Poppy Playtime Chapter 4 is simply across the nook, with its January 2025 launch window drawing ever nearer, but we nonetheless know valuable little about what to anticipate. Or can we? When it got here to Chapter 3, we already had a number of trailers, the Deep Sleep title, and quite a lot of completely different hints at this level, giving us a fairly stable thought of what to anticipate on our subsequent foray into the manufacturing facility.
Nevertheless, whereas particulars are comparatively sparse this time, we would know greater than you assume. Okay, perhaps it’s extra correct to say that we’ve received our theories, however a few of them do have weight and a few stable lore to again them up. Plus, Tilly (PT’s guides editor) and I really received a number of issues proper the final time we did this.
In our Poppy Playtime Chapter 3 theories article, we have been appropriate in our evaluation that Poppy Playtime’s Kissy Missy is our good friend and that CatNap used the purple gasoline to place the youngsters to sleep – two fairly huge issues to be proper about, so we’re fairly pleased with ourselves. Admittedly, we had extra to work with when forming our predictions for Deep Sleep, however we received’t let that cease us from attempting to gather some ideas on the subsequent entry.
Firstly, whereas we all know that Yarnaby is the massive unhealthy toy of Poppy Playtime Chapter 4, I nonetheless can’t assist however really feel drawn to Poppy Playtime’s Boxy Boo. As quickly because the credit rolled on Deep Sleep, I had a intestine feeling that we’d see that toy within the subsequent chapter, primarily as a result of he’s the one one from The Hour of Pleasure videotape we haven’t seen but, and he options so prominently within the spin-off Mission Playtime.
I nonetheless assume there’s a great likelihood that Boxy Boo will seem in Chapter 4 in some capability. Or maybe he’s destined to be the star of a special chapter additional down the road – in any case, we extremely doubt that the Poppy Playtime collection will finish with simply 4 chapters. The collection continues to be extremely common, with the primary three chapters even getting a bodily launch in current months, and there are nonetheless loads of secrets and techniques left to uncover, so we don’t see our adventures within the manufacturing facility coming to an finish any time quickly.
Shifting on to a set of toys we all know seem in Chapter 4, the Poppy Playtime Nightmare Critters designs seem to reflect these of the Poppy Playtime Smiling Critters, with every Nightmare Critter showing to distinction with a corresponding Smiling Critter. This leads us to consider that there’s some type of rivalry between the 2 traces of toys, even perhaps extending from the unique promotional cartoon that they’re primarily based on. The Nightmare Critters are extra like angsty teenagers in the case of persona, significantly darker than the childlike personalities of the Smiling Critters. Maybe Baba Chops and co are deeper within the manufacturing facility as a result of they weren’t common, failing to achieve the identical heights as CatNap and DogDay.
Nevertheless, Tilly thinks there is perhaps one thing a bit extra sinister in regards to the relationship between the 2 units of toys, mentioning that Baba Chops, a Nightmare Critter, eats a mini Canine Day within the first teaser trailer. She believes that the brand new bunch is dominating the Smiling Critters, proving to be a higher risk. Actually, that is sensible to me as nicely. Every chapter has stepped up the sport, introducing increasingly more threats, and we all know Chapter 4 is probably the most horrifying but, so it stands to purpose that the toys we encounter can be extra harmful than the final.
Moreover, we all know that CatNap used the Smiling Critters to do his bidding. So, now that CatNap is gone, does Yarnaby see a gap to step into energy, utilizing the Nightmare Critters to take action? If that’s the case, we want the toy luck, contemplating what the Prototype did to CatNap on the finish of Deep Sleep.
