Baby Steps Features One of the Most Significant Decisions I've Ever Experienced in Gaming

I've faced some difficult decisions in interactive entertainment. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima final sequence made me pause the game for several minutes while I thought through my alternatives. I am accountable for countless Krogan deaths in Mass Effect that I regret deeply. Not a single one of those situations measure up to what possibly is the toughest selection I’ve had to make in a video game — and it concerns a enormous set of steps.

Baby Steps, the latest game from the creators of Ape Out, is hardly a choice-driven game. Certainly not in typical gaming terms. You simply have to explore a expansive environment as the main character Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can hardly stay upright on his shaky limbs. It seems like a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps’s appeal is in its deceptively impactful story that will surprise you when it's most unexpected. There’s not a single instance that demonstrates that power like a pivotal decision that I can’t stop thinking about.

Alert: Spoilers

Some scene setting is needed at this point. Baby Steps game begins as Nate is magically whisked away from his parents’ basement and into a fictional universe. He soon realizes that walking through it is a challenge, as a lifetime spent as a sedentary person have weakened his muscles. The physical comedy of it all arises from players controlling Nate one step at a time, trying to prevent him from falling over.

Nate requires assistance, but he has difficulty expressing that to others. Throughout his hero’s journey, he comes in contact with a collection of quirky personalities in the world who all offer to help him out. A self-assured trekker seeks to provide Nate a guide, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s most hilarious scene. When he plunges into an unavoidable hole and is offered a ladder, he attempts to act casual like he requires no assistance and actually wants to be stuck in the hole. Throughout the story, you encounter plenty of annoying scenarios where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too self-conscious to take support.

The Pivotal Moment

Everything builds up in Baby Steps’s single genuine instance of decision. As Nate approaches the conclusion his quest, he realizes that he must ascend of a snowy mountain. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) comes to tell him that there are two ways up. If he’s up for a challenge, he can take an extremely long and risky path called The Manbreaker. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps has to offer; taking it seems inadvisable to anyone.

But there’s a alternative choice: He can merely climb a enormous coiled steps instead and reach the summit in just moments. The sole condition? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Lord” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

An Agonizing Decision

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an agonizing choice in context. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself coming to a head in a single ridiculous instant. Part of Nate’s journey is revolves around the truth that he’s self-conscious of his physical appearance and manhood. Each instance he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a painful recollection of everything he’s not. Attempting The Obstacle could be a time where he can prove that he’s as able as his unilateral competitor, but that road is bound to be paved with more embarrassing pratfalls. Is it worth suffering just to prove a point?

The staircase, on the flip side, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to choose whether to take assistance or not. The user doesn't get to decide in about they reject navigation help, but they can decide to give Nate a break and opt for the steps. It ought to be an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps game is devilishly clever about creating doubt anytime you see a simple solution. The environment includes planned obstacles that turn a safe route into a obstacle on a dime. Could the steps one more trick? Might Nate arrive to the very summit just to be disappointed by some last-second gag? And more concerning, is he prepared to be humiliated once again by being forced to call a strange individual as Master?

No Correct Answer

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no correct or incorrect choice. Either one brings about a real situation of personal growth and emotional release for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Challenge, it’s an existential win. Nate finally gets a moment to show that he’s as competent as everyone else, voluntarily accepting a challenging way rather than suffering through one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s difficult, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he craves.

But there’s no shame in the steps as well. To opt for that way is to finally allow Nate to take support. And when he does so, he realizes that there’s no hidden trick in store for him. The steps are not a joke. They go on for a long time, but they’re simple to climb and he won't slip all the way down if he trips. It’s a easy journey after lengthy difficulty. Halfway up, he even has a discussion with the hiker who has, of course, selected The Obstacle. He strives to appear composed, but you can see that he’s worn out, subtly ruing the pointless struggle. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to meet his agreement, addressing his new Master, the deal hardly seems so bad. Who has concern for humiliation by this strange individual?

My Experience

When I played, I opted for the stairs. A portion of my thinking just {wanted to call