The Game Baby Steps Includes One of the Most Significant Decisions I've Ever Experienced in Video Games

I've faced some hard decisions in video games. Several of my selections in Life is Strange series continue to trouble me. Ghost of Tsushima's concluding moments led me to set down my controller for around ten minutes while I considered my options. I am responsible for numerous Krogan demises in Mass Effect that I regret deeply. Not one of those instances compare to what now might be the hardest choice I've faced in interactive media — and it concerns a giant staircase.

Baby Steps, the newest release from the developers of Ape Out game, is not really a decision-focused experience. Definitely not in any traditional sense. You must explore a expansive environment as Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can barely stand on his shaky limbs. It looks like one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps game’s power lies in its deceptively impactful story that will sneak up on you when it's most unexpected. There’s not a single instance that showcases that quality like a key selection that I keep reflecting on.

Alert: Spoilers

Some background information is needed at this point. Baby Steps begins as the protagonist is suddenly taken from the basement of his home and into a fantasy world. He soon realizes that navigating this world is a struggle, as a long time spent as a sedentary person have atrophied his limbs. The slapstick elements of it all stems from users guiding Nate gradually, trying to prevent him from falling over.

Nate requires assistance, but he has difficulty expressing that to anyone. Throughout his hero’s journey, he meets a collection of quirky personalities in the world who each propose to give him a hand. A composed outdoorsman seeks to provide Nate a navigation aid, but he clumsily declines in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he drops into an inescapable pit and is presented with a ladder, he attempts to act casual like he can manage alone and truly prefers to be trapped in the pit. During the narrative, you experience no shortage of irritating episodes where Nate complicates his own situation because he’s not confident enough to accept any assistance.

The Defining Decision

This culminates in Baby Steps’s key situation of choice. As Nate approaches the conclusion his quest, he discovers that he must ascend of a frosty elevation. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) appears to inform him that there are two paths upward. If he’s prepared for difficulty, he can take an extremely long and hazardous route called The Manbreaker. It is the most intimidating challenge Baby Steps game provides; attempting it appears unwise to any human.

But there’s a second option: He can simply ascend a gigantic spiral staircase as an alternative and reach the summit in a short time. The only caveat? He’ll have to refer to the caretaker “Sir” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

A Painful Choice

I am completely earnest 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 culminating in a particularly bizarre situation. Part of Nate’s journey is focused on the fact that he’s insecure of his physical appearance and manhood. Whenever he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a difficult memory of what he fails to be. Attempting The Manbreaker could be a moment where he can show that he’s as capable as his one-sided rival, but that path is likely filled with more awkward mishaps. Is it justified striving just to make a statement?

The staircase, on the contrary, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to choose whether to take assistance or not. The user doesn't get to decide in if they reject navigation help, but they can decide to give Nate a break and choose the staircase. It might seem like an easy choice, but Baby Steps is remarkably shrewd about causing suspicion anytime you see a simple solution. The world is filled with intentional pitfalls that change a secure way into a obstacle suddenly. Is the staircase one more trick? Could Nate reach to the very summit just to be let down by a final joke? And more troubling, is he ready to be diminished yet again by being compelled to refer to some weirdo Lord?

No Correct Answer

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no correct or incorrect choice. Both options results in a authentic instance of protagonist evolution and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you decide to take on The Challenge, it’s an personal triumph. Nate finally gets a chance to prove that he’s as capable as others, willingly taking on a challenging way rather than struggling through one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s hard, and possibly risky, but it’s the dose of confidence that he requires.

But there’s no embarrassment in the staircase too. To opt for that way is to at last permit Nate to accept help. And when he does so, he discovers that there’s no real catch awaiting him. The staircase is not a trick. They go on for a long time, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he does not fall all the way down if he falls. It’s a straightforward ascent after lengthy difficulty. Partway through, he even has a chat with the hiker who has, of course, opted for The Obstacle. He attempts to act casual, but you can see that he’s fatigued, quietly regretting the pointless struggle. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to pay his debt, hailing his new Lord, the deal hardly seems so nasty. Who has energy for shame by this odd character?

Personal Reflection

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