My desire to buy so many horror themed skins for video game Fortnite during it's recent 'Fortnitemares' event at least had a somewhat positive aspect. With 'The Grabber' skin I finally got around to watching The Black Phone, and with the Huggy Wuggy skin, I finally got around to trying Poppy Playtime. My knowledge of this game was slight, so there were a few unexpected surprises to discover. I had heard that Poppy Playtime was a poor man's Five Nights at Freddy's, and due to not really liking that game that didn't really incentivise me to try this one either. I needed to see where the great character Huggy Wuggy came from, something I recognised through popular media alone. It turns out Poppy Playtime isn't a single game, but instead is an episodic one. It seems that each of the four chapters released so far (a fifth and possibly final one has recently had a teaser trailer released) has you encounter a different terrifying toy. From what I can gather (not having played the others), Huggy Wuggy only appears in first chapter 'A Tight Squeeze'.
The game takes place in 2005, ten years after the majority of the employees of a toy company known as Playtime Co. mysteriously vanished without a trace. You play as an unnamed former employee who was possibly the only one to survive the event. You receive a package in the post, inside is a VHS tape advertising a tour of the toy factory you used to work in, as well as a cryptic letter that suggests the missing employees are actually still trapped in the place. This results in the silent protagonist deciding to head back to the factory, with the hopes of finding his missing colleagues.
Chapter 1 of Poppy Playtime was free to download and play. I'm not sure how long the other chapters are, but this one clocks in at roughly 45 minutes to an hour to complete. I had expected this would be a single room game like Five Nights, or that it would feature a wandering antagonist who would randomly kill you. Both of those didn't sound appealing. I was pleasantly surprised to discover a much more video game like experience. The chapter has you exploring the first floors of the factory, solving simple puzzles as you go. The goal of this first chapter is to discover a certain graffitied door that had been spliced into the VHS tour tape. Along the way you obtain a device known as a 'GrabPack'. This allows you to grab distant objects, and to lift objects you normally wouldn't be able to. In the process of doing this, you inadvertently awaken the towering Huggy Wuggy; a blue furred lanky toy creature that wants nothing more than to give you a hug...and then bite your head off with its huge mouth that features multiple lines of sharp teeth within.
The first two thirds of the chapter have you exploring the factory and solving small puzzles. It is the final part where the horror ramps up. In a section that reminded me of the laser disc Dragon's Lair games (but with actual direct control), you ascend down a series of maze-like narrow passageways as you are pursued by Huggy Wuggy. It becomes a process of elimination to discover the sole path that will bring you to chapter's end. Despite dying many times on this part, I didn't find it frustrating as I felt like I was making more progress each time.
I came to Poppy Playtime: Chapter 1 'A Tight Squeeze' expecting I would not enjoy the game. It was a delight to see how much more traditional this felt to what I had expected. Geared more towards children or teenagers, this wasn't a scary game, but you cannot say that the excellent Huggy Wuggy doesn't have a very iconic design to it, was great to see the character in its natural setting. The short runtime can't really be called an issue when this first chapter is free. As a taster it has really made me want to continue the story and see where things head next.
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