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

I've dealt with some hard decisions in interactive entertainment. Several of my selections in Life is Strange series continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima concluding moments made me put my controller down for several minutes while I considered my choices. I am accountable for numerous Krogan demises in Mass Effect that I wish I could undo. Not a single one of those situations measure up to what could be the toughest selection I've ever made in interactive media — and it has to do with a massive stairway.

Baby Steps, the latest game from the developers of Ape Out game, is hardly a decision-focused experience. Certainly not in the conventional way. You must explore a expansive environment as the protagonist Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can hardly stay upright on his wobbly legs. It appears to be one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps game’s appeal is in its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will sneak up on you when you’re least expecting it. There’s no situation that exemplifies that strength like a pivotal decision that I keep reflecting on.

Spoiler Warning

Some background information is needed at this point. Baby Steps game starts when Nate is magically whisked away from the basement of his home and into a fictional universe. He soon realizes that moving around in it is a challenge, as years spent as a couch potato have atrophied his limbs. The humorous physicality of it all arises from users guiding Nate one step at a time, trying to prevent him from falling over.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has problems articulating that to anyone. As he progresses, he comes in contact with a group of unusual individuals in the world who each propose to help him out. A self-assured trekker attempts to offer Nate a guide, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he plunges into an unavoidable hole and is given a way out, he attempts to act casual like he doesn’t need the help and genuinely desires to be trapped in the pit. As the plot unfolds, you see numerous frustrating vignettes where Nate makes life harder for himself because he’s too insecure to accept any assistance.

The Ultimate Choice

This culminates in Baby Steps’s one true moment of choice. As Nate gets close to finishing his journey, he discovers that he must ascend of a snow-capped peak. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) shows up to inform him that there are two paths upward. If he’s up for a challenge, he can take an extremely long and risky path dubbed The Challenge. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps game has to offer; taking it seems inadvisable to anyone.

But there’s a other possibility: He can merely climb a massive winding stairs instead and reach the summit in just moments. The sole condition? He’ll have to address the guardian “Lord” from now on if he takes the easy route.

An Agonizing Decision

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an painful decision in the game's narrative. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself coming to a head in one absurd moment. Part of Nate’s journey is revolves around the reality that he’s unconfident of his physique and male identity. Whenever he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a difficult memory of what he fails to be. Undertaking The Manbreaker could be a time where he can demonstrate that he’s as competent as his unilateral competitor, but that road is bound to be paved with more humiliating failures. Is it justified struggling just to make a statement?

The steps, on the other hand, give Nate another big moment to either accept or reject help. The player has no choice in about they turn away a map, but they can decide to provide Nate with respite and take the stairs. It ought to be an easy choice, but Baby Steps game is exceptionally cunning about making you feel paranoid whenever you encounter an easy option. The game world contains design traps that turn a safe route into a obstacle instantly. Are the stairs an additional deception? Will Nate get to the very summit just to be disappointed by some last-second gag? And even worse, is he willing to be emasculated another time by being forced to call an odd character as Lord?

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 protagonist evolution and emotional release for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Challenge, it’s an personal triumph. Nate eventually obtains a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as able as anyone else, consciously choosing a difficult route rather than struggling through one that he has no alternative but to take. 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 take support. And when he does, he finds that there’s no secret drawback awaiting him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They extend for some distance, but they’re simple to climb and he won't slip all the way down if he trips. It’s a straightforward ascent after lengthy difficulty. Partway through, he even has a conversation with the trekker who has, naturally, opted for The Challenge. He tries to play it cool, but you can see that he’s fatigued, silently lamenting the pointless struggle. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to meet his agreement, hailing his new Lord, the agreement barely appears so bad. Who has time to be embarrassed by this strange individual?

My Experience

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