Poppy Playtime Chapter 2 is the exciting sequel developed and published by MOB Games, launched on May 5, 2022. Entitled “Fly in a Web,” it continues your horrific adventure in the abandoned toy factory. With Huggy Wuggy defeated, a new monster follows you in an attempt to take your life. Its name is Mommy Long Legs.
What happens in Poppy Playtime 2? Are the puzzles more intense, and will you need to keep the lights on while playing? These are some of the questions I’ll answer in this exhilarating game review, so stay tuned!
The horror story continues in Poppy Playtime Chapter 2
Let’s begin with my favorite element in any game: the story. If the plot doesn’t grab me from the beginning, there’s little chance I’m going to enjoy the rest of it. I need suspense and thrills when it comes to a survival horror puzzle game. Let’s see if Poppy Playtime Chapter 2 lives up to my expectations as a horror fan.
What you missed in Poppy Playtime Chapter 1
In case you missed my review on Poppy Playtime Chapter 1, you entered an abandoned toy factory to find out what happened to it. You found an item called a Grabpack that gave you two mechanical hands to solve puzzles and help you make your way around the building.
In the horror scenario, a toy called Huggy Wuggy followed you around, intent on killing you near the end. Through quick wits, you managed to escape through the vents and eventually caused it to fall to what seemed like its death. You thought you made it out alive. You were wrong.
In the end, you found yourself in a small room with an Annabelle-like doll locked in a glass cabinet. As if the horror movies weren’t enough warning, you opened the door. The lights went dark, and you heard her voice. When the lights returned, she was gone.
Investigating a new area
Poppy Playtime Chapter 2 continues from that scene. When you make your way back out the door you came in, you make your way into a brand new area through a door that was locked before. The game presents a brand new location known as The Train Station.
The main purpose of the sequel becomes clear. If you can find the code for the train, you have the promise of escape. Even Poppy says she’s there to help you, but it seems suspicious. What you do find along the way is a massive toy called Mommy Long Legs that just wants to play with you…before she kills you.
Someone’s out to get you
The threat of Mommy Long Legs is visible in most of the scenes, but she’s not the only toy ready to end your life. She uses various entities in puzzle rooms, which you’ll have to escape if you want to continue. The ending lets you face off against the giant spider toy, which feels very similar to the vent-running experience with Huggy Wuggy in Chapter 1.
However, there’s a greater threat that becomes a foreshadowing effect for future sequels. It seems there’s a larger toy or entity pulling the strings in the background. Poppy Playtime Chapter 2 also keeps referring to you as a prototype, which makes me wonder if we’re also a toy. The videotapes keep talking about a toy that gained some sense of sentient intelligence. Is that us, or is that the main villain that keeps appearing behind the scenes?
Overall, the story in Poppy Playtime Chapter 2 is exciting and keeps you wanting to investigate further. There are plenty of clues as to what’s coming next, which sends chills up your spine. The plot in the sequel is more thrilling and mesmerizing than the first title, that’s for sure.
How long is Poppy Playtime Chapter 2 to play?
Some of the puzzles are more challenging than they should be, so you may sit playing the game for a couple of hours. If you manage to run through Poppy Playtime Chapter 2 with no difficulty, the game takes about 50 mins to an hour to complete. For me, I ended up with just over two hours due to the punch-a-Wuggy challenge taking me much longer than expected.
Surviving Poppy Playtime Chapter 2
Next up in my Poppy Playtime Chapter 2 review, let’s look at the game elements. While some of it remains the same, there are new features and ways to play the enticing horror game. I enjoyed several of the updated touches on previous mechanics.
Is there a tutorial in Poppy Playtime Chapter 2?
As with the first game, you’ll find no actual tutorial for Poppy Playtime Chapter 2. What you find along the way are videotapes and posters giving you hints at how to use the new mechanics. It’s up to you to figure it out, and some rooms can cause you to waste so much time if you miss a small clue.
Moving around the abandoned toy factory
Heading from location to location remains the same. You’ll need to investigate each area and unlock the hints and puzzles to make your way to the next scene. It’s like a massive escape room, except there are toys ready to kill you if you don’t do it the right way.
One of the new mechanics is a bar that lets you swing across gaps with your Grabpack hand or grapple up to higher floors. Now sadly, adding this item slightly takes away from the logic of the story. Why would there be random bars all over the factory, especially when no massive gaping holes existed on floors before? Also, who put them there? Was it Poppy?
