Poppy Playtime: Safe Haven was the most lore-heavy chapter, providing insight into Poppy and The Prototype’s plans and motivation, alongside a few confirmed theories. But in the midst of all the running (and there really was a lot of running) were secrets you may have missed in your playthrough.
Every new chapter furthers Poppy Playtime‘s timeline and enriches its story. While many questions remain unanswered, there’s always something to sink your teeth into as you wait for the next chapter to release. Safe Haven provides multiple revelations as it confirms popular theories surrounding Poppy and The Prototype, alongside bringing back a fan-favorite right before the credits roll. But every chapter has its secrets outside of the hunt for lore in their VHS tapes and notes.
Here is everything you may have missed in Poppy Playtime: Safe Haven.
All secrets you may have missed in Poppy Playtime: Chapter 4
Poppy’s identity revealed
The first and obvious secret is in the Untitled Tape. This is the hardest collectible to find in Safe Haven as it’s placed in a moment of pure panic. As Doey chases after you for the first time, you run through a cave system before the boss fight. You can pick up the Untitled Tape from the caves after jumping across the electrified gap as Doey chases you. The tape confirms a longstanding theory about Poppy and her identity. While a name hasn’t been given, we now know Poppy is Elliot Ludwig’s (creator of Playtime Co.) daughter. While she sees The Prototype and Ludwig as two separate entities, there’s still a wonder whether these characters are one and the same. The fifth and (likely) final chapter will give us more answers—but for now, we have something tangible to hold onto about Poppy’s real identity.
Huggy Wuggy’s return
This isn’t so much a secret, but it’s a detail you may have missed. With the massive reveal that Huggy Wuggy survived the fall in the first chapter, we note the physical similarities between himself and his pink female counterpart, Kissy Missy. Both have lost an arm and in a very similar way. While watching Huggy Wuggy fall to his “death” in the first chapter doesn’t show how his arm was lost, it’s possible this was The Prototype’s doing. He probably tried to take Huggy’s body, but Huggy fought back, losing his arm in the process. His blue fur is seen in Fly in a Web, indicating he may have retreated to the Labs to hide from The Prototype until re-emerging at the end of Safe Haven.
Huggy Wuggy’s new look was foreshadowed in the first Cell Block as his image appeared on the whiteboard in a game of hangman—his left arm missing—the same as seen at the end of Safe Haven. This return was foreshadowed throughout the story as seen in Safe Haven’s graffiti and the moving arms in the Toy Graveyard, which could also allude to Kissy Missy’s latest injury as she tried to save us from falling to our death (no one going to question how did we survived that? Guess we’re just Hannah from Until Dawn now).
While Huggy Wuggy’s return is one many were hoping for, I almost wonder if this event was real. The Player is clearly terrified of Huggy as shown with Nightmare Huggy in Deep Sleep, but the Labs’ entrance is filled with rows and rows of poppies, alongside the Red Smoke filling the room we’re in at the very end of the game (as Huggy bangs on the door). We know The Player suffers from dark visions, so could Huggy Wuggy’s appearance be one of these hallucinations? Maybe what we’re not seeing is an injured Kissy Missy on the other side of the door.
Right before Huggy Wuggy’s confirmed return, you can interact with his cut-out to play his voice recording. A theory I’ve always believed in is that the cut-outs tell us the Bigger Bodies current status. For example, the Smiling Critters in Deep Sleep often end with screams and distortion, meanwhile CatNap’s had heavy breathing. Mommy Long Legs’ recording was purely static, linking to her death in Fly in a Web. This may be Mob’s way of telling us which Bigger Bodies are still alive.
The Player’s hallucinations
Each chapter gives us a hint towards The Player’s identity and their role in Playtime. Theorized as P.W, Dr. White, or Rich—The Player’s nightmarish hallucinations caused by the Red Smoke reveal we may have had something to do with Ludwig’s death. This was hinted strongly in Deep Sleep‘s P.T-influenced nightmare section and the audio in the Cell Block hallucination implies The Player had already seen the Labs. The jury is still out on who exactly The Player is.
The Doctor didn’t recognise The Player as a fellow doctor or scientist, but wondered how The Player’s potential was missed by Playtime. This, alongside the Labs being a restricted area where trespassers were killed for entering it points to The Player being someone like Cole or P.W.—low-class staff looking to release classified information against Playtime. Alternatively, it could be Rich who reached Head of Shipping after climbing the corporate ladder.
What is 1006 planning?
Another important tape you may have missed is Time, which revealed the transactional relationship between The Prototype (1006) and The Doctor. You need Harley Sawyer’s keycard to access this room. Unlocking it and listening to the tape, reading over the note written by Ludwig regarding letting Sawyer go from the Young Geniuses Program, and listening to the radio recording of The Doctor offers a good conclusion to his story and finally puts it to bed.
As 1006 can kill The Doctor at any moment (because Sawyer doesn’t have a body he can freely move around in), he’s is forced to help 1006. We still don’t know what 1006 is after, but if he has Elliot Ludwig’s mind, it’s highly likely he is trying to figure out how to resurrect humans (relating to the eviscerated boy in his home at the time of his death). We know Poppy brought The Player back to Playtime and is desperate to find the flower, but what if we’re needed to complete 1006’s research as the human body seen at the head of CatNap’s shrine? It’s not looking good for The Player who Sawyer described us as “someone of such rare quality,” implying we’d make an excellent Bigger Body. So, are we exactly what The Prototype needs to complete his research? Even Poppy referred to us as “perfect” at the end of Fly in a Web, but was this truly her or was it The Prototype using her voice?
Poppy Playtime: Chapter 4 Easter egg
A permanent constant in Poppy Playtime isn’t the Bigger Bodies, the platforming and puzzle-solving elements, or the collectibles you can gather for lore in every chapter. No. It’s a singular lemon that keeps making an appearance, no matter where you are in Playtime’s factory. A lemon appears, this time on the Safe Haven walls as graffiti with googly eyes. Strangest of all is the real lemon you can pick up inside the first Cell Block. This strange googly-eyed lemon has voicelines and reacts to the Red Smoke. While it’s unconfirmed what this Easter egg is referencing exactly (be it a Bigger Body or a recurring joke), we wonder if it’s an orphan’s toy that may be linked to The Player.
You can find the lemon within the first 15 minutes of Safe Haven. It is within the first Cell Block you enter immediately after using the blue Grab-Pack hand to unlock the first door. Now on the lower deck, you use the Grab-Pack to unlock another cell door and remove three wooden planks covering a hole so you can crawl through. Immediately after standing on the other side of this cell, look to the right and towards the concrete pillars near you. The lemon is here and marks the main Easter egg in Poppy Playtime: Chapter 4.
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