Talking of CatNap, we’ve lengthy thought that his heinous gasoline belongs to him alone, however one have a look at the Yarnaby trailer reveals that the Pink Smoke is making its return in Chapter 4, and seems to be touring deep into the Poppy Playtime manufacturing facility through some pipes. However why? We all know that the Pink Smoke is a semi-hallucinogenic, sleep-inducing gasoline that may induce maniacal conduct and nightmares, therefore the explanation CatNap was discontinued to start with. Perhaps this gasoline is what makes the toys beneath a lot worse than what’s come earlier than. Sure, we’re assuming that the toys are extra lethal in Chapter 4, however contemplating they’ve gotten progressively worse throughout the primary three chapters, Tilly and I really feel this can be a honest assumption.
One other risk, as identified by Tilly, is that Playtime Co. used the gasoline to regulate the experiments that reside deeper within the manufacturing facility. In case you pay shut consideration all through the Yarnaby teaser trailer, you possibly can catch sight of bars, cells, and surveillance cameras, main us to consider that we’re about to enter a jail or one thing akin to at least one. If that’s the case, utilizing the gasoline round right here is sensible, and it appears doubtless that we’re going to wish to maintain our masks shut as soon as once more.
Earlier than we go any additional, let’s take a second to consider who or what may reside in these cells. The obvious take is that the scientists housed failed (or harmful) experiments in them, although we predict there’s additionally an opportunity that a few of the youngsters ended up right here – maybe those who misplaced their sanity in the course of the horrid experiments. One other risk is that it’s not simply orphans that Playtime Co. experimented on, however criminals from outdoors the manufacturing facility, too – perhaps that they had a shady cope with the federal government to supply check topics as they continued their analysis. Both means, whoever the corporate saved right here, it’s clear that they wanted some safety measures, and we predict one in every of them is Poppy Playtime’s Yarnaby.
The kid who turned Yarnaby was Quinn Navidson, a younger lad who shaped fairly an attachment with Physician Henry Swayer after trying to downplay his intelligence within the Recreation Station. Sawyer brainwashed him, turning the boy into Experiment 1166 – in any other case often called Yarnaby. The physician supposed to make use of him as a private bodyguard, however Playtime Co. later ‘eliminated’ Sawyer, inflicting Yarnaby to lapse into an unresponsive, grief-stricken state. Given the character of this firm, we assume that ‘eliminated’ really means ‘killed, so we predict it’s unlikely that we’ll see Sawyer anytime quickly.’ Sawyer’s alternative, Dr Carmine McKabe, then deemed Yarnaby a failure, finally leaving his destiny to the higher-ups.
Our idea is that the higher-ups noticed the identical potential for Yarnaby as Swayer, finally turning him into some type of a guard or surveillance measure within the jail. There’s each likelihood that the desk and surveillance digicam within the Yarnaby trailer as soon as belonged to Henry Sawyer, however, contemplating the later occasions of the Hour of Pleasure, we predict we’re onto one thing with our ‘he’s useless’ idea, even when he survived on the time. This additional helps our assumption {that a} higher-up turned Yarnaby right into a bodyguard to guard themselves as a substitute. Who is aware of, even perhaps the Prototype has one thing to do with this, as a result of, as Tilly factors out, “the Prototype makes use of all the major toys as its underlings till it now not has use for them.”
Diving even additional into a possible connection between Yarnaby and the Prototype, it’s closely implied by the Chapter 4 Icepick ARG that Yarnaby can sew toys collectively, as proven by the Huggy plush sewn collectively by Yarnaby’s threads. Through the Poppy Playtime Chapter 3 trailer, we see the silhouette of what we consider to be the Prototype, seemingly made up of a number of recognizable Poppy Playtime characters morphed into one. And, on the finish of Poppy Playtime Chapter 2, Mommy Lengthy Legs screams, “he’ll make me a part of him.” Is it attainable that Yarnaby is the one connecting these toys to the Prototype? If that isn’t the case, Yarnaby is perhaps copying Experiment 1006. Both means, it’s one thing to contemplate.
