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Chapter 3: "Deep Sleep" is the third chapter and installment of the indie horror franchise Poppy Playtime. It was released on January 30, 2024, after getting delayed, probably because of the developement of Project: Playtime.
Following the train crash at the end of Chapter 2: "Fly in a Web", CatNap, the monstrous new cat-like antagonist, is introduced by attempting to kill The Player through a Trash Compactor that they fortunately escape. Alongside a new character, Ollie, The Player is tasked to restore power to Playcare and the Gas Production Zone, all the while being toyed by CatNap, to ultimately bring an end to his reign of terror. However, there are new characters in Playcare who have been tasked by CatNap and the Prototype to aid in hunting down The Player.
Synopsis[]
"In the aftermath of the train crash, you now find yourself stranded in the depths with a new goal in your sights."
Steam[]
"A decrepit orphanage known as Playcare sits beneath the once magical toy factory. You must make your way through this haunted place, solving new puzzles and avoiding the nightmares that lurk within the dark. Answers lie between the blood-stained bedsheets and screaming echoes... If you can survive."
Description[]
This is Poppy Playtime's biggest and most terrifying chapter yet. More lies ahead than you might expect...
- New monsters await, and they're much more than just simple toys.
- Playcare is Playtime's own massive, fantastical orphanage. And you get to explore it.
- The GrabPack gets an upgrade!
- New hands permit new and creative ways to explore.
- A Gas Mask is the only way to safely explore through The Red Smoke that fills the air.
- Answers will finally be revealed. Lies can only stay buried for so long...
There is so much more to see, with further details coming very soon.
Much awaits you in the chapter ahead... a bit of playtime never hurt anyone, right?
Plot[]
Spoilers are present in here. You can clear your local storage to view the spoiler warning again!
Crash Landing[]
After the Train crash, The Player is recovered and thrown down by CatNap into a trash compactor. After escaping, The Player makes their way through a series of maintenance tunnels, hearing a phone ringing in the distance in the process of escaping. Finding and answering the phone, The Player finds themselves communicating with an unknown character who states his name to be Ollie. Through this newfound phone, still working despite being unused for a decade, Ollie promises to guide The Player while explaining the ongoing situation. The Player returns to the Train crash and proceeds to enter The Dome through Elliot's Express, where they hear a speech by Elliot Ludwig that introduces his ideology and thoughts during the creation of Playcare.
Upon arriving at Playcare, Ollie gives The Player a key to the Gas Production Zone which is used to power the building but also produces the gas called "The Red Smoke". After obtaining an enhanced version of the GrabPack named the GrabPack 2.0, which lets The Player jump high using one of the purple hand pads, and activating the console, the power goes out. Ollie tasks The Player to reactive the power and use backup generators from all locations to power the Gas Production Zone to reach CatNap. Ollie directs them to enter Home Sweet Home first, the abandoned residence for all the orphan children.
Welcome Home[]
After entering Home Sweet Home, The Player inhales the Red Smoke, falling into a nightmare, one eerily close to the waking world. They make their way through a maze of seemingly endless corridors, some even crossing over themselves, while also coming upon audio recordings of Playtime Co. News Coverage, claiming that a dead child had been found on Elliot Ludwig's estate. Throughout it all, CatNap stalks The Player, watching them from the shadows and disappearing when spotted. At last, The Player reaches the end of the corridors, where they watch a Welcome To Playtime VHS tape, welcoming employees to the Playtime Co. factory. The tape then becomes more and more disturbing, beginning to call out The Player specifically for returning and telling them of the "incomprehensible horrors" that now inhabit the factory. The Player is forced to look at the screen until a distorted and a nightmarish version of Huggy Wuggy (that The Player was traumatized by earlier) crawls out of the television. The Player in a futile attempt, tries to run away, but is soon caught and “eaten”. They then wake up in the real Home Sweet Home, discovering a Gas Mask soon after.
After activating Home Sweet Home's generator and leaving, Kissy Missy attempts to kill The Player until she is stopped by Poppy. A determined Poppy explains that The Player needs to get rid of the monsters who tortured them, warning them that the Prototype will kill The Player if they try to escape and that he needs to be destroyed.
