Baby Steps Includes Among the Most Impactful Choices I Have Ever Encountered in Gaming

I've encountered some hard decisions in gaming. Several of my selections in Life is Strange still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima's final sequence prompted me to put my controller down for around ten minutes while I thought through my alternatives. I am accountable for so many Krogan demises in Mass Effect that I regret deeply. Not one of those instances hold a candle to what possibly is the toughest selection I've ever made in interactive media — and it has to do with a enormous set of steps.

Baby Steps, the latest game from the creators of Ape Out game, is not really a selection-based adventure. Definitely not in the conventional way. You must navigate a vast game world as the main character Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can struggle to remain on his shaky limbs. It looks like one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps’s power lies in its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will catch you off guard when you’re least expecting it. There’s not a single instance that showcases that quality like a key selection that remains on my mind.

Alert: Spoilers

A bit of context is required here. Baby Steps game starts when the protagonist is suddenly taken from his family's basement and into a fantasy world. He soon realizes that moving around in it is a challenge, as a lifetime spent as a couch potato have atrophied his limbs. 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 trouble voicing that to others. As he progresses, he encounters a cast of eccentric characters in the world who all offer to give him a hand. A cool, confident hiker seeks to provide Nate a navigation aid, 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 can manage alone and genuinely desires to be trapped in the pit. Throughout the story, you encounter plenty of annoying scenarios where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too self-conscious to receive help.

The Ultimate Choice

This culminates in Baby Steps game’s one true moment of decision. As Nate gets close to finishing his quest, he discovers that he must reach the summit of a frosty elevation. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) appears to tell him that there are two routes to the top. If he’s up for a challenge, he can choose a very lengthy and risky path dubbed The Manbreaker. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps game provides; taking it seems inadvisable to any human.

But there’s a other possibility: He can simply ascend a gigantic spiral staircase instead and reach the summit in a short time. The single stipulation? He’ll have to address the guardian “Sir” from now on if he takes the easy route.

An Agonizing Decision

I am very serious when I say that this is an agonizing choice in context. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself culminating in one absurd moment. Part of Nate’s journey is revolves around the fact that he’s self-conscious of his physique and male identity. Whenever he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a hard reminder of what he fails to be. Taking on The Challenge could be a instance where he can demonstrate that he’s as able as his one-sided rival, but that path is likely paved with more awkward mishaps. Is it worth striving just to demonstrate something?

The stairs, on the contrary, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The gamer cannot choose in about they turn away a map, but they can opt to give Nate a break and choose the staircase. It ought to be an easy choice, but Baby Steps game is remarkably shrewd about making you feel paranoid each time you encounter an easy option. The world is filled with intentional pitfalls that transform an easy path into a obstacle on a dime. Is the staircase one more trick? Will Nate get at the peak just to be let down by an ending prank? And more concerning, is he ready to be diminished once again by being made to address some weirdo Lord?

No Right or Wrong

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no perfect selection. Each path leads to a authentic instance of protagonist evolution and emotional release for Nate. If you decide to take on The Challenge, it’s an existential win. Nate eventually obtains a chance to prove that he’s as capable as others, voluntarily accepting a difficult route rather than struggling through one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s challenging, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he requires.

But there’s no embarrassment in the stairs either. To select that route is to at last permit Nate to accept help. And when he does, 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 simple to climb and he doesn’t slide to the bottom if he trips. It’s a straightforward ascent after hours of struggle. Midway through, he even has a discussion with the outdoorsman who has, unsurprisingly, chosen to take The Manbreaker. He tries to play it cool, but you can see that he’s exhausted, quietly regretting the unnecessary challenge. 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 time to be embarrassed by this odd character?

Personal Reflection

In my playthrough, I opted for the stairs. Some part of my reasoning just {wanted to call