I’ll be honest, I have played some odd games during my time, with recent efforts of DEEEER Simulator: Your Average Everyday Deer Game, Kill It With Fire and Just Die Already springing to mind. But Who’s Your Daddy?! may just take the crown. I mean, just look at the cover art on the Xbox store page and you’ll know what I mean.
Who’s Your Daddy?! is currently in Xbox Game Preview, and costing just £4.19 it’s the cheapest title I’ve ever seen to be so. Not only this, but a free trial is also available if you want to give it a look before putting any money down. It was originally released for PC in 2015, but now Evil Tortilla Games are remaking it, with plans to bring the updated version to consoles too.
So, how on earth can I describe Who’s Your Daddy?!. Well, as it turns out there’s no easy way to do so. It’s billed as a casual asymmetric multiplayer game and in reality is absolute carnage. The cel-shaded visuals and ridiculous physics are one thing, but when a baby is crawling towards you with bright yellow headlights for eyes, head craned back at a 90 degree angle and mouth open wide revealing a gaping black hole, it’s horrifying.
There are numerous ways to play, on or offline. You will assume the role of the baby or Daddy and each play differently as well as having their own objectives. The Daddy will need to keep his kid from, well, killing itself, at least until Mum gets home. Unfortunately for Dad, his house is littered with hazards such as bleach, household appliances and even a nail gun. He’s clearly not set himself up for success here.
As the baby, you will explore the house and its many hazards. In what may prove a step too far for some, you can climb into the oven and fire it up, lock yourself in the fridge and even ride the family dog. In fact, you’re encouraged to be creative, at least judging by the achievements on offer. It’s enough to give any parent (especially those expecting their first child) serious anxiety, especially as you get flung around the room after slipping, getting electrocuted or even set on fire.
Who’s Your Daddy?! is geared towards online play, with various modes available. You can play 1v1, 4v4 or Daddy’s Nightmare. The latter mode sees the power out at home, and your job is to fill the generators with gas and restore it. Unfortunately, the house is filled with killer babies intent on stopping you with anything they can get their hands on. There’s more bad news, as they are freakishly proficient at this with the ability to turn pretty much any of the sixty-seven items on offer into offensive weapons.
There is also the option to set up custom games with your friends, and crossplay is enabled which boosts player numbers. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised with how busy the servers were and had no trouble finding matches quickly, with lots of Xbox players already online. A promising sign if there ever was one for a game looking to elbow its way into the extremely crowded online multiplayer scene.
You will unlock customisation options for your characters as you play, such as different skins and accessories. You will also gain perks which will boost certain attributes, but I honestly couldn’t tell any difference with them in play.
The combat takes place in a seemingly normal family home, with access to four indoor rooms and the surrounding garden. Many are taped off and marked as “under development”, which will unlock as the game advances towards completion – remember, this is currently in Game Preview. Unfortunately, this means there’s limited space to play in, but enough to get a grip on how Who’s Your Daddy?! works.
My first impressions of Who’s Your Daddy?! keep circling back to one overriding factor. It’s odd, with a gimmick that gives it a certain curious appeal. However, it’s currently rough around the edges with plenty of scenery glitching and I even managed to get stuck in a room where the door wouldn’t open to let me out. On another occasion I managed to flood the whole house, and somehow the outside space too before the water eventually drained away. Still, this can be forgiven as the game is in development.
My larger concern (and I may be wrong) is that there currently isn’t much variety to keep players interested. Despite different modes, the gameplay is so abstract it’s difficult for it not to all blend into one wacky experience. There are plans afoot to bring more content ahead of the full release, such as bots, new game modes and even a map builder (which sounds like fun). However, whether Who’s Your Daddy?! can evolve beyond the video game equivalent of a traveling freak show remains to be seen. I, for one, am not yet convinced.
Huge thanks go out to Evil Tortilla for giving us access to Who’s Your Daddy?! via Xbox Game Preview. If you wish to check out the game for yourself, hit up the Xbox Store. It’s playable on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, optimised for the next-gen.
