Baby Steps Includes One of the Most Meaningful Choices I Have Ever Encountered in a Game

I've encountered some challenging choices in gaming. Several of my selections in Life is Strange series still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima's concluding moments made me pause the game for several minutes while I weighed my choices. I am accountable for numerous Krogan deaths in Mass Effect that I regret deeply. None of those moments measure up to what possibly is the toughest selection I’ve had to make in a video game — and it concerns a massive stairway.

Baby Steps, the recent title from the developers of Ape Out game, is hardly a selection-based adventure. Certainly not in typical gaming terms. You simply have to walk around a expansive environment as the main character Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can hardly stay upright on his unsteady feet. It looks like an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps game’s strength comes from its deceptively impactful story that will catch you off guard when it's most unexpected. There’s no moment that exemplifies that strength like a pivotal decision that remains on my mind.

Alert: Spoilers

Some background information is required here. Baby Steps game begins as the protagonist is suddenly taken from his parents’ basement and into a fictional universe. He immediately finds that navigating this world is a challenge, as years spent as a couch potato have deteriorated his physical condition. The physical comedy of it all arises from players controlling Nate one step at a time, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

Nate needs help, but he has trouble voicing that to other characters. As he progresses, he comes in contact with a cast of eccentric characters in the world who each propose to give him a hand. A composed outdoorsman seeks to provide Nate a guide, but he awkwardly refuses in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he plunges into an inescapable pit and is given a way out, he strives to appear nonchalant like he requires no assistance and truly prefers to be stuck in the hole. During the narrative, you see numerous frustrating vignettes where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too insecure to receive help.

The Defining Decision

This culminates in Baby Steps game’s key situation of decision. As Nate nears the end his journey, he finds that he must reach the summit of a snowy mountain. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) shows up to inform him that there are two ways up. If he’s up for a challenge, he can take an extremely long and hazardous route named The Obstacle. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps game provides; taking it seems inadvisable to any human.

But there’s a alternative choice: He can simply ascend a enormous coiled steps as an alternative and reach the summit in just moments. The sole condition? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Lord” from now on if he takes the easy route.

A Painful Choice

I am completely earnest when I say that this is an painful decision in this situation. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself coming to a head in one absurd moment. Part of Nate’s journey is focused on the reality that he’s unconfident of his physique and male identity. Each instance he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a difficult memory of everything he’s not. Undertaking The Challenge could be a instance where he can demonstrate that he’s as capable as his imagined opponent, but that path is likely filled with more awkward mishaps. Is it justified struggling just to prove a point?

The steps, on the other hand, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to either accept or reject help. The user doesn't get to decide in about they decline guidance, but they can choose to allow Nate some relief and take the stairs. It ought to be an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps game is devilishly clever about creating doubt anytime you encounter an easy option. The environment includes planned obstacles that change a secure way into a difficulty suddenly. Could the steps yet another trap? Could Nate reach at the peak just to be disappointed by an ending prank? And more concerning, is he ready to be diminished yet again by being compelled to refer to an odd character as Lord?

No Perfect Choice

The beauty of that moment is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Each path leads to a real situation of character development and catharsis for Nate. If you decide to take on The Challenge, it’s an personal triumph. Nate eventually obtains 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 choice but to follow. It’s hard, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he needs.

But there’s no shame in the staircase either. To select that route is to at last permit Nate to receive assistance. And when he does, he finds that there’s no real catch awaiting him. The staircase is not a trick. They extend for some distance, but they’re easy to walk up and he does not fall completely down if he falls. It’s a easy journey after lengthy difficulty. Halfway up, he even has a discussion with the hiker who has, naturally, chosen to take The Challenge. He attempts to act casual, but you can discern that he’s exhausted, silently lamenting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to pay his debt, addressing his new Master, the arrangement scarcely looks so bad. Who has energy for shame by this freak?

My Choice

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