“Always be a baby. Don’t ever be a gun.” Listening to that song and its irreverence will probably help your brain become malleable enough to appreciate Let’s Go! Baby! Friends World, a browser-based multiplayer game that lets players control creepy babies and wander around what can only be described as a PlayStation 1 acid trip.
The game’s official site offers a bit of background into this one: It started life as a 2001 netgame where players could hang out. It disappeared for a time after numerous complaints, but solo developer Feverdream Johnny resurrected the title in four days’ time “to celebrate the new year.”
We spent some time in-game to try to delve into its surreal mysteries; interacting with the world is basically handled by barking out “auras” that can be changed on the fly, and different auras apparently have different effects; using a happy aura at a golden statue transported me to a gleeful castle with a critter that says “boner” when interacted with, as an example.
In an interview with PC Gamer, Johnny discusses his love of old and obscure social multiplayer games as well as his affection for hostile user design. “I think the concept of creating a multiplayer game without a real end goal always captivated me,” he says. “Most multiplayer games at least have some purpose to them, like there’s a fundamental mechanic of it that you’d need other players for, but for a lot of these social MMOs the only thing other players could bring you was company. […] I’ve been tempted to make a game cluttered with status bars that have extremely oblique purposes.”
LGBFW has evidently started to slowly grow a community as players try to unravel its mysteries and share their findings. This one really needs to be seen to be believed; just try to gird yourself for a truly strange trip.