Past Yarnaby being a attainable guard within the jail, we additionally want to handle the eyes that seem on the pc monitor, indicating somebody is watching. This leads us properly to our hypothesis on what the brand new mechanic could also be. In Deep Sleep, it’s essential to use a gasoline masks to traverse by areas filled with CatNap’s sinister purple gasoline – one thing we strongly consider you’ll have to do within the new chapter, too. Nevertheless, as Mob claims Chapter 4 is ready to be the most important but, we predict it’s doubtless that there’s going to be one other new gimmick. Nevertheless, myself and Tilly have differing ideas on what this is perhaps.
As a result of probability of you going to a jail and coping with somebody watching our each transfer with safety cameras and surveillance tools, Tilly believes that we might have to cover from each Yarnaby and the cameras – a powerful idea for certain, particularly when you think about our different speculations. Nevertheless, I feel there is perhaps a brand new mechanic by one more new toy.
Following the official unveiling of Poppy Playtime’s Pianosaurus, I can’t assist however take into consideration how the secondary antagonist can play a task within the new installment of Mob’s horror recreation collection. Properly, because it’s a musical toy with piano-like keys on its physique, what if there’s a portion of your journey wherein it’s essential to depend on sound to find out the place he’s?
Each Poppy Playtime’s DogDay and Poppy Playtime’s Miss Delight have chase sequences in Chapter 3, identical to Mommy Lengthy Legs and Huggy Wuggy do of their respective chapters, so perhaps Pianosaurus gives that in Chapter 4 as a substitute, and I actually hope to see his musical facet play a component by some means. You by no means know; maybe each Tilly and I are onto one thing with our theories on the brand new mechanic, which means we would have to keep away from cameras, pay attention for noises, and have restricted imaginative and prescient as a result of returning purple gasoline. Yeah, we’d like to depart the manufacturing facility now, please.
Okay, we all know we aren’t leaving this hellhole any time quickly. We finish Chapter 3 on an elevator able to take us all the way down to no matter awaits beneath, and the trailer means that Chapter 4 picks up precisely the place we left off. Nevertheless, it’s fascinating to notice that it appears to be like like we’re revisiting the caverns in Chapter 4, an space you go to ever-so-briefly in Deep Sleep. From the glimpses we’ve seen up to now, these caves might function a mass grave for discarded (murdered) toys. If that’s the case, Yarnaby may very well be the grave keeper so to talk, as we see a shadowy determine resembling the toy within the trailer, skulking among the many corpses on all-fours.
We’ve lined numerous floor for what we would see in Chapter 4 and the way the completely different toys might play a component, so enable me to maneuver from theories into wishful considering – we’re hoping that we’re going to save lots of Kissy Missy. I like Kissy, Tilly loves Kissy, all of us love Kissy, and we have to save her. On the finish of Chapter 3, we start to journey the elevator again up into Playcare as she screams within the background, clearly being attacked, and within the trailer, we hear extra shouts from what seems to be Poppy herself. Is it Yarnaby who attacked Kissy? Is he dragging her by the cave system and additional into the manufacturing facility?
Whereas my intestine response tells me no, if we run with our idea that Yarnaby is perhaps making a transfer for extra energy, it is sensible that he’d abruptly seem on CatNap’s turf after his demise. It may be so simple as the Prototype attacking her, as we all know he was within the space on the time. Regardless, we would like her again. I hope and pray we save her in Chapter 4, but when I put wishful considering to at least one facet, we would not uncover what occurs to her till Chapter 5.
Properly, that’s numerous unraveling we simply did, a lot in order that Yarnaby might in all probability sew Tilly and me to the Prototype with all that thread (please don’t). Whereas there are numerous extra theories with some benefit, these are those that give us pause for thought, and you’ll make certain that we’ll revisit this text to see how proper we’re when Mob Leisure lastly releases Chapter 4.
Within the meantime, take a look at our Poppy Playtime story defined article to remind your self of what’s occurred up to now, then take a look at our Poppy Playtime Poppy and Poppy Playtime Ollie guides to be taught extra about a few of the most necessary figures on this world.