Poppy Playtime 2
Elpidio Heart
Poppy Playtime is a 2021 episodic survival horror video game developed and published by American indie developer Mob Entertainment.[a] Set in the year 2005, a former employee of toy-making company Playtime Co. revisits its abandoned toy factory a decade after the company's staff mysteriously disappeared, and must solve puzzles, some requiring a gadget named the GrabPack, to progress while avoiding various enemies.
The first chapter was released on Steam for Microsoft Windows on October 12, 2021, and later ported to Android and iOS on March 11, 2022, the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on December 20, 2023, and the Nintendo Switch on December 25. The second chapter was released for Microsoft Windows, iOS and Android 2022, and the third chapter was released on Windows in January 2024; a fourth chapter is planned. All chapters after the first are premium downloadable content.
The first three chapters of Poppy Playtime garnered positive reviews for their horror, gameplay, story and animation, although they were criticized for their numerous bugs, particularly in the second chapter. The game faced several controversies, mainly due to its aesthetics and character design's similarities to that of children-oriented media resulting in popularity among younger-than-intended demographics. The announcement of in-game non-fungible token content in December 2021 received harsh criticism, resulting in the developers reversing all profits from the tokens to charity.
Poppy Playtime is a horror video game where the player controls a former employee of toy-making company named Playtime Co., who returns to the company's abandoned toy factory after its staff mysteriously disappeared 10 years earlier.[2] The employee discovers that the factory is filled with toys who are alive and malicious towards them,[3] and starts looking for a way to escape the premises.[4] Various VHS tapes can be found throughout the factory, each one giving a more in-depth explanation of the story.[5]
The employee navigates through a first-person perspective. The game features multiple puzzles throughout, which the employee must solve in order to progress further, with some requiring a gadget named the GrabPack, a backpack that can be equipped with two extendable hands which can be used to pull and reach objects from a far distance, conduct electricity, and access certain doors.[6][7][8] In "Chapter 2", it can also be used to swing across gaps and, with a green hand obtained during gameplay, transfer electricity between sources. In "Chapter 3", the employee obtains an improved version of the GrabPack, the GrabPack 2.0, that comes with longer wires, jet boosters to enable falling safely from great heights, and the ability to switch the green hand with a purple hand that allows them to jump long distances and an orange finger gun hand that doubles as a flare gun. They also acquire a gas mask to help them navigate areas exposed to the dangerous "Red Smoke".[9]
In 2005, a former employee of a toy-production company named Playtime Co. receives a package containing a note and a VHS tape advertising the company's Poppy Playtime doll and tours of their toy factory before abruptly cutting to spliced-in footage of graffiti of a poppy and a letter from the missing staff, requesting them to "find the flower". After watching the tape, the employee complies and returns to the toy factory to do so.
Arriving at the now-abandoned factory, the employee acquires a one-handed GrabPack to access the lobby. There, they encounter Huggy Wuggy, a seemingly giant statue toy on display in the room's center. While trying to unlock another door, the power goes out. Though the employee restores it, they find that the Huggy statue has disappeared. Upon obtaining a second hand for their GrabPack, they use a conveyor belt to reach the factory's "Make-a-Friend" section, where they manufacture a toy to progress further. Suddenly, a monstrous Huggy appears and chases them into the vents before they send him falling to his death to the bottom of the factory. Soon enough, the employee finds the graffiti, which leads to a room containing a Poppy Playtime doll inside a glass case. Upon unlocking the case, Poppy acknowledges them before the employee passes out.
Upon awakening, the employee finds Poppy gone and explores the factory's rear halls before eventually locating Playtime founder Elliot Ludwig's office. There, they re-encounter Poppy, who thanks them for freeing her and offers to help them escape by providing the activation code for the factory's train. However, she is grabbed and pulled deeper into the factory. As they approach the Game Station and the train, they encounter a giant spider-like monster called Mommy Long Legs, who steals a hand from their GrabPack, reveals she is holding Poppy hostage, and challenges the employee to win three games in the Game Station in exchange for the train's code, threatening to kill them if they break the rules. After locating and crafting a new hand for their GrabPack, the employee proceeds through the Game Station.
