Chapter 4 of Poppy Playtime: What Will Happen?

After the CEO of Mob Entertainment announced the start of development for the next chapter, the hype for what’s to come has only grown. At the end of Chapter 3, our character can be seen with Poppy descending down a lift as Kissy Missy pulls the lever. But as we go down, distressing noises can be heard, as Kissy is presumably being attacked by an unknown entity. We try to send the lift back up, but it’s too late as the hatch closes, and we aren’t able to see what happened.

But before we dive into the fate of Kissy in Chapter 4, we should probably ask ourselves where exactly the lift goes to. Poppy doesn’t get the chance to tell us as she’s interrupted by the attack. Unfortunately, this isn’t as easy as the end of Chapter 2, in which we saw a literal sign that said “Play Care” on it, emphasizing to us where the next chapter would take place.

One popular theory is that Chapter 4 will take place in an amusement park. In the same room that introduces Elliot’s Express, a bunch of posters are splayed on the wall advertising Playtime’s new park. An excited Poppy is seen posing in front of a gigantic roller coaster. One reason why this stands out is just because of how random it is; it’s never been mentioned before in previous chapters or even brought up again after that instance in Chapter 3.

While it would be cool to roam around a horrific amusement park hiding from haunted toys, it’s debatable whether or not it will actually be the next setting for Chapter 4. If the amusement park is a public location in which anyone could enter, similar to the surface level of Playtime Co., then it would make sense if the park was outside or separate from the factory. This is contrary to us going deeper into the depths of Playtime Co., though. In this case, the park could be a separate game or DLC location. However, if the amusement park is strictly for employees and orphans, then it would make more sense that it’s further into the factory.

After all, the architecture of Playtime Co. doesn’t exactly make sense. We entered an underground dome through a cable car, and they somehow know how to replicate day and night cycles while being below the Earth’s surface.

It’s also possible that the destination of this lift could be where the children were taken after the Hour of Joy toward the end of Chapter 3. After we watched the horrific analog tape of the incident, Poppy explains what happened to the bodies of the employees soon after. And then, once it was all over, they dragged those corpses down below where they’d never be found, and they ate the bodies to stay alive. Now, Poppy never specifies exactly where this “down below” location is, but perhaps that’s where she was planning on taking us.

There’s a chance that “down below” could be the multiple caves that we traversed throughout the entire chapter. After all, it would be easier to store the bodies in these caves due to the amount of space, and bones could be buried with the rocks and dirt in one of these cave sections.

In one of these cave sections, we encounter Catnap worshipping the Prototype through a constructed shrine. The shrine is a combination of many different toy parts, except for the very front, in which the skeleton of a human worker can be seen wearing a construction hat. Is it possible that there are more of these caves deeper in the factory that house the bodies of the employees? Could this also be close to, if not the same, that the children were taken to as well?

Another theory that’s been gaining traction about the setting of Chapter 4 is the lab, a place where Playtime Co. scientists did experiments on subjects and toys. But how do we know that the lab is underground? In Chapter 2, a letter found near the grinder mentions the creation of the lab specifically by a company named Warbach Construction, and it was written by Eddie MN Ritterman, who was known to be the head of research at Playtime and is most likely an employee with a high level of clearance.

While we don’t have a lot of information on Warbach, we do know that Playtime Co. was willing to pay them $1,000 not only for the construction of the lab but also for the sworn secrecy of the project. The most important part of this note, though, is in the second paragraph in which Ritterman writes, “We’re willing to provide the proper equipment needed for excavation.” Excavation confirms that workers were digging deeper and deeper into Playtime Co. to build this lab, and this checks out as we seem to be going deeper into the factory each chapter.

If the labs will be revealed in the next installment, it’s highly likely that we’ll get to learn more about the Prototype. This is proven by the VHS tape we find right before entering the Playhouse. Le Pierre, the head of innovation, responds to Catnap’s statement that the Prototype will save all of the toys. “Is his voice thingy still broken? The Prototype will save us, Theo. Nobody’s going to save you. This prison is where you belong.”

By exploring the labs in the next chapter, we’ll probably be able to uncover some new documents detailing studies done on the Prototype, and there’ll likely be more VHS tapes of scientists going through new traits of Subject 16, such as possible mind control abilities.

