The Game Baby Steps Features Among the Most Significant Decisions I Have Ever Faced in a Game

I've encountered some difficult decisions in gaming. Several of my selections in Life is Strange remain on my mind. Ghost of Tsushima concluding moments prompted me to put my controller down for around ten minutes while I thought through my choices. I am accountable for numerous Krogan fatalities in Mass Effect that I regret deeply. None of those moments measure up to what could be the most difficult decision I've ever made in interactive media — and it concerns a giant staircase.

The Game Baby Steps, the newest release from the makers of Ape Out, is not really a choice-driven game. Definitely not in any traditional sense. You simply have to walk around a vast game world as the main character Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can barely stand on his shaky limbs. It seems like one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps game’s strength comes from its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will sneak up on you when you least anticipate it. There’s not a single instance that exemplifies that strength like a key selection that I keep reflecting on.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

Some background information is needed at this point. Baby Steps game begins as Nate is transported from his family's basement and into a fictional universe. He quickly discovers that moving around in it is a struggle, as a lifetime spent as a sedentary person have weakened his muscles. The humorous physicality of it all comes from gamers directing Nate gradually, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

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 everyone tries to give him a hand. A composed outdoorsman attempts to offer Nate a navigation aid, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s most hilarious scene. When he plunges into an trapping cavity and is presented with a ladder, he strives to appear nonchalant like he can manage alone and truly prefers to be confined in the cavity. As the plot unfolds, you experience no shortage of frustrating vignettes where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too self-conscious to take support.

The Pivotal Moment

This culminates in Baby Steps’s key situation of selection. As Nate approaches the conclusion his adventure, he discovers that he must climb to the top of a snowy mountain. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) shows up to tell him that there are two ways up. If he’s prepared for difficulty, he can opt for a particularly extended and risky path called The Challenge. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps game includes; attempting it appears unwise to anyone.

But there’s a second option: He can just walk up a enormous coiled steps instead and get to the top in a few minutes. The sole condition? He’ll have to address the guardian “Sir” from now on if he takes the easy route.

An Agonizing Decision

I am completely earnest when I say that this is an painful decision in context. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself culminating in one absurd moment. Part of Nate’s journey is focused on the reality that he’s insecure of his physical appearance and manhood. Whenever he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a painful recollection of all he lacks. Undertaking The Challenge could be a time where he can demonstrate that he’s as capable as his one-sided rival, but that route is sure to be laden with more humiliating failures. Is it worth striving just to make a statement?

The stairs, on the flip side, give Nate another big moment to choose whether to take assistance or not. The gamer cannot choose in about they turn away a map, but they can opt to provide Nate with respite and choose the staircase. It ought to be an simple decision, but Baby Steps is devilishly clever about causing suspicion whenever you find a gift horse. The environment includes intentional pitfalls that turn a safe route into a obstacle instantly. Are the stairs yet another trap? Might Nate arrive all the way to the top just to be disappointed by an ending prank? And more troubling, is he ready to be diminished another time by being made to address a strange individual as Master?

No Perfect Choice

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no correct or incorrect choice. Both options leads to a genuine moment of personal growth and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Obstacle, it’s an existential win. Nate at last receives a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as capable as everyone else, consciously choosing a difficult route rather than struggling through one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s difficult, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the dose of confidence that he craves.

But there’s no disgrace in the staircase too. To select that route is to eventually enable Nate to take support. And when he accomplishes that, he finds that there’s no hidden trick waiting for him. The steps are not a joke. They go on for a long time, but they’re easy to walk up and he won't slip all the way down if he trips. It’s a easy journey after extended challenges. Midway through, he even has a chat with the trekker who has, of course, selected The Obstacle. He tries to play it cool, but you can discern that he’s exhausted, silently lamenting the pointless struggle. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to fulfill his obligation, calling the character Lord, the agreement barely appears so unpleasant. Who has concern for humiliation by this odd character?

My Choice

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