Poppy Playtime Chapter 5 Guide: Where to Find Every VHS Tape
Finding the hidden lore in the latest chapter of this plastic nightmare requires equal parts puzzle solving and sheer stubborn survival.
Stopping to watch an instructional video while a giant blue monster actively hunts you through the dark is a terrible survival strategy. I spent an absurd amount of time wandering the bloodstained halls of the Laboratories in Chapter 5 just to piece together the miserable history of this facility. The lore is absolutely worth the risk of getting caught, provided you actually know where to look.
There are only three VHS tapes hidden in this entire chapter. That might sound like an incredibly easy scavenger hunt, but the developers placed them in some truly obnoxious spots. You also have to deal with the brutal auto save system. The game loves to lock heavy steel doors behind you the second you cross an invisible checkpoint. If you wander too far and miss a tape, it is gone forever. You will be forced to reload a previous save file and replay an entire stressful stealth section just to get it back. To save you the intense frustration of backtracking through absolute hell, I mapped out the exact locations and puzzle solutions for every single tape.
The Survival Gear You Actually Need
You cannot just stroll through the facility and pick these tapes off the floor like loose change. The game actively gates these collectibles behind specific mechanics and upgrades you acquire throughout the chapter. You need to know exactly how your equipment functions before you go hunting in the dark.
The Tape Locations and Puzzles
Finding the tapes is only half the battle. You also have to locate the corresponding colored VCR to actually watch the footage, and the game rarely puts them in the same room.
Tape 1: Experiment 1170
The first tape is heavily tied to Huggy Wuggy and his miserable time locked inside the facility. You will find this cyan colored cassette deep in the Testing area, specifically tucked away inside the Conditioning wing. Getting your hands on this tape requires you to solve a deeply creepy emotion keypad puzzle. You will eventually stumble across a locked door guarded by a digital panel that displays cartoon faces representing different human emotions like Happy, Disgust, Sad, and Fear.
The solution to this lock is actually revealed during the third memory sequence involving Huggy Wuggy. If you missed the clue while running for your life, the correct input order is Happy, Happy, Disgust, Sad, Fear, and then Happy again. I do not know what kind of deranged architect designs a security system around clinical depression, but here we are. Please note that the game occasionally randomizes this sequence for some players. If that exact combination fails, you need to pay closer attention to the audio cues in the memory sequence to find your specific code.
Once you input the correct emotions, the heavy security door unlocks. Walk into the destroyed hallway and look down. The cyan tape is just lying on the floor waiting for you. Pick it up and carry it to the end of the corridor. You will find a ruined room on your left holding a bright cyan VCR. Shoving the tape in reveals some incredibly grim details about Experiment 1170.
Tape 2: Three P's of Diorama Safety
The second tape sounds like a boring corporate training video, but the context of where you find it makes it completely horrific. You hunt this yellow cassette down while exploring the Sweet Street section of the map. After you survive the initial stealth standoff with Huggy Wuggy, you will find yourself standing near an abandoned ice cream truck ride. Look for a gated section containing a brightly colored playground. Do not just blindly follow the main path forward. Take a deliberate detour into the playground area on your left.
Head to the back of the play structure and look for a climbing ramp situated opposite a large yellow slide. Walk up the ramp and you will spot the yellow VHS tape resting near the top edge.
Finding the VCR for this tape requires a bit more platforming. Continue climbing upward through the playground structure. You need to jump across a gap to land on a wooden platform built into a massive fake tree. Inside this Toy Treehouse, you will find a yellow television set perfectly matching your tape. Pop it in and enjoy learning about Playtime Co safety protocols that were definitely never followed by anyone ever.
Tape 3: How to Maintain Your Human
The final tape in Chapter 5 is arguably the most disturbing piece of media in the entire game. The developers hid this red cassette inside the Reanimation sector, and they absolutely make you work for it. As you navigate toward the Grand Stitchery area, you will pass a series of highly questionable medical observation rooms. Keep your eyes peeled for a room explicitly labeled Surgery 2. The door is locked tight, but you can bypass the security using brute force. Equip your Pressure Hand and smash the cracked glass windows along the perimeter of the room. Nothing says professional investigator quite like wanton vandalism.
You still cannot get inside without power. Swap over to your Conductive Hand, steal a charge from the nearby power source, and route it back to the conductor sitting inside Surgery 2. This completely overrides the lock and grants you access to the medical suite.
Once inside, you will notice a locked metal cabinet holding the red tape. This is where your light module becomes mandatory. Switch on your UV Blacklight and scan the floor and walls near the scattered lab equipment. You are looking for a three digit code written in glowing ink. During my run, the combination was 728. Punch that code into the cabinet and grab the tape. The label is partially scratched off, reading "How to Maintain Your Illegible".
Carry your hard earned prize out of Surgery 2, walk across the hallway, and step into Surgery Suite 1. The red VCR is waiting for you in the back of the room. When you push the tape into the slot, the full title renders on the screen as "How to Maintain Your Human". It is a deeply unsettling watch that perfectly sets the tone for your final descent into the depths of the facility.
