The Game Baby Steps Features One of the Most Impactful Choices I Have Ever Experienced in Gaming

I've dealt with some difficult decisions in video games. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange remain on my mind. Ghost of Tsushima concluding moments led me to set down my controller for a good 10 minutes while I weighed my choices. I am the cause of countless Krogan demises in the Mass Effect series that I would love to reverse. None of those moments hold a candle to what possibly is the hardest choice I’ve had to make in a video game — and it involves a enormous set of steps.

The Game Baby Steps, the recent title from the developers of Ape Out, is hardly a choice-driven game. At least not in typical gaming terms. You simply have to explore a vast game world as the main character Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can hardly stay upright on his shaky limbs. It looks like a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps game’s power lies in its surprisingly deep narrative that will catch you off guard when you least anticipate it. There’s not a single instance 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 Nate is transported from his family's basement and into a fantasy world. He quickly discovers that moving around in it is a challenge, as a long time spent as a sedentary person have atrophied his limbs. The physical comedy of it all stems from users guiding Nate one step at a time, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

Nate requires assistance, but he has trouble voicing that to others. As he progresses, he encounters a collection of quirky personalities in the world who each propose to assist him. A composed outdoorsman tries to give Nate a guide, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s most hilarious scene. When he plunges into an inescapable pit and is given a way out, he strives to appear nonchalant like he doesn’t need the help and actually wants to be trapped in the pit. As the plot unfolds, you experience no shortage of frustrating vignettes where Nate makes life harder for himself because he’s too insecure to take support.

The Ultimate Choice

That comes to a head in Baby Steps’s key situation of decision. As Nate gets close to finishing his journey, he realizes that he must ascend of a snow-capped peak. The default guardian of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) comes to tell him that there are two ways up. If he’s ready for a test, he can opt for a particularly extended and risky path dubbed The Manbreaker. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps includes; choosing it looks risky to any person.

But there’s a other possibility: He can simply ascend a gigantic spiral staircase in its place and reach the summit in just moments. The only caveat? He’ll have to address the guardian “Sir” 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 the game's narrative. It’s every one of Nate's doubts about himself reaching a climax in a particularly bizarre situation. Part of Nate’s journey is revolves around the fact that he’s unconfident of his physique and male identity. Whenever he sees that dashing hiker, it’s a difficult memory of what he fails to be. Undertaking The Manbreaker could be a instance where he can show that he’s as able as his imagined opponent, but that road is bound to be paved with more awkward mishaps. Is it justified suffering just to make a statement?

The steps, on the flip side, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The user doesn't get to decide in if they turn away a map, but they can decide to give Nate a break and choose the staircase. It might seem like an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps game is exceptionally cunning about making you feel paranoid each time you see a simple solution. The game world contains planned obstacles that change a secure way into a setback instantly. Could the steps yet another trap? Might Nate arrive all the way to the top just to be fooled by an ending prank? And more troubling, is he willing to be emasculated yet again by being compelled to refer to some weirdo Lord?

No Right or Wrong

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Both options leads to a authentic instance of personal growth and therapeutic resolution for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Manbreaker, it’s an existential win. Nate at last receives a moment to show that he’s as able as everyone else, willingly taking on a tough path rather than enduring one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s difficult, and possibly risky, but it’s the dose of confidence that he requires.

But there’s no shame in the steps too. To select that route is to at last permit Nate to take support. And when he does, he finds that there’s no hidden trick in store for him. The staircase is not a trick. They continue for a while, but they’re straightforward to ascend and he does not fall to the bottom if he stumbles. It’s a straightforward ascent after hours of struggle. Midway through, he even has a discussion with the hiker who has, of course, opted for The Manbreaker. He tries to play it cool, but you can discern that he’s worn out, quietly regretting the needless difficulty. By the time Nate reaches the summit and has to pay his debt, hailing his new Lord, the deal hardly seems so nasty. Who has concern for humiliation by this freak?

Personal Reflection

In my playthrough, I selected the steps. A portion of my thinking just {wanted to call