Poppy Playtime is an amazing horror survival game that will test your patience as well as skills to solve various puzzles. The game is currently free for all on Steam and is actually one of the best horror survival games on the platform.
In the game, you’ll play as the protagonist who’s returned to his former working place and finds himself surrounded by a series of unnatural events. The game is pretty confusing when you first start it and makes you think twice about your decisions a lot of times. When I played it for the first time, I was running around like a clueless dude for a long time.
So, to make your playthrough a bit easier and save your precious time, I’ve come up with a guide that will teach you how to get past the starting stage with ease. I also have some tips that will make your run very smooth. Follow along and clear the first chapter of the game in no time.
Getting Started with the Game
As soon as you enter the game, you will be greeted with a mysterious cutscene showing the origin of the Poppy doll and the motives of its creation. After the cutscene, you will be transported to a place which somewhat resembles an abandoned factory.
The game is played from the first-person perspective and has an interactive 3D environment so the gameplay is actually quite nice despite it being a free game. After making your way through various rooms, you can get basic clues on what is going on in the game and also what you can expect moving forward.
Solving the First Puzzle
Poppy Playtime requires you to solve different puzzles to move forward and unlock the secrets of the game. You will encounter your first puzzle as soon as you enter the game. A locked door requires you to enter a correct combination of colors in order for you to access the remaining portion of the factory.
Navigating through the rooms is very easy in Poppy Playtime and so is finding clues. If you look around carefully, the clues are scattered throughout the levels and it isn’t hard to decipher them.
Just to make your life a little easier; The clue to the first puzzle can be found in the Gift Shop room. After making it there, look in the ceiling where you’ll be able to see a toy train with different colored compartments.
Just note down the colors of the compartments and enter them on the pad next to the entrance door. The door should be unlocked now, but if you still fail to do so, here is the correct sequence; green, pink, yellow and red.
The Mystery of VHS Tapes
Throughout your gameplay, you will encounter different VHS tapes that tell you the clues about the events that happened in the past. Although it isn’t mandatory to collect these tapes, they can provide you with important information regarding the situation of the factory and how it turned into its current situation.
VHS tapes contain information about the employees and their inner thoughts. This information is very valuable as you move forward in the game as they disclose the deepest secrets of the factory.
Getting Your Gears Ready
Now that you can access the locked room, head inside the room and pick up the blue VHS tape and put it inside the tape player. The VHS tape will give you the information on the Grabpack, an extremely important tool that will assist you throughout the game from this point onward. It will also show you how to use it.
After watching the tape, grab the Grabpack and head to the entrance of the factory. Use the Grabpack’s blue hand to open the entrance and walk inside the factory. Grabpack has two long stretchable hands but you only have access to one of them for now. You’ll need to find another one in the later stages of the game.
Upon entering the factory, you will encounter an enormous doll with an eerie grin on his face named Huggy Wuggy. He’ll be a real trouble once you reach the later stages of the game but he won’t do anything for now so just leave him be.
Go around the doll and you will be able to see multiple doors, two of which seem unlockable. One of the doors requires both hands of the Grabpack to open it but the next one only requires the blue hand so open that one instead. Upon trying to open the door, the electricity of the factory will go off.
To bring the power back, you’ll need to head to the Power room but the room will be locked when you reach there. To unlock this door, you’ll need to grab the key from Huggy Wuggy. Unlock the door and head to the Control room. You’ll need to solve puzzles to bring the power back.
Finding Clues and Secrets of the Factory
Now that you finally have electricity, it’s time to explore the factory and uncover the mysteries. Explore different rooms of the factory to collect clues and grab important items along the way. Some chapters require you to solve puzzles to move forward so do that as well.
The game is designed very well so getting lost is almost impossible. You can also get clues by watching VHS clips throughout different stages of the game. Things will start to get very dangerous from this point onward as you’ll soon encounter the only enemy of the game.
Keeping Yourself Alive
After you encounter the game’s only boss, things will get really messy as he will start chasing you all over the place and try to kill you. The only thing you can do to prevent yourself from dying is keep running and not let him catch you.
He is slow but very persistent so don’t look back as you make your way through vents. He will always be just behind you so keep running until you reach a room with a poppy flower mark.
Now, just above the entrance of the vent you came from, you can see a box that you can grab with your Grabpack. Grab the box and use it to destroy the path. The doll will fall along with the box and won’t be able to chase you anymore.
Watch the final VHS tape to find out the greatest secret of the factory and head inside the room. When you get inside the room, you will see the Poppy doll that was advertised at the beginning of the game trapped inside a glass door.
