The Playhouse Walkthrough - Poppy Playtime Guide - IGN (2024)

With Miss Delight out for the count, the next section of Poppy Playtime Chapter 3 will take us to the Playhouse, where we'll learn more about Catnap and his army of ravenous friends.

In this walkthrough, we'll guide you through reaching the Playhouse and surviving the enemy encounters that lie within it.

If you're looking for a different section of Deep Sleep, be sure to check out our Chapter 3: Deep Sleep walkthrough hub for links to all the guides for this chapter.

The Playhouse Walkthrough

At the end of the last section, we defeated Miss Delight and then got ready to proceed further into the factory. Once your chase with her is over, spin around and continue down the corridor behind you until you reach a loading screen.

When the game's loaded, look directly ahead of you next to the Hoppy Hopscotch cardboard cutout. You'll see another Grab Pack hand in a capsule. Pick it up to add the orange hand to your arsenal. You can switch to it by scrolling up on the mouse wheel.

The orange hand's core use is that it can fire flares. These flares are mostly used to light up areas, although shortly, we'll need them to ward off a specific enemy type that's scared of light.

For now, shoot a few flares to get the hang of it, then head through the door to your left. You'll arrive in a large cavern with a bridge leading to a gate on the opposite side. Walk to around halfway across the bridge, look to your right and you'll spot a power cell on a broken catwalk on the far side of the cavern. Grab it with your blue hand, reel it in, and then slot it into the power cell slot to the right of the gate. It'll open, providing you with a way through to the cave ahead.

Traversing the Caverns

When you enter the cave, look to your right and you'll see an orange VHS player next to a TV. Look towards the walkway leading deeper into the caves and you'll see an orange VHS tape on a plank of wood at the beginning of it.

Grab the tape and pop it into the VHS player to learn some new lore about Rich; a recurring character we've learned more and more about as the tapes have gone on.

When you've finished the tape, spin around and continue along the path further into the cavern. You'll eventually come across a sequence of Handsprings that'll take you to a platform lower in the caves. Use your purple hand to bounce along them, then take a left.

Follow the route and you'll come across a wall with an active green charge node and a deactivated green charge node. Before we move the charge across, note that this section is essentially a timed platforming challenge.

Once the charge has been moved, a series of Handsprings will activate on the platforms above us, creating a path from the platform we're on to the scaffolding and catwalks above us. If the charge runs out before we reach the top, we'll have to drop back down and do it again.

Move the charge, then quickly switch to the purple hand and begin launching yourself up the platforms. There's four Handsprings in total, so climb as quickly as possible until you're on the highest catwalk possible.

When you are at the top, continue following the path until it breaks off. At this point, jump down into the fenced-off area with several Electrical Poles to your right. It's time for another Electrical Pole puzzle.

Move the first pole you come across so the blue line indicator is aimed towards the electrical pole on the platform to your right. The position it should be in is shown above.

Next, head over to the turret in this area and aim it at the same Electrical Pole's handprint symbol. It's at the base of the pole, as shown in the image above.

After that, use the handspring on your right to jump up to the platform we aimed the last Electrical Pole at, then spin the Electrical Pole up here so it's aiming at the Electrical Pole on the platform opposite us. The position is shown above.

Now, use the handspring in front of the gap opposite us to launch over the gap and reach the platform on the opposite side. Spin the Electrical Pole here so it's directed at the Electrical Pole to our left. The position is shown above.

Finally, spin the Electrical Pole to our left around until the blue line indicator is pointing at the power outlet behind it. The position is shown above.

When that's done, drop down and look towards the platform we landed on when we entered the area. You'll see the turret we aimed at the beginning of the puzzle on the left-hand side.

Make your way towards the elevator to the right of the outlet, then turn and pull the lever. As the turret redirects around the poles, step onto the elevator and, as the hand touches the power outlet, it will cause the elevator to rise to the catwalk above it.

Walk across the catwalk, looking to your left to see a strange shrine. Continuing watching, and you'll see Catnap approach the shrine and begin praying to it. Whatever this thing is, Catnap is a big fan.

Continue walking down the catwalk. As soon as you lose vision of Catnap, he'll disappear from the shrine. At the end of the catwalk, you'll be able to hop down a few platforms to reach a lower catwalk. You can get a closer view of the shrine here. When you're ready to move on, keep following the path.

It will lead you to a door we can open using a blue hand pressure plate. The sign above the door reveals it leads to the Playhouse, the one location Ollie warned us not to go.

Exploring The Playhouse

Step through the now open door and you'll see a bridge across from you. Make your way over the bridge and through the archway with a sign reading "Playhouse" above it.

You'll enter a room with a large hole we can step through on the right side of the room and a small hole to the left of it. Through the small hole, a tiny Smiling Critter will appear. This dude is adorable, but his intentions are definitely not.

Shoot a flare at him and he'll scurry back into the hole. Before we move on, let's go through how the Playhouse and the Smiling Critters work. So our little buddy that just retreated is one of an army of small Smiling Critters toys who will attempt to attack us during this section.

These guys will infinitely respawn, and they can quickly overwhelm you. However, they absolutely hate fire and will flee when you fire flares at them. The idea for this section is we're going to make our way through the Playhouse and try and solve puzzles, all the while these guys will relentlessly pursue us. Keep your flare gun at the ready and remember you're much faster and more agile than them. If they gather and you can't force them to disperse, run, and jump to avoid them.

When you're ready to tackle the horde, make your way through the hole on the right side of the room, then take a left through the open door and keep following the path. As you progress, Smiling Critters will start flooding into the rooms ahead, so fire the flares to ward them back if they get close.

