Thank you Skunx Games for the curator copy.
This is nonetheless an impartial review.

Before anything else, I should mention that I'm absolutely not a horror game player. I get scared by my own shadow, so entering a mascot horror game was already a bold life choice. A lot of people compare this to Poppy Playtime, but since I've only absorbed that series through lore videos and never actually played it, I'm coming into this completely fresh.

You arrive at Upward, a facility that supposedly helped troubled and broken children. “Guided” by Binky, an oversized baby mascot, and Chasey, the overprotective guard dog, you'll slowly uncover what happened in a place where every child smiles and every hallway seems to be watching. And for a while, I was hooked: the environments are excellent, the lore is intriguing, and the puzzles are clear enough to keep the pace moving without becoming frustrating. The facility itself has personality, the different areas feel distinct, and yes, most importantly, you can pet the dog. Instant bonus points on my end.

Unfortunately, that's where the good news end. The game is progression-breaking buggy, not once, but twice. The first issue happened in the library, where a required item simply vanished. After wandering around in circles for 20 minutes questioning my intelligence, I discovered a month-old bug report in the discussions that described the exact problem. Restarting the entire section fixed it. The second bug was much worse. In the dorm sequence, after falling asleep with Binky and peeking, my character became permanently trapped in bed. I could do nothing except fire paint at myself while contemplating my life choices. Multiple restarts, same result every time. Since this completely prevented further progress, my playthrough ended there.

There are also a couple of smaller issues worth mentioning. Early on, one of the entrance challenges is about popping air balloons, but the instructions aren't particularly clear. I misunderstood and started popping the floating red balloons instead, even unlocking a Steam achievement for doing so. Naturally, I assumed I had completed the objective. I then spent far too long searching for what I had missed before realizing the game wanted a completely different type of balloon. A clearer explanation or a less misleading achievement would help quite a bit.

And then there's the Binky scene. If you've played the game, you know the one. Watching a giant baby mascot intensely sucking on its pacifier head was somehow more disturbing than anything else in the entire experience. It's not scary, nor unsettling... just deeply uncomfortable. It stood out for all the wrong reasons.

That's what makes this one frustrating. Underneath the technical issues is a game with potential. The environments are polished, the lore is compelling, the puzzles are enjoyable, and the atmosphere works. But when recurring bugs can halt progression entirely, it's impossible for me to recommend it in its current state. I'd absolutely keep an eye on future updates because there is something interesting here. Right now, though, the technical problems are too significant to ignore.

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Hey, it's me, it's Omelet man
He bakes cookies like nobody can! ✨✨✨✨

OMG. this is so good!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE MUSIC IS CATCHY.

Not a bad mascot horror game though I am not too sure why binky was letting his head get the succ from the mouth on his belly. omelet man song was confusin the heck out of me tho and I had to cheat to get it right. mascot cast is good so far but binky dude gets killed in the end and its just the doggo. idk how this was a children's asylum though since it feels like a theme park. $6.70 price tag for the meme is funny if u want a 1 hr game lol and cameo of coryxkenshin is cool

idk guys I liked this one unlike banban tbh

https://youtu.be/gvEI83May8U

this game sucks.

first off, this gameplay is miserable.
the puzzles in this game all have the most ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ solutions you could think of.
ESPECIALLY that one with chompy's teeth, ♥♥♥♥ that one in particular.
there's no indication on where you're meant to go so you just have to wander around aimlessly, running circles around the same few spots in an attempt to find anything that could possibly be important.

second, the characters. specifically the two monsters.
chompy chasey and binky drinky are so disgusting, but not in the way they were probably meant to be.
they're just ugly and upsetting to look at.

the omelette man song pisses me off.
it's so repetitive and annoying, and you have to listen to it on loop for the ENTIRETY of the chef puzzle.
it has one whole melody that doesn't change throughout the entire song, and it has very uninteresting and boring lyrics.

there's so much more that i could be saying about this game, but i'm genuinely so mentally exhausted from playing through it that i won't.

i have nothing but respect for horror skunx and the people who worked on this game, but that doesn't change the fact that said game is terrible.

unless you hate yourself and want to feel miserable, do not play this game.

This game is so horrendous, it offended me so deeply. It was so unbelievably gross. And creepy and weirdly sexual. I don't want it in my library. Please can this be removed from existence and the Steam store, thank you... It's so bad. So awful. The music will haunt me in my dreams, it's so repetitive and awful. It started alright and quickly descended into absurd nonsense that wasn't even funny OR scary. And I am actually burnt out.

Me and a friend are trying to find ways to scrub our eyes and bleach our brains. Please do NOT make a Floor 2 EVER. And no spin-offs or sequels, I think I'd rather have another Steel Wool FNAF game and those are atrocious too.

good game i played it on my youtube channel called Dhven1008cutepuppies, it is good.

This game CHANGED my life. Chompy Chasey became my favorite character. I CRIED at the ending. Best game of 2026. I love Dark Pals: The 1st Floor.

it was amazing and i think i miss the secrets there

this is the most crazyest game i played