Poppy Playtime was an unexpected horror game that ended up delighting many because of its terrifying pets and how it improved its story. The release of Chapter 3 was on January 30, 2024; with this part, more mysteries and very few answers have arrived. But one of the biggest unknowns surrounding the lore of Poppy Playtime is in what year the game takes place and how it fits into the timeline. Well, it is precisely in chapter 3 that players have found some data with some answers.
Poppy Playtime: In What Year Do the Game Events Take Place?
In Chapter 1, “Player” arrives at the Poppy Playtime factory, where he worked 10 years ago. This was before all the workers disappeared, and the company ended up abandoned. As the events of the game unfold and the VHSs appear, the Player discovers that the disappearance of the employees coincides with “The Hour of Joy.” In the timeline, this event refers to when the Poppy Playtime toys, commanded by “The Prototype,” attacked the people inside the company and took their remains to a hidden location.
During Chapter 3, CatNap is stalking and trying to stop Player from changing the flow of the red gas that causes hallucinations. So when the players arrive at Home Sweet Home, an annex of the orphanage where all the children used to live, CatNap attacks and makes them inhale the gas. Player continues his way into the terrifying bedroom, where one of the radios emits an intelligible noise, but if played backward, a voice speaks directly to Player. The radio says that Player had to be there on the day of the big party, that he shouldn’t have missed it, and it gives the numbers 8-8-1995.
The radio numbers, along with a VHS of the event, although the year is cut off at the end, indicates August 8, 1995, as the date of The Hour of Joy”. For some unknown reason, Player missed that day. Also, missing the “party” seems to be the origin of Player’s guilt, because of what happened to his companions and what made him come back 10 years later. So, the current events in Poppy Playtime‘s timeline occurred in 2005.