Today's Lesson: Survival[]
Soon after, Ollie tells The Player to go to the School to restore power to it. While trying to turn on the generator, The Player encounters Miss Delight, the only remaining teacher of the School, who ate her Sisters due to her insatiable hunger. Miss Delight continuously warns and threatens The Player, trying to protect them but couldn’t break their iron that will through the School's PA system. After they turn the generator back on, she damages the generator before chasing The Player through various corridors and classrooms, only moving when they look away (or when the lights turn off in her old mechanic). As The Player nears the School's maintenance exit, Miss Delight abandons her movement rule and charges at The Player, who brings a gate down and instantly crushes and kills her.
The Player obtains the Orange Hand and makes their way into the caverns of Playcare. There, after completing several puzzles, they see CatNap worshipping a shrine of the Prototype. CatNap doesn't notice The Player, vanishing after they look away. The Player then enters the Playhouse through the caves, where they fend off a horde of Ruined Critters via the Orange Hand. On their way out, they discover a cell where they encounter a locked-up DogDay, who explains that the entirety of Playcare is CatNap's playground for destruction, murder, and control. DogDay also explains that CatNap takes orders from the Prototype, worshipping him and killing anyone who refuses to obey. Shortly before his monologue ends, the Ruined Critters infest DogDay before hijacking his body and chasing The Player through it. The Player escapes the possessed DogDay, last hearing his screams, before taking a slide out of Playhouse.
Need Counseling[]
Ollie then sends The Player to the Counselor's Office as their final objective, where they find and watch an emergency tape of a warning issued to Playtime Co. employees on August 8, 1995, warning them of a hostile force and to evacuate. The tape is cut short and a new message ominously appears: "Open the doors now. The Hour of Joy has arrived". The Player briefly returns to the caverns, solving puzzles as they make their way through the Counselor's Office. As they enter a Red Smoke-infested area while trying to power the building, The Player is ambushed by CatNap, who knocks the Gas Mask off their face, making them inhaling the gas once more and sends them into a dream state where Poppy asks The Player rhetorical questions with various visions of shadow children in Playcare. The visions conclude with Huggy standing motionless in the distance, then Poppy says "No, you don't". Then the Prototype's hand comes out towards The Player as they stand in front of Huggy's stand.
Then they wake up. After re-routing the Counselor's Office backup power to the statue, Ollie gives The Player the final battery required to power the Gas Production Zone. They return to the zone, but CatNap ambushes them by filling the room with Red Smoke, chasing The Player into an elevator.
A Safe Room...?[]
The Player enters the Safe Room and is required to fend off CatNap for three minutes as he constantly toys with The Player via hallucinations. A Green GrabPack Hand receiver eventually overcharges and The Player utilizes this to eliminate CatNap, destroying the Green hand in the process. CatNap is electrocuted and inadvertently lights himself on fire after exhaling the Red Smoke. The Prototype's arm emerges from the ceiling, CatNap seemingly offers himself to the Prototype, just before the Prototype’s hand kills him, brutally takes his life. Then the Prototype took CatNap away, presumably grafting him onto his body.
Returning to the Gas Production Zone, The Player uses the battery to power the console, eventually diverting the gas and powering the area. The Player reunites Poppy, who shows them a tape containing CCTV footage of what happened to the company’s staff, an incident the toys call "The Hour of Joy." The tape shows the toys, under the Prototype's orders, indiscriminately killing everyone present in the factory at the time. Poppy then explains that she had been thrown into the case The Player found her in at the time, but she heard everything that happened and has since been distraught by the needless slaughter of so many lives, including those who were innocent, on that day. Therefore, she has vowed to put an end to the Prototype for what he has done.
Poppy and The Player take an elevator deeper into the factory, while Kissy Missy stays behind to activate it. As the elevator lowers into the ground, Kissy is attacked by an unknown entity, and Poppy and The Player turn the elevator up to save her. But the door concealing the elevator closes, stranding them in the deeper levels of the factory and leaving Kissy's fate, and possible death uncertain.