However, some theorists are a bit skeptical about encountering the Prototype in his entirety during Chapter 4. After all, he did succeed in the Hour of Joy, so if we’re heading to the labs, there’s a good chance that his full body has already escaped. And the fact that the Prototype is a lingering antagonist that Mob Entertainment is gradually seeding out over multiple parts, we don’t know exactly what it looks like, and we only get hints of him throughout small segments of each chapter.

It’s no doubt that the Prototype is the main big bad of Poppy Playtime and might become the final boss. Now the problem with the Prototype being completely exposed in the next chapter is that Chapter 4 might not be the last. Mob has already hinted at a Poppy Playtime Chapter 5, and if you’re familiar with the common indie game trope, then you’ll know that most of them consist of five chapters.

While it’s certain that we’ll learn more about the Prototype and its hidden abilities, Mob might consider teasing his entire character model for a bit longer until the final chapter comes out.

However, we do know for certain which character we will see: finding out the outcome of Kissy Missy will be important in Chapter 4. Many have already speculated that Kissy was attacked by the Prototype in one way or another, possibly turning her evil. You can’t exactly hear another entity attacking Kissy, and it kind of sounds like she’s going through the motions by herself. This could mean that it was the stealthy hand of the Prototype or rather small creatures under the Prototype’s control that don’t create loud noises, such as the Smiling Critters. But is it possible that the red smoke got to Kissy Missy and she started hallucinating?

We had rerouted the red smoke into the left tube of the machine in the gas production zone. Perhaps something went wrong, and the gas began to release.

Maybe, like our experience in Home Sweet Home, she saw a nightmare that wasn’t really there, causing her to freak out.

It’s also clear that Kissy is very valuable to Poppy, and they seem to have coordinated some sort of plan together. As right after hearing Kissy’s outburst, this is Poppy’s initial reaction: “What? What you doing?” This sounds less like a concerned friend and more like an irritated Poppy, confused on why Kissy would act out of line. Perhaps in the next chapter, we’ll learn more about how Kissy and Poppy met, as well as their intentions.

After heading down the lift, it’s also likely that the chapter will be centered around finding Kissy and going after whatever attacked her. Kissy seems to be an emotionally sensitive character, so after experiencing a traumatic episode, we might have to work on regaining her trust once we find her.

That being said, it isn’t too far-fetched that Kissy might become evil or side with the Prototype in Chapter 4. After all, Kissy was seen participating in the Hour of Joy. In the future, we might find out why she had a change of heart or even if she’s gone back to her old ways. It’ll also be pretty difficult to get to her, as the top cover of the lift began to close on us when we tried to head back up.

While it’s unclear whether or not Kissy closed the lid, we can assume that it’ll be hard to return to the area or open up the hatch after sinking deeper into the depths of the factory.

The next question is: will Ali be going down with us? Ali is a pretty mysterious character who appears in the beginning of the chapter to help us through our journey. It’s later revealed that Ali and Poppy are working together to help us defeat Catnap. However, there are some suspicions. First of all, Ali’s character appeared out of nowhere in Chapter 3. On top of that, he seems to have 24/7 surveillance of Play Care. Neither Ali nor Poppy give us any information on who Ali is and why he’s helping us.

If Ali is not to be trusted, his intentions will surely be revealed soon. Originally, it had seemed like Ali was done with the player at the end of the game. He never spoke to us again after defeating Catnap. There was no congratulations or well-done. And you’ve likely heard the theory that Ali’s voice is being mimicked by the Prototype, and once we defeated Catnap, he had other things to do. However, this theory quickly changed once Mob Entertainment added an update to the game, a final voice line for Ali after the player defeats Catnap:

“Wow, you did it! You must feel pretty good. With Catnap dead, you’re one big step closer to the Prototype. One step closer to winning. You’ve made your choice. You’re staying to help Poppy. We’ll finish the job. This win is yours.”

Now that we’ve gotten some closure with Ali, it’s safe to predict that he’ll continue to help us in Chapter 4. We might also learn more information about how Ali and Poppy met. Perhaps Ali is a toy that experienced the atrocities of the Hour of Joy and sided with Poppy to defeat the Prototype. But will Ali continue to be our telephone companion? He encourages us to finish the job and that the win is ours. It’s possible that we’ll learn more about Ali’s origins, but he might play more of a minor role while Poppy explores the factory by her side.

