The Game Baby Steps Features Among the Most Impactful Choices I Have Ever Encountered in a Game

I've encountered some challenging choices in video games. Several of my selections in Life is Strange still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima's final sequence prompted me to pause the game for around ten minutes while I thought through my choices. I am accountable for countless Krogan demises in the Mass Effect series that I wish I could undo. Not a single one of those situations hold a candle to what possibly is the most difficult decision I’ve had to make in a video game — and it concerns a giant staircase.

Baby Steps, the newest release from the developers of Ape Out, is not really a choice-driven game. Certainly not in typical gaming terms. You must navigate a vast game world as the main character Nate, a grown-up in childish attire who can barely stand on his shaky limbs. It looks like one big ragebait joke, but Baby Steps’s strength comes from its deceptively impactful story that will sneak up on you when you’re least expecting it. There’s no moment that showcases that quality like one major choice that remains on my mind.

Spoiler Warning

Some background information is needed at this point. Baby Steps game starts when Nate is transported from the basement of his home and into a magical realm. He soon realizes that moving around in it is a challenge, as a lifetime spent as a couch potato have atrophied his limbs. The humorous physicality of it all stems from gamers directing Nate one step at a time, trying to keep his ragdoll body standing.

Nate requires assistance, but he has trouble voicing that to other characters. As he progresses, he meets a collection of quirky personalities in the world who everyone tries to help him out. A cool, confident hiker attempts to offer Nate a navigation aid, but he uncomfortably rejects in the game’s most hilarious scene. When he drops into an inescapable pit and is offered a ladder, he strives to appear nonchalant like he requires no assistance and genuinely desires to be trapped in the pit. During the narrative, you see numerous frustrating vignettes where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too insecure to take support.

The Ultimate Choice

That comes to a head in Baby Steps game’s single genuine instance of choice. As Nate gets close to finishing his journey, he finds that he must climb to the top of a frosty elevation. The de facto groundskeeper of the world (who Nate has desperately tried to duck up to this point) appears to let him know that there are two routes to the top. If he’s up for a challenge, he can opt for a particularly extended and hazardous route called The Manbreaker. It is the most daunting obstacle Baby Steps has to offer; taking it seems inadvisable to any human.

But there’s a second option: He can simply ascend a gigantic spiral staircase instead and reach the summit in just moments. The only caveat? He’ll have to call the groundskeeper “Lord” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

An Agonizing Decision

I am very serious when I say that this is an painful decision in this situation. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself coming to a head in a particularly bizarre situation. An element of Nate's story is focused on the reality that he’s unconfident of his body and his masculinity. Whenever he sees that impressive outdoorsman, it’s a hard reminder of what he fails to be. Undertaking The Challenge could be a moment where he can prove that he’s as competent as his unilateral competitor, but that road is bound to be paved with more awkward mishaps. Is it worth struggling just to prove a point?

The stairs, on the contrary, offer Nate an additional crucial instance to decide between receiving aid or refusing it. The user doesn't get to decide in about they turn away a map, but they can choose to allow Nate some relief and opt for the steps. It might seem like an easy choice, but Baby Steps is exceptionally cunning about making you feel paranoid anytime you see a simple solution. The environment includes intentional pitfalls that transform an easy path into a obstacle suddenly. Could the steps yet another trap? Could Nate reach at the peak just to be let down by an ending prank? And more troubling, is he ready to be diminished yet again by being forced to call some weirdo Lord?

No Correct Answer

The excellence of that situation is that there’s no perfect selection. Both options brings about a real situation of personal growth and catharsis for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Manbreaker, it’s an personal triumph. Nate finally gets a chance to prove that he’s as competent as anyone else, consciously choosing a difficult route rather than suffering through one that he has no option except to pursue. It’s hard, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the moment of strength that he needs.

But there’s no disgrace in the stairs as well. To choose that path is to at last permit Nate to accept help. And when he does so, he finds that there’s no secret drawback awaiting him. The staircase is not a trick. They continue for a while, but they’re simple to climb and he does not fall all the way down if he stumbles. It’s a straightforward ascent after extended challenges. Halfway up, he even has a discussion with the hiker who has, naturally, selected The Challenge. He tries to play it cool, but you can discern that he’s exhausted, silently lamenting the unnecessary challenge. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to pay his debt, addressing his new Master, the arrangement scarcely looks so nasty. Who has energy for shame by this strange individual?

My Experience

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