So... was anyone going to tell me Poppy Playtime is good now? Or was I supposed to find that out myself?

But in all seriousness, as a long time fan of the mascot horror genre, man, it feels so so good to be back! Mascot horror has always been a Hot Mess from pretty much go. I mean, this genre has always had a hard time balancing horror elements with its aesthetics and even writing decent narratives, if we're being totally honest with ourselves. But these last few years have felt like exploitative, low quality kids game after exploitative, low quality kids game, with very few lights in a long stretch of darkness (ahem, Amanda the Adventurer). And, unfortunately, it very much felt like the first two chapters of Poppy Playtime were the catalyst for that, even if this trend had probably been coming for a long long time. In comparison, Poppy Playtime Chapter 3 feels like an ENORMOUS breath of fresh air.

Is this game perfect? No. It really could have done with a lot clearer signposting of the final bosses mechanics, or even a section to introduce its mechanics to the player before the fight. The last stretch of game play in between the playpen and the final boss stretched on for way too long. So much so that it greatly diminished any tension the playpen, school or home sweet home sections built, never mind the poor signposting for segments of it. And, when I watched a friend play this, the RNG of the final boss was so random, it didn't give a consistent or satisfying experience.

HOWEVER, no matter how flawed this game is, I feel like it deserves an A for effort. It definitely feels like the developers sat down and took criticism of the first two chapters extremely seriously. The setting? Somehow both unique, something that feels like would be actually made for children and scary at the same time. The Ambiance? On point. The monster designs? Vastly improved. The Scares? Actually well executed! I don't feel like I can fully judge it on it's moment to moment game play, considering I didn't play this myself, but, my gosh, it seemed actually fun to play! And for the most part, the mechanics felt like they were well integrated and taught to the player through its game play. This is some seriously competent game design, and unless you're also a long time fan of this genre, I don't think you'd be able to comprehend how badly this was needed. It's sad, that the bar is so low any game that at least achieves the bare minimum of "cohesive product" can revitalize the genre, but unfortunately, that's exactly where we were at. I'm very happy to report that this came is much more than just competent.

I don't feel like I can really organize my thoughts on this properly, so I'm just going to gush about my favorite parts :^

Home Sweet Home's atmosphere was INCREDIBLE. Between the players hallucinations, Catnap stalking you, the Huggy Wuggy TV Sequence where he literally crawls out of the fucking TV like the girl from The Ring. (Cheesy as it was, I am so fucking glad that the devs really committed to it because I fucking love it.) The backing track is incredible, and the atmospheric story telling is just fantastic. And, bro, the room with Kissy sitting hunched over a photo of a girl with all walls covered in drawings of Kissy that say shit like "my best friend" really fucking got me in a place deep down. I wasn't even invested in this character!! How did you do that??? How did you make me care about a character I didn't even LIKE before this with one quiet moment??

God I fucking love the cheesy ass Smiling Critter cardboard cut outs and their dumb prerecorded dialogues. They're just so campy!! And I love the Smiling Critter plush enemies, too. Somehow they were both adorable and creepy asf.

Miss Delight's segment was so good. The fact that they had the restraint to not use her in advertisements or tease her earlier in the chapter AT ALL and let the player fuck around and find out??? So good. Normally I would prefer foreshadowing about something like this, but, goodness, they executed it so well that I honestly think that giving her any screen time outside of the school would have been the wrong move. And god, her chase is fantastic. And her design???? Incredible.

I love CatNap. His regular design is just so, so good. The fact that it looks like he's starving? The way he stalks you and toys with you? The way he COULD have killed you at several points but didn't JUST to mess with you? The way he's the very first thing you see when you boot up the chapter? I don't quite feel like his worship of the prototype was maybe as well executed as Sammy's worship of Bendy from BatIM, but, gosh, do I think that character archetype is slept on, and it was honestly a perfect fit for PPch3. Also, love Theo to bits, that kid deserved so much better

I don't think any other game in this genre has ever had the fucking balls to lean into honest to god gore. Maybe Bendy? but even then I don't think that Bendy ever really used gore effectively. But finding DogDay was so genuinely shocking. My first real exposure to this chapter was actually seeing footage of this on Youtube as a short, after having seen some fan art of the Smiling Critters having not known they were Poppy characters. And when I noticed this was from Poppy Playtime part of me was still fully in denial, thinking, "There's no fucking way this is actually in the game, right? This HAS to be fan made." But no. It was real, actual footage from Poppy Playtime Chapter 3. And honestly? THIS is the moment that won me over as a fan of this game. The main problem with the mascot horror genre these past few years was NEVER that these were kids games. I mean, the main draw of these games is the contrast between cartoon characters that could have conceivably been made for children combined with nostalgia and spooks. This sort of thing was always going to draw in kids. But because kids happen to often be a target audience, so many of the mascot horror games of these last few years just, refuse to take their audiences seriously. It's the content farm problem, where young kids will watch anything that stimulates them, so people making to look a quick buck don't put any real effort into the games. But this moment, with DogDay crucified, his legs ripped off, blood dripping from his torso, THIS moment proved that the devs of Poppy Playtime are choosing to take their audience seriously. I mean, obviously, all of the places where you can tell they took criticism did that as well, but this moment in particular feels so damn indicative of their mentality precisely because no other mascot horror has gone this far before. And then, when your jaw is on the floor, when you're stunned that Poppy Playtime had the confidence to cross a line and go where no other mascot horror has gone before, the Smiling Critters crawl into DogDay's torso and his face and eat him from the inside out. Then they get up and start fucking chasing you. Fucking mad lads o7

