It's been a while since I set foot nervously inside the Playtime Co. factory, but last time I was there I was hounded through the halls and air vents by a towering blue plush toy that wanted nothing more than to hug me to death.
I played a bit of the multiplayer prequel to Poppy Playtime this week, and I can now report that there's something even scarier than that giant Huggy Wuggy doll roaming the factory. Her name is Miss Delight. You can meet her yourself because the Escape from Playtime open beta is now live on Steam and you can try out the game all weekend long.
This time you're one of the cute little Playtime toys, like a plush bunny, a cartoony cat, or a fluffy unicorn, and your goal is to escape the accursed factory with your pals by skittering through the dark corridors and shadowy rooms collecting supplies. Fill a cart with enough useful junk and you can advance to the next shift. Complete all the shifts and you're free. But it's not gonna be easy.
In my session we were stalked by progressively more monstrous toys each shift we completed. There are toy robots who speed toward you when detected and explode on contact, though if a teammate bonks them in the back of the head with a thrown object first, they shut down. There's also a Cat Bee (it's a cat dressed like a bee) that latches onto players and poisons them until, again, another player knocks them off with a thrown object. You can already see the purpose of sticking together.
Then there's Miss Delight. You'll know she's around by the clicking of her high heels echoing through the factory. She, like Huggy Wuggy, is tall, towering over you (especially since you're just a little stuffed toy) and insta-murdering you if she catches you. Thing about Miss Delight is that it's simple to stop her in her tracks: just shine a flashlight in what's left of her face.
But somehow Miss Delight standing there staring at you is worse than Huggy Wuggy chasing you down. Turns out there's something worse than an unstoppable monster, and it's a monster that stops. And stands there motionless. Staring at you. With bright, shiny dead eyes a gaping, hungry mouth. Just standing there, completely still, staring… right up your flashlight battery dies.
That's not the only warning about Escape from Playtime. Mob Entertainment has one too:
"We want to emphasize that this is very much a playtest looking for your feedback," the developer says. "This build has many work-in-progress aspects, experimental features, experiments with balance, and locked away features. Your feedback from this Beta Playtest will greatly aid in the development of the launch build and beyond!"
There will be a survey after you play if you'd like to give feedback. The open beta runs until 6 pm PT on Sunday, October 4, and supports up to eight players (with at least groups of four recommended). Find the full beta details here.
