The titular character, Poppy the living doll
Poppy Playtime is a series of horror videogames. This are surprisingly popular with children. Made by the independent studio Mob Entertainment, it has 4 chapters and deals with a toy factory owned by the evil corporation Playtime. The factory has been abandoned after it's workers went missing. You play as an ex-worker, called to the factory by a mysterious note that promises to reveal the location of your former workmates.
Poppy Playtime is a mascot horror game. This games are all about family-friendly mascots who became corrupted and hunt the player, who must survive their attacks.
Most of this games involve evil corporations, with the mascots being animated by the souls of dead people. The story is revealed through secrets that can be uncovered while playing.
Poppy Playtime and it's characters are fairly popular, and I think it is important that parents are aware of its contents. Today, in the Pasture of Knowledge, I will introduce you to the world of the evil Playtime company.
Lore
The history of the games is not finished, only 4 chapters and a spin-off have been released. Yet, this is the story of the saga so far:
Playtime Co was a successful toy company. It's founder, Elliot Ludwig, became distraught after a tragic incident: the death of his daughter.
Elliot became obsessed with transhumanism, the idea of improving and transcending the human body. His company started experimenting on orphans - which were kept within the factory in an underground facility -, seeking to infuse their souls and bodies into the toys of the factory.
Playtime was also involved in worker abuse. Some of them were experimented upon as well, while the majority suffered from lackluster worker security. This is what we see in the spin-off game Project Playtime.
It is unknown if Elliot was aware of any of this.
What is certain is that at some point, the living toys rebelled against the company, slaughtering all the workers guilty and innocent. This plan was made by an evil toy named The Prototype. After this the toys split in two factions, one of which is led by Poppy the living doll.
The task of the player is to survive the servants of The Prototype and help Poppy and her friends. The player explores the factory and it's twisted interiors, discovering gruesome secrets, dead toys, and the depressing history of the company.
The Characters
Huggy Wuggy is the first toy to attack the player. He appears in chapter 1 and will likely reappear in the coming games. He is blue, aggressive, and intelligent. Huggy is extremely popular as a toy and in marketing, despite his corrupted violent nature.
Kissy Missy looks like Huggy Wuggy, but is female and friendly. She helps the player through the game and carries Poppy in her elbows.
Poppy is the toy nemesis to The Prototype. She asks the player for help and has appeared in every single game. Poppy is tough and has seen horrible things.
Mommy Long Legs us the main antagonist of chapter 2. She forces the player to complete a series of deadly games, which were used to test the habilites of the children under Playtime. She is torn to shreds by the player after her hand gets stuck in a grinder.
Catnap is the main antagonist of Chapter 3. This vicious purple cat emits a poisonous sleeping gas from his mouth, a gas that was used against the children. He worships the prototype and tortures the toys who rebel against his tyranny. He is electrocuted by the player and impaled by his beloved boss.
Boxy Boo swallows people on Project Playtime. He is yet to appear on the main chapters.
The smiling critters are a collection of scented plushies. There are small and big versions of them. One of them, the dog, had his limbs torn from his body by Catnap. He shares his last words to the player, after which small smiling critters get inside of him through the wounds and eat him. They then attack the player inside the dog toy.
Other characters from left to right: Candy Cat, Bron, Bunzo Bunny, Daisy, Catbee and PJ Pugapillar. Most of them can be found, dead and bloodstained, on the factory.
Douey the Doughman is made of clay, and three children live within him. Their personalities clash against each other. This amiable character is freezed and crushed by the player after all his friends die and the violent kid takes over him. Here he is with Pianosaurus and Yarnaby.
The Nightmare Critters are the evil version of the smiling critters.
Rating and Conclusion
It is clear that Poppy Playtime is not a game for children; with gory toy deaths and depressing themes like child abuse and body horror, Poppy Playtime is much darker than many other mascot horror ganes, including the world-famous Five Nights At Freddy's.
However, the reason why children are invested in this game is easy to explain. The first two chapters to be released were certainly spooky, and yet they have a fairly limited amount of violence. Many you tubers and streamers like Markiplier played the games, and their young viewers became endeared with this thing and it's characters. (After all, these are supposed to be toys) I am fairly certain that some of this children have never played the game, and yet they like what they see from their favorite gamers.
Poppy Playtime received criticism from older gamers for being too childish and not scary. This caused Mob Entertainment to make chapters 3 and 4 more gory and disturbing, to a point where no child should be a "fan" of the series.
To make matters more concerning, some perverts upload weird and degenerate Poppy Playtime videos to YouTube and akin platforms, grooming the little fans of this dark franchise and teaching them fetishes. This, in my opinion, is worse than the violence in the games.
In conclusion, Poppy Playtime is a videogame for adults which should be kept away from children. Many people feel that because something is childish in appearance it is certifiably family friendly, ignoring that people who were children at some point might want to revisit their past with a darker, more mature twist.
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