Baby Steps Features Among the Most Impactful Decisions I Have Ever Faced in Gaming

I've dealt with some difficult decisions in gaming. Several of my selections in Life is Strange series continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima's concluding moments prompted me to pause the game for around ten minutes while I considered my choices. I am the cause of numerous Krogan fatalities in Mass Effect that I wish I could undo. Not a single one of those situations measure up to what now might be the toughest selection I've faced in a video game — and it has to do with a enormous set of steps.

Baby Steps, the newest release from the makers of Ape Out game, is not really a decision-focused experience. Certainly not in any traditional sense. You simply have to walk around a sprawling open world as the protagonist Nate, a adult in a onesie who can hardly stay upright on his unsteady feet. It appears to be one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps game’s power lies in its unexpectedly meaningful plot that will sneak up on you when you’re least expecting it. There’s no moment that showcases that quality like a key selection that I keep reflecting on.

Spoiler Warning

Some scene setting is required here. Baby Steps game begins as the protagonist is suddenly taken from his parents’ basement and into a fantasy world. He immediately finds that walking through it is a difficulty, as years spent as a inactive individual have deteriorated his physical condition. The physical comedy of it all arises from users guiding Nate step by step, trying to prevent him from falling over.

Nate needs help, but he has trouble voicing that to other characters. As he progresses, he encounters a group of unusual individuals in the world who all offer to assist him. A cool, confident hiker tries to give Nate a navigation aid, but he clumsily declines in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he drops into an trapping cavity and is offered a ladder, he tries to play it off like he requires no assistance and genuinely desires to be trapped in the pit. Throughout the story, you see numerous frustrating vignettes where Nate makes life harder for himself because he’s too self-conscious to take support.

The Defining Decision

That comes to a head in Baby Steps game’s one true moment of selection. As Nate approaches the conclusion his adventure, he discovers that he must climb to the top of a snow-capped peak. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has consistently evaded up to this point) comes to tell him that there are two routes to the top. If he’s up for a challenge, he can choose a very lengthy and dangerous hiking trail named The Obstacle. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps game provides; taking it seems inadvisable to any human.

But there’s a other possibility: He can simply ascend a massive winding stairs in its place and reach the summit in just moments. The sole condition? He’ll have to call the groundskeeper “Lord” from now on if he takes the easy route.

A Painful Choice

I am completely earnest when I say that this is an difficult selection in context. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself coming to a head in a single ridiculous instant. A portion of Nate's adventure is revolves around the fact that he’s unconfident of his physical appearance and manhood. Whenever he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a difficult memory of everything he’s not. Attempting The Manbreaker could be a time where he can demonstrate that he’s as able as his unilateral competitor, but that route is sure to be laden with more embarrassing pratfalls. Is it worth striving just to demonstrate something?

The staircase, on the other hand, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to either accept or reject help. The user doesn't get to decide in whether or not they decline guidance, but they can opt to allow Nate some relief and take the stairs. It might seem like an easy choice, but Baby Steps game is devilishly clever about causing suspicion whenever you see a simple solution. The world is filled with planned obstacles that transform an easy path into a difficulty suddenly. Could the steps yet another trap? Will Nate get to the very summit just to be let down by an ending prank? And more concerning, is he willing to be emasculated yet again by being made to address a strange individual as Master?

No Perfect Choice

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Each path results in a authentic instance of personal growth and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Manbreaker, it’s an existential win. Nate eventually obtains a moment to show that he’s as competent as others, voluntarily accepting a difficult route rather than suffering through one that he has no alternative but to take. It’s difficult, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the moment of strength that he craves.

But there’s no embarrassment in the steps either. To select that route is to finally allow Nate to receive assistance. And when he accomplishes that, he discovers that there’s no real catch in store for him. The staircase is not a trick. They continue for a while, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he won't slip completely down if he trips. It’s a straightforward ascent after extended challenges. Midway through, he even has a discussion with the trekker who has, unsurprisingly, selected The Manbreaker. He strives to appear composed, but you can see that he’s fatigued, subtly ruing the unnecessary challenge. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to fulfill his obligation, addressing his new Master, the agreement barely appears so bad. Who has concern for humiliation by this freak?

My Choice

When I played, I selected the steps. Some part of my reasoning just {wanted to call