Baby Steps Features One of the Most Meaningful Decisions I Have Ever Encountered in Video Games

I've dealt with some difficult decisions in gaming. Some of my decisions in Life is Strange remain on my mind. Ghost of Tsushima final sequence led me to put my controller down for several minutes while I thought through my options. I am the cause of so many Krogan demises in the Mass Effect series that I regret deeply. None of those moments measure up to what possibly is the toughest selection I've faced in gaming — and it concerns a enormous set of steps.

Baby Steps, the newest release from the developers of Ape Out, is hardly a decision-focused experience. Definitely not in typical gaming terms. You simply have to walk around a expansive environment as the protagonist Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can hardly stay upright on his shaky limbs. It appears to be a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps’s appeal is in its deceptively impactful story that will surprise you when you least anticipate it. There’s no situation that exemplifies that strength like a key selection that I keep reflecting on.

Alert: Spoilers

A bit of context is needed at this point. Baby Steps begins as Nate is magically whisked away from his family's basement and into a magical realm. He immediately finds that walking through it is a difficulty, as a long time spent as a sedentary person have atrophied his limbs. The physical comedy of it all stems from players controlling Nate one step at a time, trying to maintain his balance.

Nate needs help, but he has problems articulating that to others. During his adventure, he comes in contact with a collection of quirky personalities in the world who each propose to help him out. A self-assured trekker seeks to provide Nate a guide, but he awkwardly refuses in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he drops into an unavoidable hole and is presented with a ladder, he tries to play it off like he requires no assistance and genuinely desires to be trapped in the pit. During the narrative, you encounter plenty of annoying scenarios where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s too insecure to take support.

The Pivotal Moment

This culminates in Baby Steps’s single genuine instance of choice. As Nate gets close to finishing his journey, he finds that he must ascend of a snow-capped peak. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) comes to let him know that there are two paths upward. If he’s prepared for difficulty, he can choose a very lengthy and risky path dubbed The Obstacle. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps game provides; taking it seems inadvisable to any person.

But there’s a second option: He can simply ascend a enormous coiled steps instead and arrive at the peak in a few minutes. The sole condition? He’ll have to address the guardian “Sir” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

A Difficult Selection

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an difficult selection in this situation. 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 revolves around the truth that he’s insecure of his physique and male identity. Whenever he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a painful recollection of all he lacks. Undertaking The Challenge could be a instance where he can show that he’s as competent as his one-sided rival, but that path is likely filled with more embarrassing pratfalls. Is it worth struggling just to make a statement?

The steps, on the contrary, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to either accept or reject help. The user doesn't get to decide in whether or not they turn away a map, but they can choose to give Nate a break and choose the staircase. It ought to be an easy choice, but Baby Steps is exceptionally cunning about causing suspicion anytime you encounter an easy option. The game world contains intentional pitfalls that turn a safe route into a setback on a dime. Is the staircase yet another trap? Might Nate arrive to the very summit just to be let down by some last-second gag? And more troubling, is he ready to be diminished once again by being compelled to refer to some weirdo Lord?

No Right or Wrong

The brilliance of that instant is that there’s no perfect selection. Both options leads to a genuine moment of character development and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Manbreaker, it’s an personal triumph. Nate finally gets a chance to prove that he’s as able as anyone else, voluntarily accepting a difficult route rather than suffering through one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s difficult, and possibly risky, but it’s the bit of empowerment that he needs.

But there’s no embarrassment in the stairs too. To select that route is to eventually enable Nate to take support. And when he accomplishes that, he discovers that there’s no hidden trick in store for him. The steps are not a joke. They continue for a while, but they’re easy to walk up and he won't slip all the way down if he falls. It’s a simple climb after lengthy difficulty. Midway through, he even has a discussion with the trekker who has, of course, selected The Manbreaker. He tries to play it cool, but you can discern that he’s fatigued, silently lamenting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate gets to the top and has to fulfill his obligation, hailing his new Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so nasty. Who has time to be embarrassed by this freak?

Personal Reflection

When I played, I chose the staircase. Part of me just {wanted to call