A bizarre aversion of slapstick

In Who’s Your Daddy, a multiplayer experience, one player acts as the caretaker, playing as Daddy, to the other, who plays as Baby. It’s Daddy’s goal to keep Baby safe in their home for the day (which really only lasts some number of minutes). Meanwhile, it’s Baby’s goal to stick forks in outlets, spend time bathing in heated ovens, or take a nasty fall: anything to die and “win” the round. Then the roles are reversed, and the players start again.

Alas, poor baby

There’s not much to say other than the game’s basic premise. The controls are simple: both players use their left and right mouse buttons, and the WASD keys, to move around and accomplish their goals. Daddy moves faster, of course, but he needs it! Daddy has to drag objects, with wonky physics, out of Baby’s way, and child-proof a house that is very much not child-proofed: bleach and batteries lay about, the family’s glass table is waiting to be smashed and the resulting glass shards eaten, and if the family’s car in the garage hits a wall, it explodes. Daddy can feed Baby pills and fruit to heal them (with no repercussions)… even if they’ve turned a deep shade of green to represent their sickness and injury.

Merry-go-round

Each player takes a turn as Daddy, then as Baby, throughout the rounds. This is a useful and fair feature, considering both play very differently and asymmetrically. Daddy’s task is certainly harder than Baby’s at the onset, but by completing chores, Daddy can gain power-ups. If he puts a battery in the smoke detector or every toy in the toy box, for example, he’s likely to get “Bat-Dad”, letting him see through walls. Baby doesn’t get power ups, but doesn’t need any: they’re small enough to hide while Daddy’s around, then jump in a full bathtub while he’s away!

A blast to the past

It can be seen as a good thing or a bad thing, given the game’s premise, but Who’s Your Daddy doesn’t have great graphics. The cartoonish style with earthen, realistic colors resembles The Sims or similar mid-2000s games. The proportions of the characters and the textures of the objects found throughout the house certainly aren’t professional. The animation is most charitably described as “jumpy”. But it might be hard not to laugh when Daddy stands in front of the oven, absolutely stock-still, and it opens at his command to reveal Baby.

Overall, if Who’s Your Daddy sounds like the kind of game you might enjoy, it probably is. Given how easy it is to get the game, and how easy it is to start playing it, there’s minimal risk in trying it. All you really need to get going is a like-minded friend (or more than one!), copies of the game to match, and a willingness to get down and dirty in the depths of a suburban home as both a caretaker and a troublemaker.

Who’s your daddy? That’s up to you!

Changes

• Overall, if Who’s Your Daddy sounds like the kind of game you might enjoy, it probably is. Given how easy it is to get the game, and how easy it is to start playing it, there’s minimal risk in trying it. All you really need to get going is a like-minded friend (or more than one!), copies of the game to match, and a willingness to get down and dirty in the depths of a suburban home as both a caretaker and a troublemaker.

  Who’s your daddy? That’s up to you!