collection of quirky personalities in the world who all offer to give him a hand. A self-assured trekker seeks to provide Nate a guide, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s funniest instant. When he plunges into an trapping cavity and is given a way out, he tries to play it off like he doesn’t need the help and genuinely desires to be confined in the cavity. Throughout the story, you encounter plenty of frustrating vignettes where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too insecure to take support.

The Defining Decision

That comes to a head in Baby Steps game’s single genuine instance of choice. As Nate approaches the conclusion his adventure, he discovers that he must climb to the top of a frosty elevation. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) appears to inform him that there are two ways up. If he’s ready for a test, he can opt for a particularly extended and risky path dubbed The Obstacle. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps game has to offer; attempting it appears unwise to any person.

But there’s a alternative choice: He can just walk up a gigantic spiral staircase in its place and get to the top in just moments. The only caveat? He’ll have to address the guardian “Lord” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

A Difficult Selection

I am very serious when I say that this is an painful decision in this situation. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself reaching a climax in a single ridiculous instant. An element of Nate's story is focused on the fact that he’s insecure of his physical appearance and manhood. Each instance he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a painful recollection of what he fails to be. Undertaking The Manbreaker could be a instance where he can demonstrate that he’s as able as his one-sided rival, but that path is likely laden with more embarrassing pratfalls. Is it worth suffering just to demonstrate something?

The steps, on the other hand, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The player has no choice in if they decline guidance, but they can decide to provide Nate with respite and take the stairs. It might seem like an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps game is exceptionally cunning about making you feel paranoid whenever you see a simple solution. The game world contains intentional pitfalls that turn a safe route into a difficulty suddenly. Could the steps yet another trap? Might Nate arrive to the very summit just to be fooled by a final joke? And more troubling, is he ready to be diminished yet again by being made to address 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 personal growth and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Manbreaker, it’s an personal triumph. Nate at last receives a moment to show that he’s as capable as others, willingly taking on a tough path rather than struggling through one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s hard, and possibly risky, but it’s the moment of strength that he craves.

But there’s no disgrace in the staircase too. To select that route is to eventually enable Nate to receive assistance. And when he does so, he finds that there’s no secret drawback in store for him. The staircase is not a trick. They extend for some distance, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he won't slip all the way down if he stumbles. It’s a straightforward ascent after extended challenges. Halfway up, he even has a conversation with the trekker who has, naturally, opted for The Obstacle. He strives to appear composed, but you can tell that he’s exhausted, silently lamenting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to pay his debt, hailing his new Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so nasty. Who has concern for humiliation by this freak?

My Experience

When I played, I chose the staircase. A portion of my thinking just {wanted to call