The Game Baby Steps Includes One of the Most Impactful Choices I Have Ever Faced in Gaming

I've dealt with some hard choices in gaming. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima concluding moments led me to pause the game for several minutes while I thought through my choices. I am responsible for numerous Krogan demises in the Mass Effect series that I would love to reverse. None of those moments hold a candle to what possibly is the toughest selection I've faced in gaming — and it has to do with a giant staircase.

The Game Baby Steps, the latest game from the creators of Ape Out, is not really a choice-driven game. Certainly not in typical gaming terms. You simply have to walk around a vast game world as the protagonist Nate, a adult in a onesie who can struggle to remain on his wobbly legs. It looks like a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps game’s strength comes from its surprisingly deep narrative that will sneak up on you when you’re least expecting it. There’s not a single instance that demonstrates that power like a pivotal decision that I can’t stop thinking about.

Spoiler Warning

Some scene setting is necessary here. Baby Steps game starts when the protagonist is suddenly taken from his family's basement and into a magical realm. He soon realizes that walking through it is a struggle, as years spent as a couch potato have atrophied his limbs. The physical comedy of it all stems from users guiding Nate one step at a time, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has difficulty expressing that to other characters. Throughout his hero’s journey, he encounters a collection of quirky personalities in the world who all offer to help him out. A self-assured trekker attempts to offer Nate a map, but he clumsily declines in the game’s funniest instant. When he plunges into an inescapable pit and is given a way out, he strives to appear nonchalant like he doesn’t need the help and truly prefers to be confined in the cavity. Throughout the story, you see numerous irritating episodes where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too insecure to take support.

The Ultimate Choice

This culminates in Baby Steps game’s key situation of decision. As Nate gets close to finishing his quest, he realizes that he must ascend of a snow-capped peak. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) comes to tell him that there are two paths upward. If he’s ready for a test, he can choose a very lengthy and hazardous route dubbed The Obstacle. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps game provides; attempting it appears unwise to any human.

But there’s a other possibility: He can merely climb a enormous coiled steps instead and arrive at the peak in a few minutes. The sole condition? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Sir” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

A Painful Choice

I am completely earnest when I say that this is an agonizing choice in context. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself coming to a head in a single ridiculous instant. A portion of Nate's adventure is revolves around the truth that he’s unconfident of his body and his masculinity. Whenever he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a painful recollection of what he fails to be. Attempting The Obstacle could be a instance where he can prove that he’s as competent as his imagined opponent, but that road is bound to be laden with more humiliating failures. Does it merit struggling just to demonstrate something?

The staircase, on the other hand, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The user doesn't get to decide in about they decline guidance, but they can opt to provide Nate with respite and take the stairs. It might seem like an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps is devilishly clever about causing suspicion anytime you encounter an easy option. The game world contains intentional pitfalls that turn a safe route into a setback instantly. Are the stairs yet another trap? Could Nate reach to the very summit just to be fooled by a final joke? And more concerning, is he prepared to be humiliated another time by being made to address a strange individual as Master?

No Right or Wrong

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no perfect selection. Either one brings about a genuine moment of personal growth and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you decide to take on The Challenge, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate at last receives a chance to prove that he’s as competent as others, willingly taking on a difficult route rather than enduring one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s difficult, and possibly risky, but it’s the dose of confidence that he requires.

But there’s no embarrassment in the stairs too. To opt for that way is to eventually enable Nate to receive assistance. And when he does so, he discovers that there’s no secret drawback awaiting him. The staircase is not a trick. They extend for some distance, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he doesn’t slide to the bottom if he falls. It’s a easy journey after lengthy difficulty. Partway through, he even has a chat with the outdoorsman who has, naturally, selected The Obstacle. He tries to play it cool, but you can tell that he’s fatigued, subtly ruing the pointless struggle. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to meet his agreement, hailing his new Lord, the deal hardly seems so unpleasant. Who has time to be embarrassed by this odd character?

My Experience

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