They successfully complete the first two games, obtain two-thirds of the train code, and briefly encounter a friendly version of Huggy called Kissy Missy before they are forced to escape into subterranean tunnels during the third game upon realizing that Mommy intentionally rigged it to ensure their demise. An enraged Mommy accuses them of cheating and pursues them back into the factory until they trap her in an industrial grinder and activate it, killing her. A needle-fingered hand, later revealed to belong to an experiment called the "Prototype", subsequently collects her body. The employee rescues Poppy, obtains the third part of the train code, and nearly escapes. However, Poppy diverts the train, refusing to let them leave as she requires their help. Before she can explain further, the train runs out of control and derails near a sign pointing to "Playcare", knocking the employee unconscious.
Following the train derailment, the employee reawakens as a giant cat-like monster called CatNap throws them into a trash compactor, but they escape and head to Playtime's on-site orphanage, Playcare. Along the way, they find a toy phone and receive advice from a voice referring to himself as "Ollie", who warns them that CatNap, Playcare's guardian and a recalled member of Playtime's "Smiling Critters" line, will try and kill them. On Ollie's instructions, the employee attempts to reroute power from Playcare's many facilities to power the Gas Production Zone and divert a hallucinogenic gas called the "Red Smoke", which CatNap can produce.
All throughout, they obtain the GrabPack 2.0, re-encounter Kissy, and reunite with Poppy, who explains she needs their help to kill the Prototype and end its control over the factory. After killing a hostile teacher named Miss Delight, the employee eventually encounters the last Smiling Critter, DogDay, who warns them that CatNap worships the Prototype like a god and mutilated him for defying it before he is killed and possessed by several Mini Smiling Critters, who mount a failed attempt at killing the employee. Following an attack by CatNap, the employee experiences a hallucination wherein Poppy asks about their knowledge of Playtime experimenting on children and turning them into the monsters they have encountered. The employee eventually defeats CatNap before the Prototype kills him and takes his body. After successfully redirecting the Red Smoke, Poppy reveals to the employee footage of the "Hour of Joy", wherein the Prototype ordered Playtime's monsters to kill the employees indiscriminately ten years prior. Reiterating their mission to kill the Prototype, Poppy leads the employee onto a lift to make their descent towards the Prototype's lair, intending to send it back up for Kissy. On the way down however, Poppy hears something attack Kissy and frantically attempts to send the lift back up, but the hatch closes on her and the employee.
Originally starting out as a Kickstarter campaign, the idea of Poppy Playtime was originally thought of by game director Isaac Christopherson, stating that people called most indie horror games "walking simulators", giving Mob Entertainment the idea to "create something with gameplay that doesn't feel quite so run-of-the-mill, while still staying exciting, terrifying, and unique." A trailer for the game's first chapter was uploaded in September 2021.[10][11]
In an interview with The New York Times, Zach Belanger stated that his idea behind Huggy Wuggy was to "create something entirely new", and that his technique of making him terrifying was by making him larger than everything on screen.[12]
The first chapter was released on Steam for Microsoft Windows on October 12, and later for Android and iOS on March 11, 2022.[13] After the first chapter's release, official merchandise of the game began being released, including T-shirts, posters and plush toys,[14][15][16] as well as official collectibles produced by Youtooz.[17] The first chapter would later be released for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on December 20, 2023, and for the Nintendo Switch on December 25.[18]
All chapters after the first will be released as premium downloadable content.[6] A trailer for Chapter 2, named Fly in a Web, was released on February 22, 2022,[19] with several teasers later being posted to Twitter,[20] including a teaser trailer on April 9.[21] In preparation of the second chapter's release, the first chapter was made free.[22] The second chapter was then released on May 5, for Microsoft Windows[23] and then on August 15, for iOS and Android[24] and is estimated to be thrice as long as the first chapter.[25] Two teaser trailers for Chapter 3 were released on July 26, 2023, and August 6, 2022, respectively, with a slated release date of winter 2023.[26] However, due to several developers being laid off due to "creative differences", the chapter was delayed "several additional weeks into 2024".[1] Chapter 3 released on January 30, 2024 on Steam.[27]
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