Chapter Text
Firstly, the details on the surroundings in the Playcare were simply staggering! Staggeringly great!
Very intricate, imaginative, and creepily accurate to the game lore! A hearty well done and congratulations from me to the game developers on that!
They've obviously worked very hard on the graphics and design of the chapter, and the sheer quality of them is to their credit! Good job! Kudos to the developers!
Another excellent part of the chapter was the voice acting on the tapes. It was absolutely first-class: the emotions were well done, and the dialogue was very clear.
The actors were brilliant, and I hope that they got fully paid and credited for their work! The best piece of acting was the tape with the Prototype's voice on!
The hallucination sequence with Monster Huggy was pure horror gold! 10/10! I would give 5 gold stars to this part of Chapter 3, for how good it was!
The creepy radio dialogue, and the cheerful Huggy face on the tv screen changing to a scary one was excellently done too!
Not to mention the moment when Nightmare Huggy actually started CLIMBING OUT of the screen and chasing us!!! Bravo! Lots of kudos to the developers for these scares!
The creepiness of the Mini Critters was really cool too! I loved how they made those tiny toys so cute and cuddly ... and yet so terrifying!
Chasing the player while squeaking and giggling ... brrrrr! Scarifying antagonists for the Playhouse!
The appearance of Kissy Missy was both awesome and cute, as well as her interactions with Poppy!
So heartwarming, and it was really nice to have an ally like Kissy by our side in the chapter! Brilliantly written, designed, and acted! I hope that she will be okay though ... 🥺🥺
The final things that I liked Chapter 3 are the new hands that the Player managed to obtain in it: the amazing, bouncing purple hand ... and the orange flare gun hand.
I love the bouncing you can do, as well as the ability to scare away the monstrous toys with fire! Very useful abilities!
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Now, for the critical part ... I understand that the game developers at Mob Entertainment have put LOADS of time and effort into creating this chapter, and I appreciate that.
I don't want to upset them with my constructive feedback, but at the same time ... it might be useful for them to possibly know about it?
Working on a horror project myself has taught me the value of constructive feedback, even if I didn't like it at first.
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To start with, I think that's the beginning might need a bit of a review and revision. The reason why is because it's a bit obscure ... in my opinion.
(Spoilers for anyone who's not played or watched Chapter 3 yet!)
Unlike Chapter 2, there's no real explanation for how we got out of the train wreck ... and why Catnap dropped us into a garbage compactor.
If he really wanted to get rid of the Player, then he could have just left them in the burning train wreck. It's never truly explained, you see?
While it's true that you can leave some story points ambiguous and mysterious ... the beginning point is NOT one of those! Especially if it's continuing from a previous story.
Another thing that needs to be addressed is how Poppy met Kissy Missy after the train crash. This is because there wasn't any kind of explanation for it in the chapter; nor why Poppy was so friendly to Kissy?
Also, Catnap strangely doesn't appear a lot in Chapter 3 ... and doesn't speak a lot either! This is particularly surprising, since he's the main antagonist of the chapter?
One of those characters who normally play a huge role in their prospective stories?
While it's a fact that main antagonists don't HAVE to appear 'face-to-face' in their stories, they DO have to maintain a certain 'sense of presence' in them.
A powerful effect on their surroundings, a strong emphasis that THEY are the main enemy ... THEY are the threat that people should be wary of!
I'm not denying that Mob Entertainment tried their best to make Catnap a formidable foe, of course not!
He was indeed scary, but I personally feel that he fell a bit short in his 'main antagonist' performance ... compared to Mommy Long Legs.
She really stole the show when it came to Poppy Playtime main antagonists ... pure scary quality! Catnap, sadly, had more of a sense of presence in the game trailers ... than he had in the actual chapter.
He's a good character though, don't get me wrong! Just needed to be a bit better written in the chapter.
One important criticism that I have to note here, unfortunately; is that there's very little lore explaining stuff in the actual game chapter.
Catnap's history, why he worships the Prototype, the effects of the red gas etc. I understand that the Poppy Playtime fandom will immediately understand all of the mentioned pieces of info ... but what about the others?
What about people or players who haven't played or viewed the previous game chapters? Who HAVEN'T kept up with the lore in the trailers, and clips on Discord and YouTube?
All projects, whether they're games, films etc ... have to be able to stand on their own and explain the general gist of the story to someone who's not seen it before. That's what makes a great work ... and that's the honest truth.
Catnap's scary form was quite impressive ... but there was just one thing that kind of spoilt the terror? Catnap's extended droopy mouth.
Now, while I know that a very droopy mouth can look quite intimidating sometimes ... this was a bit too much?
His mouth looked a lot like those of some characters in comedy strips ... when they drop their jaws. It honestly looked more silly than scary? A possible case of trying too hard to be scary perhaps?
The dream montages in Chapter 3 are a bit of an issue in my opinion, because of the number of them.
Speaking from my experience as a screenwriter who does montages ... I've learned that putting them in stories is risky. They're a high-risk, high-reward thing, you see.
They can improve stories and make them more exciting, but if you put too many in ... they can seriously impair the stories! Especially, if they're unnecessary ones ... put in unnecessary places.
The last dream montage in Chapter 3 is a perfect example of this, in my opinion. It didn't further the story at all, made the chapter drag on for a bit, and lowered the excitement of the final battle.
Also, there was a slight imbalance when it came to the mix of story / lore and puzzles in the game.
In my opinion, there seemed to be a bit too many puzzles in the chapter ... and not enough lore to explain the story of it.
That might need to be addressed in the next chapter, to make sure that such imbalances don't happen again? That's up to the developers though.
For another thing, Miss Delight was an interesting mystery reveal character in Chapter ... but really: an unnecessary one. Just my opinion.
She seemed really one-dimensional, and just existed to chase the protagonist through the school ... and not show up again.
I understand that Chapter 2 had similar characters with limited appearances, but they were better explained than Miss Delight.
She didn't have any lore at all to really prepare viewers for her ... at least to my knowledge?
Miss Delight also got a really mundane demise for a horror character, in my opinion ... just having a metal door fall on her head.
Considering the demises of other characters so far in Poppy Playtime, Miss Delight's one was ... a little anticlimactic? Also, where exactly are her clones in Chapter 3?
The footage of the 'Hour of Joy' showed that there was more than one model of Miss Delight in the school? One last thing to note; why was there a need for Miss Delight in the first place?
I mean ... one of the Smiling Critters was Bubba Bubbaphant? The blue elephant Critter who promoted learning and gaining knowledge?
Surely, he'd be a better fit for the position of school antagonist? Just saying?
Finishing off with the last issue ... one that I've noticed quite a few other people pointed out. The Bigger Bodies versions of most of the Smiling Critters didn't show up at all in the chapter!
And after Mob Entertainment piled on the hype among their eager audience over seeing the Smiling Critters in action ... as well.
I don't know ... it's just personally disappointing to not see the Bigger Bodies versions of the other Critters in the game. We all know that they DEFINITELY existed, according to DogDay!
I don't know why the developers left the other bigger versions out ... maybe they've got plans to include them later on? I don't know.
I just personally feel like the other big Smiling Critters could have made Chapter 3: Deep Sleep ... better?
To summarise it all, Chapter 3: Deep Sleep is a good horror game chapter; with a menacing antagonist, and thrilling moments that scare the pants of you!
I'd officially give it a rating of 8/10! Excellent job on the chapter overall, Mob Entertainment! Well done! Kudos to you! Looking forward immensely to seeing Chapter 4 of Poppy Playtime in the future!