ORIENTATION NOTEBOOK

A worldbuilding inside view of the video game Poppy Playtime.

This volume offers backstory, enriching the context of play established in the game world by presenting a behind-the-scenes employee experience complete with articles, research notes, and scribbled messages, which add a sense of discovery. The immersive risks and secrets that readers find are subtle, offering little beyond surface scares, but the visual impressions will engage and delight fans of the universe. With a message from the founder of Playtime Co., a short company history, corporate staff overview, employee guidelines, safety reminders and warnings, product overviews, production line notes, a public tour guide, and more, the notebook hints at the experiments, dangers, and lingering mysteries players encounter in the game. The lively visual format conveys details, with site locations described in ways that will be familiar for gamers eager to entrench themselves more fully in the world. The strong found-footage vibes are enhanced by the bloodstains and embedded notes from past employees, and readers will likely overlook the slightly repetitive elements questioning the company’s motives. The book closes with an employee calendar (with notes such as, “Surgery. Remember to bring change of clothes after what happened last time”) and an employee quiz. The short segments, quick pace, and visual format will appeal to reluctant readers.

Fun for fans ready for a heightened in-world reading experience.