Characters[]
- The Player
- CatNap
- Ollie
- Poppy Playtime
- Kissy Missy
- The Prototype (hand only)
- Elliot Ludwig (voice only)
- Cat-Bee (toy, poster, and cutout only)
- Bron (toy, poster, secret VHS, and cutout only)
- Mommy Long Legs (mentioned, toy poster, and cutout only)
- Daddy Long Legs (cutout only)
- Baby Long Legs (cutout only)
- Bubba Bubbaphant (cutout only)
- CraftyCorn (cutout only)
- Hoppy Hopscotch (cutout only)
- KickinChicken (cutout only)
- PickyPiggy (cutout only)
- PJ Pug-a-Pillar (cutout only)
- Huggy Wuggy (nightmare and cutout only)
- Bobby BearHug (statue and cutout only)
- Boogie Bot (toy, poster, and cutout only)
- Bunzo Bunny (cutout only)
- Stella Greyber (voice only)
- Miss Delight
- Ruined Critters
- DogDay
- Candy Cat (secret VHS tape and cutout only)
- Mini Huggies (cameo)
- Boxy Boo (cameo)
- Leith Pierre (VHS, voice only)
- Rich Lovitz (VHS, voice only)
- Stella Greyber (VHS, voice only)
- Scientist (VHS, voice only)
- Harley Sawyer (VHS, voice only)
- Claire Harper (VHS, voice only)
- Stuart (VHS, voice only)
- Marie Payne (VHS, name only)
- Theodore Grambell (VHS, name only)
- Kevin (VHS, name only)
- WLE-4 Newscaster (on TV)
Walkthrough[]
Soundtrack[]
Main article: Poppy Playtime Ch. 3 (soundtrack)
The official soundtrack was released three days after the chapter was released, on February 2, 2024.
Trivia[]
- During a Developer Q&A for Project: Playtime on the Mob Entertainment YouTube channel, developers Ben Pavlovits and Mitch revealed that new, complicated mechanics were to be featured in Chapter 3.[1]
- Chapter 3 features an updated menu and models like the GrabPack and the Train, but Chapter 1 and 2 still have the old/outdated models.
- Originally, Chapter 3 was supposed to release on October 12, 2023, but it was delayed to enhance and polish the rest of the game.[3] It was delayed again from December 2023 to January 30, 2024.
- It was revealed on the Poppy Playtime Discord Server that this chapter and the following ones will be using Unreal Engine 5.
- On the Discord Server, Miss Delight was teased via hints calling back to a specific character from Doctor Who. This character was later revealed to be the Weeping Angels.
- Chapter 3 is the first chapter in Poppy Playtime to prominently feature religious themes, such as CatNap worshipping the Prototype as a god and controlling a cult, DogDay referring to The Player as an angel, and those who defy the Prototype are labelled as heretics.
- However, it is not the first chapter to reference religion. Chapter 1 has a stairway "to Hell", and Chapter 2's Elliot Ludwig Biography tape features an angel at a cemetery.
- The name of the chapter can be a reference to what the news reporter says.
- "Deep Sleep" is also the name of a track for Chapter 1.
- There was a Game Theory Tribute Easter egg that included some sort of picture frame with the saying "A clap and a half to you/we'll miss you."
- This was in reference to MatPat's retirement, which he announced on January 9, just a few weeks before the release of this chapter.
- Near the Counselor's Office, a CatNap plushie can be seen near a radio. The song "Sleep Well" by CG5 can be heard playing.
- This chapter takes 3+ hours to beat, but can be speedrun normally in under an hour. However, using glitches, the game can currently be completed in under nine minutes.
- Back in 2022, the oldest Steam header of Chapter 3 featured the Gas Mask because CatNap wasn’t revealed to be the main antagonist yet.
- Unused content reveals that CatNap's name early in development was Nappy Cat as well as Kuddle Kitty.
- Chapter 3 took eight months to be developed because Mob Entertainment confirmed that the development started in May 2023.[Citation needed]
[]
- ↑ "Umm, yeah, definitely. We learned a lot about our recent releases including the release that just came out this December. But I really think the reason why there weren't Portal Level Puzzles in the original games because of the lack of resources? (...) We are putting our resources right back into the game, and we really have some interesting puzzles and mechanics... New exciting mechanics lined up for Chapter 3." -Ben Pavlovits and Mitch (Timestamp 35:17)
- ↑ New GrabPack hands and mechanics were implied to be featured in Chapter 3 in the Poppy Playtime Discord Podcast. No recording cited as it is against the servers rules.
- ↑ "We originally wanted to release chapter 3 on [October 12], but decided to delay to make it better and more polished." -Zach Belanger (Discord)