We got our hands on Escape From Playtime ahead of its open beta, a co-op survival horror game that shrinks players down to the size of a toy and sends them scavenging through Playtime Co.'s factory while familiar monsters hunt them down.
Escape From Playtime Puts Players Inside the Factory as the Smiling Critters
Small Toys, Huge Factory, and Plenty of Ways to Get Lost
Ahead of its open beta, Game8 got hands-on time with Escape From Playtime, Mob Entertainment's new co-op survival horror game set within the world of Poppy Playtime, the studio's mascot horror franchise that first launched in October 2021 and has since sold more than 39 million copies across all chapters and platforms. Where the mainline Poppy Playtime games are single-player experiences following a human protagonist through the abandoned Playtime Co. factory, Escape From Playtime shifts perspective entirely: players take control of the Smiling Critters, a toy line first introduced in Poppy Playtime: Chapter 3, navigating the same factory from a toy's-eye view rather than a human one.
That shift in scale is central to the game's premise. Because the Critters are small, the factory's classrooms, warehouses, testing labs, and connecting corridors all become significantly larger and more dangerous from their perspective, turning familiar Poppy Playtime locations into unfamiliar territory. The game is set on August 5, 1995, specifically in the window between the Hour of Joy, the in-universe event in which the factory's monstrous toy experiments rebelled and killed the remaining Playtime Co. employees, and the events of the original Poppy Playtime: Chapter 1. According to Mob Entertainment, this places Escape From Playtime fully within official Poppy Playtime canon, with narrative implications for the wider series going forward.
The smaller scale also changes how the factory feels to play through. During the preview, the experience was described as closer to games like PEAK and R.E.P.O. than the more traditional single-player horror of Poppy Playtime, with climbing and stamina management becoming a major part of navigating the environment. Instead of simply walking through familiar locations, players are constantly moving around obstacles, climbing surfaces, and trying to stay ahead of whatever is chasing them.
Every Run Is a Race to Meet the Quota
Each run sends a team of one to four players into a section of the Playtime Co. factory with one objective: locate and transport resources and building materials back to a mobile cart named Barry to meet an assigned quota. These sections are procedurally generated, meaning the factory's layout changes between runs rather than staying fixed. Quota requirements escalate significantly after each successful run, rising from an initial threshold into the thousands as players progress. Failing to meet a quota, or failing to extract before the area becomes engulfed in hazardous smoke, results in demerits; accumulating too many demerits triggers a "redemption" sequence, in which players must climb upward to escape rising hazard smoke to survive.
Between runs, players return to a central hub area to regroup before heading back out. The preview also showed that the game isn't designed to be nonstop chaos, with safe rooms giving players brief opportunities to regroup between runs before heading back into the factory.
That pacing helps build what we can describe in the preview as a more constant sense of dread rather than a game built primarily around jump scares. Danger can build up as players explore, forcing a decision to keep searching for more resources increasingly risky as the quota and extraction deadline loom.
Environmental hazards factor directly into the moment-to-moment pressure as well, most notably red CatNap gas, which drains stamina and health and forces players to navigate around or escape it while exploring.
Climbing and Teamwork Are Key to Surviving the Factory
Smiling Critters can climb virtually any surface in the factory, including walls, desks, ropes, and ceiling debris, using a dedicated climb button, and players can boost each other up to reach higher areas or help pull struggling teammates to safety. Communication plays a direct mechanical role as well: the game uses proximity voice chat, meaning how well players can hear one another depends on their distance apart, and certain sounds, including a player's own voice, can attract nearby monsters.
The climbing system is more than a movement option. CatNap's gas can force players into higher areas and turn ordinary traversal into a frantic escape, with parkour becoming an important part of surviving encounters. The preview experience compared this movement and stamina system to PEAK, with players able to climb and navigate practically anywhere while managing their health and stamina.
Players have access to several tools while exploring. Glow sticks can be placed to mark paths back to extraction points, flares can be thrown to create temporary barriers against specific monsters, and air horns and slap hands can be used to stun, disable, or knock back enemies.
If a teammate is defeated, their dismembered parts can be collected and returned to Barry to revive them. In a darker twist, those same body parts can also be consumed on the spot for emergency health instead of being used for a full revival, giving the game's cooperative survival mechanics a rather literal meaning.
Miss Delight, Cat Bee, and Other Familiar Toys Are Out for Blood
Escape From Playtime's initial monster lineup draws from characters already established elsewhere in the Poppy Playtime series. Miss Delight, a teacher mannequin, only moves when she isn't being directly looked at, and can be temporarily frozen in place with a flashlight or flare. Cat Bee inflicts a poisonous sting that requires a specific antidote item to cure. Bunzo Bunny hides on ceilings and grabs players who walk beneath him, and requires a teammate to throw an item at him to free anyone he's caught. Boogie Bot is a small patrolling robot that detonates on a timer unless it's disabled first.
The preview featured all four of these characters, giving players a chance to see how they interact with the Smiling Critters outside of their original appearances. Since Escape From Playtime takes place shortly after the Hour of Joy, it also creates a situation where several characters are encountering one another for the first time in the timeline.
That includes characters that previously had little or no opportunity to interact in the mainline games. Rather than simply bringing familiar monsters back for another appearance, the game uses its place in the timeline to put these characters together in situations that haven't been seen before.
Mob Entertainment has also indicated that future updates will add more humanizing details to the larger “Bigger Body” monsters players have already fought and defeated in the mainline chapters.
The Smiling Critters Are Building Something for a Mysterious Voice
Throughout each run, the Smiling Critters are guided by a disembodied Voice that promises them safety and freedom in exchange for gathering tools and materials toward an unspecified goal, described in-game as building a “sanctuary.” Players are not given confirmation of who or what the Voice actually is, or whether its promises can be trusted.
The preview did not reveal much more about the Voice or its ultimate purpose, but Mob Entertainment has emphasized that Escape From Playtime is fully canon. The developers have also indicated that the game will have narrative implications for the wider Poppy Playtime story, meaning the mystery surrounding the Voice could become more important as the game receives additional content.
For now, the Critters are simply following its instructions and gathering whatever materials it asks for. Exactly what they're building, and why the Voice needs them to build it, remains unanswered.
Escape From Playtime Arrives on Steam Early Access October 21
Escape From Playtime enters Steam Early Access on October 21, 2026, preceded by an open beta period beginning October 1, 2026. The initial Early Access release is planned to include four playable Smiling Critters, with four additional Critters to be unlocked later, alongside one starter zone and a core lineup of enemies.
Mob Entertainment has stated that future updates are expected to expand the game with new zones, characters, and features based on community feedback following launch.
