Poppy Playtime: Chapter 5 - Broken Things

Poppy Playtime is a game that has been building anticipation for its grand finale for years. With an episodic structure that not everyone appreciates, we have been learning of the story of the game little-by-little while escaping endless dangers in the most famous toy factory in the world of video games. Now that Poppy Playtime: Chapter 5 - Broken Things has finally been released, it's time to find out if the wait was worth it.

This chapter begins right where the previous one ended, with the protagonist being chased by Huggy Wuggy and seemingly with no way out. Just when it looks like he's finally going to catch us, a sequence of escape begins where we have to avoid being "hugged". Explosions, collapsing floors, falls from ventilation tunnels... the first few moments of this chapter are full of tension, but thanks to our grab pack, we can overcome the obstacles and get to safety. As for the story, since this is the grand finale of Poppy Playtime, I won't share any spoilers, but I can say that it focuses on devising a plan for the final confrontation with The Prototype, where we will meet new enemies, new allies, acquire many new abilities, complete lots of puzzles, and survive epic battles, all embellished with a layer of tension and scares, as always.

For veterans and new players alike

As it is an episodic game in which each chapter can be played independently, the difficulty curve starts from scratch with each episode. In the first few minutes of Chapter 5, we will have many checkpoints, many tutorials and, in general, a series of challenges with a very low level of difficulty, so that anyone, whether they have played Poppy Playtime before or not, can get into the swing of things. However, little-by-little, we see how the difficulty increases and the puzzles become more complicated. The enemies are merciless, and we will have to make good use of our skills to overcome obstacles with a bit of "platform jumping".

In general, the game is in line with what was expected. The new characters, as well as the notes we find, give us more context about the situation. The skills offer more depth to the exploration, we have an ultraviolet flashlight to see hidden messages, a pressurised hand to break and push certain objects, a conductive hand that allows us to temporarily use elements such as fire or ice, magnetic bracelets to grapple onto certain points, and many collectables to find. With so many skills, much of the chapter focuses on overcoming different puzzles, always with a few scares in between.

The ending everyone was expecting

"Broken Things" lasts about five hours, and the truth is that it feels short. After waiting so many years for this moment, between jumps and puzzles, it feels short and not as epic as expected. The difficulty of the enemies and puzzles is not what you would expect from the end of the story, and although it has some very good points, overall, it leaves you wanting more. If you play all the chapters in one go, it's true that you'll have a game of about 25 hours, but with the constant difficulty resets between chapters and constant tutorials, you won't feel like you've played the whole game either.

Chapter 5 works on its own and is a good ending, evolving everything that MOB Entertainment has been preparing over the last few years in terms of sound, graphics, gameplay, and puzzles, but the expectations that have been created around the game and its final chapter weigh heavily on it. If you're a fan of Poppy Playtime, you're sure to like this chapter, but if you're jumping on the bandwagon and want to see why everyone is talking about Poppy Playtime: Chapter 5, you probably won't have the best experience.

In short, Poppy Playtime seems to be a victim of its own success. It's more of a tense experience than a horror one, full of original puzzles, good platforming, and well-designed enemies. Although it may not seem like it from this text, I quite liked Chapter 5, but if I put myself in "video games press" mode, I can't help but feel that if it weren't for the fame of the game's name, Chapter 5 would have received harsher criticism.

Have you played Chapter 5 of Poppy Playtime yet? If you're still unsure, here's a summary to bring you up to speed before you dive into this final chapter.