Perhaps a better approach would have been to place more naturally occurring items to grapple across with or hike up to the higher levels. I understand the purpose is to quickly see the bars when Mommy Long Legs is pursuing you. However, their random existence confuses me, if only slightly. At least with Mirror Forge, the presence of helpful items made more sense, at least in that game world’s context.
New hand mechanics
Gone is the red hand that helped you in the first game, and enter the green hand in Poppy Playtime Chapter 2. The purpose of the new mechanic relates to transferring electrical power for a few seconds. It’s a new feature that makes the power rooms more interesting to solve, especially when closing doors can now kill you upon impact.
Puzzles are more challenging
If you’re a fan of the puzzles in Resident Evil 7, you’ll love the challenge presented in Poppy Playtime 2. As in the CAPCOM horror game, every room is a puzzle you need to solve. You need to investigate every area and item to see if there’s anything that will assist you in reaching the next location.
There’s also the overall puzzle of the whole game. You’ll collect several objects along the way that will eventually solve the final challenge. If you’ve already played Poppy Playtime 2 completely, you’ll have the solution for the next playthrough, so it isn’t randomized like other horror games I’ve played. This mechanic reminds me more of Obduction.
Still no combat
There’s still no proper combat in Poppy Playtime Chapter 2. You’ll use your environment to survive and escape to new arenas, while the final boss battle ends in Mommy Long Legs hurtling into her own demise, much like Huggy Wuggy. The Grabpack hands are the only items you have to defend yourself, which you’ll do in some of the puzzle games.
Finding collectibles
Videotapes make a comeback in this horror game sequel. You’ll collect various color tapes and insert them into the corresponding machines. If I’m not mistaken, there are more than there were the first time around. Also, you can now find small toy statues as keepsakes, but perhaps we’ll need them for Poppy Playtime Chapter 3?
What are the Poppy Playtime Chapter 2 PC requirements?
The one significant change in Poppy Playtime Chapter 2 over its predecessor is that it’s almost three times as large. Most of the other requirements remain the same, as you’ll see here below:
- OS: Windows 10
- Processor: Intel Core i5
- Memory: 8 GB
- Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 / Radeon RX 580
- Storage: 20 GB
The game played perfectly without any lagging. I managed to smoothly transition from scene to scene, and the performance remained perfectly fine. I did need to increase the brightness, as some of the rooms were just too dark to see what was happening.
Thrilling themes and effects in Poppy Playtime Chapter 2
For the final part of my Poppy Playtime Chapter 2 review, let’s look at the visual and audio effects in the game. I felt the same atmosphere as in the first chapter, but it became more chilling as I proceeded further into the story. Here’s what I experienced.
Environments and scenes
The visuals are once again absolutely superb. Each environment has a story to tell if you’re willing to spend some time looking around. What I loved the most is when there were small hints of what was to come, like blood splatters here and there and the posters on the wall.
Animations and effects
The effects work the hardest at causing jump scares now and again, but there are also elements that make you wonder whether or not you’re in danger. Some of the animations are simply creepy for no reason at all other than to scare you.
Puzzle elements
Much like Myst V: End of Ages, you’ll need to check every visual quality for clues to solve the next puzzle. You never know what will be useful for the next area you’re about to enter. I loved the massive puzzle rooms where you need to work with enormous machinery to escape. However, I’m really not a fan of that punch-a-Wuggy room, where your survival (and game completion time) depends on how quickly you can hit the appearing Wuggy toys.
Creepy sound atmosphere
The chilling sounds return in Poppy Playtime Chapter 2 to send the hairs on your neck on end. There’s soft music now and again, while you’ll have your heart racing to the fast beat during chase scenes or puzzle battles. There are also cardboard posters now with voice boxes where the toys speak a few lines that make you want to just run back the way you came.
Poppy Playtime Chapter 2: A Fly in the Web
Poppy Playtime Chapter 2 lives up to the hype of being a fantastic sequel to the first chapter. The new boss is outstanding and scary, while there are other toys to haunt you along the way and not just one. I thoroughly enjoyed most of the puzzles, while there’s one the game can do without. Overall, it’s a thrilling experience that lives up to the horror puzzle genre. Let’s bring a baseball bat as a mechanical hand in the next one, or a chainsaw as in The Evil Dead.
If you enjoyed this guide, be sure to check out our Mirror Forge review and opinion on Weird West.
Pros
- Exciting horror adventure
- More than one evil toy to defeat
- Several puzzle locations
- Brilliant visuals and colors
- Enticing story in the Playtime saga
- Fantastic cliffhanger ending
Cons
- Some puzzles are annoying to complete
Developer: MOB Games
Publisher: MOB Games
Game Modes: Story
Platform reviewed: Windows 11 – Steam
