The Game Baby Steps Includes Among the Most Impactful Choices I've Ever Experienced in Video Games

I've faced some hard decisions in interactive entertainment. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange series remain on my mind. Ghost of Tsushima concluding moments led me to set down my controller for several minutes while I weighed my options. I am the cause of numerous Krogan deaths in Mass Effect that I would love to reverse. Not a single one of those situations compare to what possibly is the toughest selection I've faced in a video game — and it involves a enormous set of steps.

Baby Steps, the newest release from the developers of Ape Out, is hardly a choice-driven game. Definitely not in the conventional way. You must navigate a sprawling open world as the main character Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can hardly stay upright on his shaky limbs. It looks like one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps game’s strength comes from its surprisingly deep narrative that will surprise you when it's most unexpected. There’s no moment that showcases that quality like a pivotal decision that I can’t stop thinking about.

Spoiler Warning

Some scene setting is required here. Baby Steps begins as Nate is magically whisked away from the basement of his home and into a fantasy world. He immediately finds that moving around in it is a struggle, as years spent as a couch potato have weakened his muscles. The physical comedy of it all arises from users guiding Nate one step at a time, trying to maintain his balance.

Nate requires assistance, but he has difficulty expressing that to anyone. As he progresses, he meets a collection of quirky personalities in the world who everyone tries to help him out. A self-assured trekker attempts to offer Nate a guide, but he awkwardly refuses in the game’s funniest instant. When he drops into an unavoidable hole and is given a way out, he strives to appear nonchalant like he can manage alone and truly prefers to be stuck in the hole. During the narrative, you experience no shortage of frustrating vignettes where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too self-conscious to take support.

The Pivotal Moment

Everything builds up in Baby Steps game’s single genuine instance of choice. As Nate approaches the conclusion his adventure, he finds that he must climb to the top of a frosty elevation. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) comes to inform him that there are two paths upward. If he’s ready for a test, he can opt for a particularly extended and hazardous route dubbed The Challenge. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps provides; attempting it appears unwise to anyone.

But there’s a second option: He can just walk up a massive winding stairs in its place and reach the summit in a few minutes. The only caveat? He’ll have to call the groundskeeper “Lord” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

A Difficult Selection

I am very serious when I say that this is an difficult selection in context. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself reaching a climax in a single ridiculous instant. An element of Nate's story is centered around the reality that he’s self-conscious of his body and his masculinity. Every time he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a painful recollection of all he lacks. Undertaking The Manbreaker could be a moment where he can demonstrate that he’s as able as his one-sided rival, but that route is sure to be paved with more humiliating failures. Is it worth striving just to prove a point?

The steps, on the other hand, give Nate another big moment to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The player has no choice in whether or not they turn away a map, but they can opt to provide Nate with respite and opt for the steps. It ought to be an easy choice, but Baby Steps game is remarkably shrewd about making you feel paranoid each time you find a gift horse. The game world contains intentional pitfalls that change a secure way into a difficulty suddenly. Is the staircase yet another trap? Might Nate arrive to the very summit just to be fooled by an ending prank? And more concerning, is he ready to be diminished another time by being forced to call an odd character as Lord?

No Right or Wrong

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no perfect selection. Either one results in a authentic instance of personal growth and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Obstacle, it’s an philosophical victory. Nate at last receives a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as capable as others, voluntarily accepting a challenging way rather than suffering through one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s difficult, and perhaps unwise, but it’s the dose of confidence that he craves.

But there’s no shame in the staircase either. To choose that path is to at last permit Nate to receive assistance. And when he accomplishes that, he realizes that there’s no secret drawback in store for him. The staircase is not a trick. They continue for a while, but they’re simple to climb and he won't slip to the bottom if he stumbles. It’s a straightforward ascent after lengthy difficulty. Partway through, he even has a discussion with the trekker who has, naturally, chosen to take The Manbreaker. He strives to appear composed, but you can tell that he’s worn out, subtly ruing the pointless struggle. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to fulfill his obligation, hailing his new Lord, the deal hardly seems so nasty. Who has time to be embarrassed by this strange individual?

My Experience

In my playthrough, I chose the staircase. Some part of my reasoning just {wanted to call