Eventually, you'll reach a room with a ramp on your right. Head up the ramp and follow it around until it leads into a bigger area with another ramp that snakes around the wall and leads up to a pipe above you.

Shoot flares to ward back any Smiling Critters and follow the path up to the pipe, then crawl inside. This is a dangerous route because the Critters can come from multiple directions. Stay vigilant and be quick.

When you enter the pipe, take a left and proceed forward until you see your first right. Take it and keep moving forward until you drop down to a second pipe, then take two more rights. Eventually, you'll see a slide leading further down into the Playhouse. Slide down it and you'll drop into a jungle gym.

The Jungle Gym

This section will act as the main encounter we have with these little menaces. Before we get going, let's cover exactly what we're trying to do here.

Essentially, above us in the centre of the Jungle Gym is a pod with a circular platform attached to it. By pressing the button inside the pod, the circular platform will spin around it. We want to get onto the platform, activate the button and spin around behind the pod, then jump down to the yellow door behind it.

However, the pod is locked. The only way to open it is to weigh down two buttons on the left and right side of the room. Next to these buttons are two large blocks. By using the Grab Pack, we can pull these blocks onto the buttons, weighing them down.

Time for a good old-fashioned catch though, because our critter friends are coming to play too, and they have an absolute laundry list of ways to sneak up on us. Considering the playpen is full of small tunnels, walls we have to crouch under and hiding spots, these guys can be anywhere, and what's worse is they don't make much noise.

Some quick tips to counter this? Firstly, keep moving. These guys are deceivingly quick and will unintentionally form into packs, especially if you're in the process of moving blocks. Try to keep moving at all times so they can't overwhelm you and bring you down.

Secondly, be very sparing with your flares. The playpen is dark and so the natural thought process is to also use flares as sources of light. Try to avoid using them to light up areas and focus your stock on pushing back the Critters. Turn your brightness up slightly if you're struggling to see. As for how you'll spot the Critters in the dark, their eyes will glow white, so look out for white orbs in the darkness.

Finally, don't play by the Jungle Gym's rules. You're not a kid anymore. You don't have to conform to the rules! When you're on the raised platforms where you find the blocks, try to summon as many Critters as you can and then sprint and jump over the low walls in the centre of the area. It'll prevent you from having to make your way through the narrow jungle gym walls and will put a ton of distance between you and the critters.

When you're ready, begin the game by speeding over to either the block on the right or left side of the gym. Off the bat, try and get there quick so you don't have to deal with many Critters and can pull the first block down with little resistance. When that's done, speed over to the other side of the room, taking care of any Critters in the way, and then pull the second block down. When both are in place, all you have to do is get up to the pod.

To reach it, head back to the spot where we dropped into the game. On the left and right-hand side of the spot we landed in, you'll see two pipes. Crawl through the left pipe and it'll take you to a series of bridges and narrow platforms behind the jungle gym. Be careful here. There's a ton of tight corners, giving the Critters time to sneak up on you.

When you're out the pipe, head forward, take a right again and then head through the tube in front of you. It'll deposit you in front of the circular platform connected to the pod. Jump to the platform and then use the Grab Pack to hit the button ahead while you're still standing in it.

Wait for the platform to spin around to the opposite side of the pod, then jump into the life preserver rings below you. Climb out of them and run to the yellow door to enter a stairwell. Run all the way to the bottom and through the doors ahead and you'll officially be free of the Jungle Gym.

Dogday Chase

Now you're out of the Jungle Gym, you'll find yourself in a large swimming pool area. Feel free to decompress a second next to the big, very cheerful inflatable yellow ducks, then proceed to the yellow doors behind the pool.

Open them up and you'll find yourself in a makeshift jail cell. Approach the jail cell on your left at the end of the path and you'll meet Dogday. Or, at least, the upper half of Dogday. The leader of the Smiling Critters has definitely seen better days, as it appears Catnap and his followers have done horrific things to the smiling mascot.

Speak to Dogday and he'll reveal he knows who you are and tell you more about Catnap's relationship with the Prototype. The conversation will last a minute or two and then Dogday's captors will return. A bunch of small smiling critters will crawl into Dogday's open wounds and begin puppeteering him, cueing an impromptu chase. As the chase is starting, do yourself a massive favour and switch to the purple Springboard hand. We'll need to use it soon as don't want to be messing around switching hands when we do.

Spin around and head back to the entrance of the cell. As you reach the doors, you'll drop through the floor. Look for the entrance to a pipe in the room you land in, then run through it, take a left into another pipe and follow the path to the end.

Your route forward will get cut off here, so wait for the vent to your left to open, then run into the play area and head up the ramp until you reach a pipe.

Make your way through the pipe, being careful of the smiling critters that approach through the adjacent pipes on the right-hand side.

When you reach the end of the pipe, take a left into a new pipe, follow the path, then take a right into a third pipe. This pipe will eventually drop you into the pipe below it. When you land, sprint forward towards the slide at the end of the route ahead.

Slide down it, run down the corridor ahead and you'll enter a large room with three more slides. This room is full of bait-out escape routes which Dogday can catch you in. Ignore all the slides ahead, take a left, and run towards the Handspring between the two red and yellow pillars at the end of the room.

Hit it while you're running and you'll soar over to an isolated platform just as the shutter behind you closes, locking Dogday out. Well done. That's another fluffy abomination thwarted. Head up the elevator in front of where you landed, and it'll take you to an area with a slide above it.

Head into the slide and you'll cue a loading screen before being abruptly dumped outside the Playhouse. With that, our time in that horrible place is over. Next up, we need to fix the power and head to the Counsellor's Office.