Speaking of Poppy, she’s a pretty essential character to the game, yet we’ve only seen so little of her. In Chapter 1, we free Poppy from her cage only for her to grace us with one voice line in rolling credits. In Chapter 2, Poppy is kidnapped by Mommy Longlegs for a majority of the game. And in Chapter 3, we only meet Poppy after exiting Home Sweet Home, and her segment ends shortly after, leaving her only with one more appearance toward the end of the chapter.

It’s weird that we haven’t seen more of Poppy in Poppy Playtime, but as the game continues, Mob will most likely give her more screen time. And going down the lift with Poppy hints that she might be traversing Playtime Co. alongside us. Maybe she’ll serve a similar role to Ali, leading us to new places and telling us our next tasks. Both Poppy being super small compared to the player, it might be very easy to lose her. Perhaps the game will introduce a new grab pack mechanic in which we can carry Poppy around with us, especially when making large jumps or swinging from bars. There might be some sort of incentive to keep Poppy safe in whatever new environment we’re in, unless of course, she betrays us.

Poppy is known to be against the Prototype, disagreeing with all of the chaos he had caused in Chapter 3. She makes it very clear how much she wants his reign to end. But she also says that she has a lot of faith in us:

“Listen, I’m not your enemy. But I can’t just let you leave. What’s happening down here is bigger than all of us, and I need you so we can get revenge on those monsters who’ve tortured you. Tortured us.”

It’s a bit odd that Poppy emphasizes how we have been tortured. We know that we’re a Playtime Co. employee who had just happened to be absent during the Hour of Joy. But it’s also possible that our character knew about the experiments during our hallucination in Home Sweet Home. We keep seeing the phrase “guilt haunts you,” so why exactly does Poppy feel bad for us? Sure, she could be referring to attacks from Huggy and Mommy, but it makes you wonder why she’s trying to paint us as an innocent person. Maybe she’s trying to gas us up or make us trust her so that when she does betray us, it’ll be a lot more unexpected.

For example, if Poppy was working with the Prototype all this time, she would be encouraging us to get closer to him until the last employee of Playtime Co. is gone. So if Poppy turns out to be evil, her plans will be exposed too soon.

But let’s say that Poppy is good. Take a look at one of her voice lines right after we turn on the power in Play Care:

“Let me help you save everyone. We’ve all seen you, how capable you are.”

Notice how the letters in “all” are capitalized. This is interesting because it doesn’t usually happen throughout the chapter. The only other example of a voice line in all caps is when Catnap speaks to us in the counselor’s office, “Or I’m coming for you.” This makes sense as it creates a sense of urgency and fear as Catnap threatens us directly for the very first time. However, a singular word being in all caps is a bit different. The only characters we’ve seen so far on Poppy’s side are Oli, Kissy, and Dog Day. However, Mob may be hinting at a lot of new characters in the next chapter.

The emphasis on the word “all” could mean that we may just have our very own army of Poppy Angels. After all, Dog Day already knew who we were, so there might be mass communication going on

between toys against the Prototype. If that’s the case, then it’s Poppy’s Angels against who exactly? Boxy Bu seems to be a crowd favorite when it comes to the villains. Many people expected Boxy Bu to be in Chapter 3, but he only ended up with having a few frames in the Hour of Joy VHS tape. Because he’s a fan favorite, it wouldn’t be a shock to see artwork or hints of Boxy Bu in Chapter 4. That being said, his character is already well-known from Project PL Time, so it’s unlikely that he’ll be the main villain of the next part.

Both Catnap and The Smiling Critters didn’t really exist in previous chapters. They were characters that Mob revealed only after Chapter 2. The antagonist for Chapter 4 might be a character we don’t even know yet. But could the next villain have something to do with Kissy’s sudden attack? It might be another servant of the Prototype, as all of the enemies we fought so far follow the same trend. Perhaps one of these enemies will make another cameo, and Huggy Wuggy seems the most likely to. We know that Huggy Wuggy fell deep into the depths of Playtime Co. in Chapter 1, but he could still be alive. On top of the blue scratch marks found around Chapter 2, Chapter 3 has a lot of Huggy imagery. From Nightmare Huggy to all of his cardboard cutouts scattered around the environment. This could just be because he’s the face of the franchise, but it could also mean that Mob isn’t quite done with his character.

And Huggy’s ending, compared to Mommy’s and Catnap’s, is a bit more ominous. This could also mean that, for whatever reason, the Prototype didn’t un-alive Huggy and use him for spare parts, so his character might be useful in the next chapter.

But what do you think Chapter 4 of Poppy Playtime will include? Let me know down in the comments.