Mark Edward Fischbach has given up on Poppy Playtime. One of the most prolific and successful YouTubers in the world—as well as many other things, including a moviemaker!—Markiplier has stuck with the popular indie horror series from its 2021 inception. But the recent fifth chapter has him calling quits.
In a blistering review (technically, more of a collection of thoughts; don’t hate me, Markiplier, I’m just saying it’s still kind of a review), the content creator unleashed a string of strong critiques. He was, by his own admission, hungry; but he maintains he would merely have said the same things more nicely if he’d eaten before the fifth chapter’s credits rolled.
Playtime’s Over
“This was a [expletive] mess.” Markiplier didn’t hold back from the first. And he’s hardly the sort to make a career out of screaming into his mic for so-called comedic effect, mind you. I should know. I can’t last more than five seconds on those sorts. Lambasting Poppy Playtime 5 for unexplained character motivations, he criticized what he views as the series’ overreliance on chase sequences, explaining his philosophy on them all-the-while. In essence, they lose their inherent value as soon as you die. After that, it’s rote memorization, and it robs them of the emotional undercurrent.
“When you’re playing a game, you should know why A is connected to B.” -Markiplier
“Frankly, I think there was [an] emotional core here that was trying to shine through,” he evaluated, “and it’s like, I wanted to be in it, but by the time I got there I didn’t care.” Poppy Playtime has long prided itself on sustaining these sorts of feelings for the long haul, and Markiplier has gone through each chapter, dissecting what worked for him and what didn’t. This is the first time he’s gone full tilt on it.
“I just do not have it in me to continue slogging through this.” That’s it—that’s a wrap. He’s allowed to change his mind, of course, but for the foreseeable future, at least, Markiplier has gone on record that he’s swearing off Poppy Playtime 6. He’s no longer interested. For someone with such a well-documented affinity for all things horror, that’s a rough rebuttal.
One thing I’ve noticed, however, is that the general playerbase might not agree. On Steam, Poppy Playtime 5 is standing pretty with a “Very Positive” rating across all nearly 2,000 English reviews. “So far second best chapter, behind chapter 3 obviously, one reviewer says. Others go beyond that. “Wow… literally just wow. This felt like another chapter 3 but it was even better.” I’m not the biggest Poppy guru, but I get the impression surpassing 3’s reception in anybody’s eyes is a big deal.
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