TLDR - Dogshit.

Played out of boredom, as a joke, and out of curiosity. I unfortunately also borrowed Ch2 from a family member with Steam Share, but my thoughts on that game also mimic my thoughts here. It's 4:36am at the time of writing this and I'm very passionate about horror, so sorry for some lengthy and angry rambling.

Mascot horror is a hot topic in horror at the moment, I feel. Whether or not it's a valid subgenre, the quality of the games, the quantity of the games, what makes one better than the others, etc.

I get FNAF was the game to start the whole "mascot horror" trend. People have every reason to blame that game for running (MOST) indie horror games into the ground. If FNAF was the inventor of mascot horror and a game like Bendy and the Ink Machine the less than desirable pioneer that pushed things forward, then Poppy Playtime's the focus-group tested, corporate built-and-approved harbringer of it.

But I argue that FNAF, for all of it's major, glowing, glaring flaws, still had one major boon outside of some self-made messy charm - it understood horror is primarily about people. The physical, mental, paranormal limits of people, the survival of people, the trauma from people, but still people. The execution of the FNAF story is another discussion entirely, but at it's core it does understand that very basic concept of horror: it is about the murders of children, the murderer and his family, and the aftermath of that, both physically and emotionally with a paranormal veil. That last part makes it obvious that there is atleast a good, baseline understanding of what makes horror tick within it, even if it is a complete mess. It's far, far from perfect but it is competent and creative enough (most of the time) to be enjoyable - which is why it's retained it's fanbase after so long alongside some memes/nostalgia.

This game does not have that boon. It is purposefully designed to try to recreate FNAF's endearingly but admittedly insane and labyrinthine storytelling in the least likable way possible. It copies Bioshock of all things, scattering it's actual story throughout the world via physical tapes and papers in between the moments of "oooh scaaarrry mascot is chasing you!" because it doesn't have the guts to actually make it interesting to encounter or engage with. It's lore-dumps all the way down, and it's nothing but "what if we made really fucked up toys" and immediately following into "the mascots killed everyone oooooooooh fuck!" Not even the "lore-dumps" of FNAF (at least the original 6 games) are actual lore-dumps, it's all strung together implications and interpretation from minigames, small details and voicelines. This scrapes up a very big misunderstanding of horror baked into this game's design; this game is about the mascots exclusively. Not the people behind the mascots even though they are mentioned, not the tragedy that happened to the people behind the mascots despite that being what this should be about - this is about the colorful characters you see before you at every moment. They are the stars here. There is no emotional connection, because there's no emotion, and nothing to attach any actual emotion to. This is a game about some marketable, colorful, and annoyingly recognizable mascots being at war with each other.

The gameplay is somehow less depthful than it's writing; it is literally matching colors, and the occasional piss easy electricity puzzle that wouldn't be out of place in a mobile game, after walking in a straight line or into a vent for a majority of the game. Of course, this isn't bad on it's own. Sometimes games can just be simple like any other medium can be simple. However, the lack of any sort of challenge makes it hyper-popular with children, the target audience, because anybody can play through and beat this game. Which unfortunately gave it success, spawning it's own copycats and flooding indie horror with this subgenre.

It's like this in order to do the following three things: get free exposure via Youtubers/Streamers screaming at it, sell merchandise, and, most importantly, get people like MatPat to theorize about it so kids can spend endless hours thinking about it, for the "depth" that doesn't exist and is sending those poor bastards at Game Theory on a wild goose chase for anything properly coherent.

Y'know, I'm a big horror fan. This genre is arguably the most influential to my life and inspirational to my creative side. Resident Evil, Scream, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Exorcist, Evil Dead, Salem's Lot, Dead Space, Silent Hill, Alien, even FNAF all have impacted my life in one way or another, alongside so many horror-adjacent pieces. I've been around the block with this genre, both good and bad. Some of the most impactful pieces of my life are horror - but I've played, watched, read just as many completely dogshit horror pieces that do not understand what genre they're in and suck ass.

I think this is the absolute worst piece of horror I have ever personally experienced. (edit: 10/14/2023 - somehow Exorcist Believer has dethroned this, absolutely horrific movie.)

Not just because it's safe and boring trite, not just because it fundamentally misunderstands the genre it's in, not just because it's all an effort to cash in on FNAF's success, not JUST because it started a trend of copycats that are trying to follow it's own success now, but because out of every piece of horror I've ever interacted with, somehow, someway, this is the piece that I think has bought into it's own hype the hardest.

It is treating itself like it has FNAF levels of success, trying so desperately to live up to the mantle, without understanding that FNAF's superstar level of success was lightning in a bottle. Poppy Playtime is also successful on it's own - not because of charm, or a lucky break, or whatever other successful factor you can pin onto FNAF. This game is a by-design hit. It is successful because it aggressively forced itself into the door, trying to catch lightning in a bottle again, trying to do the same thing it's mascot-suit clad predecessor did. This thing exists to drive "hype" - sell merch, drip feeding the actual game out, get people to drive ANY attention to it (and it's copycats by complete accident) - all to try to mimic the effort of one guy who just liked making video games for his kids.

Because of Poppy's success, a lot of indie horror games are trying to hop on the bandwagon, even the pioneers of the bandwagon. Of course, with quite a few exceptions that are actually wonderful pieces of horror, or at least has roots deep in horror.

I went into this and Ch2 as a joke, out of boredom. I went in expecting to waste time by playing a below average horror game chasing the dream of being the next FNAF. I came out hating everything this game does, and the fear of any echoes it's left on indie horror seeping it's way into other mediums. I would say at least the admittedly creative artists are getting paid well, but that's not fucking likely considering NFTs released for it.

Fuck this game.