Speaking of being more explicit, the Hour of Joy tape was just incredible. Thank you Poppy Playtime for not shying away from your atrocities!! I don't think I want this type of explicit representation for every dark piece of these games, that would get gratuitous REAL fast. Additionally, it'd probably take away from why moments like these worked so well, because they were the exception, not the rule.

Which is why I liked this chapter's environmental storytelling, too! You can put the pieces together about what happened before you even get the tape. For those with keen eyes, this tape is mostly a confirmation of what you already suspect, and for players who haven't spotted every single clue, this gives them the last few pieces of the puzzle. Watching this felt a little like actually watching Charlie's murder in Freddy's Pizzeria Sim, which is a win in my book! Fantastic execution all around.

Soo, yeah, I just really loved this game. It's not perfect, but that's never the experience I'm looking for when I go into these kinds of games. What we did get, however, was a blend of the best of the best that mascot horror has to offer mixed with bold creative decisions that made this chapter feel like its own, distinct game. I never thought I'd ever say this, but I'm actually excited to see if Poppy Playtime will continue to define its identity and learn from their mistakes. And even if this is where Poppy peaks, I'd be satisfied that it still dared to try something new, even if I'd be disappointed that approach of pushing the genre to its limit wasn't iterated upon. Ultimately, I do hope one day Chapters 1 and 2 get the Bendy treatment, and the devs go back and polish them up with what they've learned because I'd honestly like to see that.

Minecraft is hard to talk about, not because of anything inherent to the game itself. On it's surface, it's a relatively straightforward survival sandbox game. with it's most unique aspect being the stylistic choice to have the game be entirely constructed with blocks. It's simplicity is ultimately a huge strength, as it fosters creativity and experimentation. It's controls and mechanics are also, on the whole, very well integrated and very satisfying. It's endlessly repayable in a way few games are. It's a great game, and after almost 15 years after its initial release, it still holds up just as well as it did when it initially released. Despite this, it has its flaws. The villagers are pretty explicitly made up of antisemitic stereotypes, and the mechanics surrounding them have really bad connotations even BEFORE you factor in the harmful Jewish stereotypes involved. A lot of the newer content isn't really connected to old mechanics, so they end up feeling very disconnected from the rest of the game's progression. The progression itself is kinda lackluster. And dare I even mention the Mob Vote and it's unfortunate casualties?

What makes Minecraft really, truly special, however, is it's ability for foster community and connection with other people. It sometimes feels like the sum total of my experience with Minecraft has been a patchwork quilt of memories of the people who I've shared it with. I've played Minecraft with many people at different stages in my life, all of whom played different roles in my life, and all of whom contributed to both who I am today and the fondness I have for this game. Minecraft is a wonderful excuse spend time with the people you love, to make inside jokes, to build stories and worlds, and to hang out when you have nothing better to do. It's brought millions of people together in it's almost 15 years, and it will continue to bring people together for years into the future. This game defined a generation, and that sort of experience is worth having. And even if the people whom I've shared this game with aren't in my life any more, I'm glad I got to share this with them with the brief time we had together. I've loved a lot of people through this game, and I can't wait to discover who I'll love next.

And the universe said I love you.
And the universe said you are not alone.
And the universe said you are not separate from every other thing.
And the universe said I love you because you are love.

Honestly, I feel kinda bad rating this game as low as I am. I feel like it accomplishes what it's trying to do, and I really like it's aesthetic and premise. The reason why I'm rating it so low is because even though I really do love ARGs and ARG elements when used in video games, this was still really disappointing for me, mostly because it's not the game I WANTED. I would totally be down to play an entire game that's JUST exploring an abandoned multiplayer lobby, liminal space style, and the narrative and ARG stuff took away from what I enjoyed about this game. But when you take away those expectations, it's probably pretty okay. Idk this game is free, if you wanna check out an already solved short little ARG experience, then yeah go for it. Otherwise, probably not what you're looking for.