Babies are seldom the main characters in video games, so when you finally do get to play as one it can be pretty interesting…at first, and then you quickly realize why babies don’t make great playable characters. The last game I played with an actual baby/toddler was Among the Sleep several years ago; a fantastic and spooky adventure dealing with family trauma and abuse where we (the baby) escaped into a haunted fantasy world with our teddy bear.
Baby Blues Nightmares tries to borrow some of that baby mojo magic and make it work in an “escape room” scenario where our baby finds themselves in multiple situations where they are slowly being stalked by a hideous creature in locations like your bedroom, a playroom, the garage, and a daycare center just for starters. You’ll need to walk, run, and crawl your way through various scenarios, hiding at times when the monster gets close. This part plays out pretty much like any other horror game where you hide under furniture or in lockers. Snack on milk, fruits and candy bars to keep that health and stamina topped off and try not to cry or step on any squeaky toys, or you will summon the monster.
The overall assignment in Baby Blues Nightmares is to find your missing stuffed animals – horrifying creatures ripped straight from Five Nights at Freddy’s. There are also some issues going on with your angry, arguing parents and a possible child abduction, but no spoilers here. Despite the lack of any real story going on the game still manages to have a good structure and a shocking finale.
Apparently, Baby Blues Nightmares was created by a rather small team and is far from a full-price game, so I am a bit more forgiving in some of my critiques. The first big issue is there is no controller support. It’s been over eight years since I was forced to play a game with the keyboard (looking at you XCOM 2), and it was a genuine struggle to play this game. I “died” multiple times while running toward a vent and fumbling for the crouch button, pausing just long enough to get snatched by the boogieman. The UI doesn’t scale properly, so when you kick the game into 4K resolution all of the text becomes too tiny to read including subtitles. Thankfully, the creepy narrator is well-spoken. My other minor complaint is the baby blinking feature where our toddler will slowly close their eyes and keep them shut for a solid second even though you may still be moving or doing something. Nobody blinks this slow; get this kid a Red Bull.
Thankfully, most of my issues could easily be addressed with a future patch, but the one thing you can’t patch is motivation and enjoyment, and the simple truth is I just got bored a few hours into this already-short game. There were amusing elements for sure like sleeping in the baby bed to save your game or using the toy box as an item storage chest like in Resident Evil, but the main gameplay loop got so repetitive I started to zone out. You’ll find yourself in a variety of lockdown situations where you’ll be looking for ornate iron keys to unlock doors, or perhaps a stool or chair to stand on and slide a deadbolt, or maybe a small toy you can toss through a window and climb over the sill.
Baby Blues Nightmares looks reasonably good with some decent lighting and shadows and full 4K support. The various locations switch up the décor and mood ranging from spooky and sinister to downright terrifying at times. The daycare was particularly fun being able to climb over the playsets and jump into the ball pit. Even the interface for inventory and mission goals is nicely done, yet there were still plenty of missed opportunities. There was never a need for the toy box, and I never used the crayon. You get a map pretty early on and there are already arrows all over the place showing where to go, so it’s nearly impossible to get lost. I appreciated viewing the world from a toddler’s perspective, and not being able to see out of the locker door while hiding made that escape tactic even more frightening.
To its credit, Baby Blues Nightmares offers up some solid jump scares and even delivers a shocking and surprise ending assuming you have the mental stamina and patience to reach it. Again, the entire game can be wrapped up in 3-4 hours and given the relatively short runtime and mostly uninspired and repetitive gameplay mechanics required to reach the finale, Baby Blues Nightmares is a tough sell even at $13. Perhaps if this were in early access with the promise of future content and improvements I could recommend, but for now, all I can say is if you must play Baby Blues Nightmares, please wait for it to go on sale or get it in a bundle.
