Baby Steps Features Among the Most Significant Decisions I've Ever Faced in Gaming

I've faced some hard decisions in gaming. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange series still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima's ending section prompted me to put my controller down for several minutes while I considered my alternatives. I am responsible for countless Krogan fatalities in Mass Effect that I wish I could undo. None of those moments hold a candle to what possibly is the hardest choice I’ve had to make in interactive media — and it concerns a giant staircase.

The Game Baby Steps, the latest game from the creators of Ape Out game, isn’t exactly a selection-based adventure. Definitely not in the conventional way. You must navigate a sprawling open world as the protagonist Nate, a adult in a onesie who can barely stand on his shaky limbs. It appears to be an exercise in frustration, but Baby Steps game’s power lies in its surprisingly deep narrative that will sneak up on you when it's most unexpected. There’s no situation that showcases that quality like a key selection that I can’t stop thinking about.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

Some background information is necessary here. Baby Steps starts when Nate is magically whisked away from his parents’ basement and into a fantasy world. He quickly discovers that moving around in it is a difficulty, as years spent as a couch potato have deteriorated his physical condition. The physical comedy of it all comes from players controlling Nate step by step, trying to maintain his balance.

The protagonist needs aid, but he has difficulty expressing that to others. Throughout his hero’s journey, he meets a collection of quirky personalities in the world who everyone tries to assist him. A composed outdoorsman attempts to offer Nate a guide, but he clumsily declines in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he plunges into an inescapable pit and is given a way out, he attempts to act casual like he requires no assistance and truly prefers to be confined in the cavity. During the narrative, you encounter plenty of annoying scenarios where Nate makes life harder for himself because he’s not confident enough to take support.

The Pivotal Moment

Everything builds up in Baby Steps’s key situation of selection. As Nate nears the end his journey, he discovers that he must reach the summit 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 ready for a test, he can opt for a particularly extended and dangerous hiking trail called The Manbreaker. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps provides; taking it seems inadvisable to any human.

But there’s a alternative choice: He can merely climb a massive winding stairs instead and arrive at the peak in a short time. The single stipulation? He’ll have to call the groundskeeper “Lord” from now on if he chooses the simple path.

An Agonizing Decision

I am very serious when I say that this is an painful decision in context. It’s the totality of Nate's self-consciousness about himself culminating in a single ridiculous instant. Part of Nate’s journey is focused on the truth that he’s self-conscious of his physique and male identity. Whenever he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a difficult memory of everything he’s not. Attempting The Challenge could be a moment where he can prove that he’s as capable as his imagined opponent, but that path is likely filled with more humiliating failures. Is it justified struggling just to make a statement?

The steps, on the other hand, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to choose whether to take assistance or not. The gamer cannot choose in whether or not they reject navigation help, but they can opt to provide Nate with respite and choose the staircase. It should be an easy choice, but Baby Steps game is devilishly clever about causing suspicion whenever you see a simple solution. The environment includes intentional pitfalls that turn a safe route into a setback suddenly. Are the stairs yet another trap? Will Nate get at the peak just to be let down by some last-second gag? And more troubling, is he willing to be emasculated yet again by being forced to call an odd character as Lord?

No Right or Wrong

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Both options results in a authentic instance of protagonist evolution and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you choose to tackle The Manbreaker, it’s an personal triumph. Nate at last receives a opportunity to demonstrate that he’s as capable as everyone else, voluntarily accepting a tough path rather than suffering through one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s challenging, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the moment of strength that he requires.

But there’s no embarrassment in the stairs as well. To choose that path is to eventually enable Nate to receive assistance. And when he does, he discovers that there’s no real catch awaiting him. The stairs aren’t a prank. They continue for a while, but they’re simple to climb and he doesn’t slide all the way down if he stumbles. It’s a simple climb after hours of struggle. Halfway up, he even has a conversation with the trekker who has, of course, selected The Challenge. He tries to play it cool, but you can tell that he’s worn out, silently lamenting the pointless struggle. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to meet his agreement, addressing his new Master, the arrangement scarcely looks so nasty. Who has concern for humiliation by this strange individual?

My Choice

In my playthrough, I opted for the stairs. A portion of my thinking just {wanted to call