Five Nights at Freddy’s is a game series in the survival horror genre that became internationally famous.
It’s about a family-owned pizza restaurant named Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. Since its inception, it’s expanded to include novels, music, spin-offs, and merchandise including stuffed toys, shirts, and more, all connected to the video game world.
There is just something naturally frightening about being followed around by children’s animatronic toys.
It’s almost as bad as clowns. Other than the Silent Hill series, FnaF is arguably one of the most influential game series in the survivor horror genre.
Let’s now describe briefly each FNaF game in order of release:
Five Nights at Freddy’s (2014)
The first FnaF game is an indie survivor horror game since it wasn’t priced by a major publisher.
You play a nighttime security guard that has to try and stay alive once the animatronic characters from this restaurant come to life and try to kill you.
The game originally came out for PC, and later on, it came out for Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and eventually even more platforms like Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PS4.
The purpose of the game is to avoid being attacked by one of the animatronics by using lights, cameras, and automatic doors to keep the monsters away since they only move when you can’t see them.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 (2014)
The second game in the series came out once more for Windows, iOS, Android, PS4 Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
This game was released just a month after the first one. Critics positively reviewed it, but it was known as a difficult game, especially compared to the first one.
Just like the first game, this one is in the survivor horror genre, along with the classic point-and-click options. You play a security guard again.
You have to avoid being ambushed by the animatronic monsters by keeping lights or cameras on them. Just like in the first game, you can’t leave the office.
The difference with the first game is that you can’t seal the air vents or main door by which monsters can enter.
There are new tactics in this game, like wearing a fake animatronic mask to fool some monsters, or using a music box or a flashlight to stop others. In order to win, you have to survive for five nights, from midnight to 6 am each time.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 (2015)
Just like the other games, this one came out for Windows, iOS, and Android initially. The reviews were mixed, and some people felt it wasn’t as scary or as charming as the other ones. It uses the same approach as the first 2 being a survival horror game with point and click elements.
Once again, gameplay consists of trying to survive their midnight to 6 am shifts for five days.
Each six-hour shift only lasts for a few minutes in real-time. A big difference from the last game is that only one of the animatronics can scare the player and end the game.
The other monsters can instead cause the player problems which make it harder for them to survive.
The only monster that can end the game is called Springtrap. You have to lure the animatronic away from you and keep track of him using cameras, though the air ventilation stays open.
You can shut other doors remotely, but you have to worry about systems malfunctioning.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 (2015)
Once again, this game keeps the same elements of survivor horror and point and click.
Just like many of the other games, this one was released less than a year after the previous one.
This game has no spoken dialogue, making it the only one in the series where this is the case.
Instead of taking place in a security office, you’re actually in a child’s bedroom this time.
Your flashlight has an unlimited battery, but this is the only way to make the monsters leave. The animatronic monsters that go after you are similar to the ones from the first game, except they look more like monsters.
There are four areas you have to check with the flashlight, including two doors, a window, and a closet.
If you don’t constantly check these areas, it will result in a jumpscare, implying an attack, and the game ends. There’s a mystery to the game here about what’s going on, and you can figure it out by surviving and playing minigames.
Five Nights at Freddy’s Sister Location (2016)
This game takes place after the first game. The game has differences from the other survival horror games in the series.
For example, unlike the other games, you can leave rooms and go to other ones. Each room has something to figure out.
There are new animatronic characters, including one named Circus Baby. You still have to prevent from being attacked by animatronics, however.
Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator (2017)
This game is a bit different than the others in the series because it was released for free and has a business side.
It came out for PC and eventually other systems like mobile systems like Android and iOS. The game starts where you play the Freddy Fazbear character in an 8-bit world where you have to bring pizza to children.
The game then purposefully “glitches” out, and your character sees a broken Circus Baby animatronic.
You then start going into a business simulation where you have to buy decorations for a restaurant.
Eventually, the game adds back in the survival elements where you have to survive 5 days, including by using tasers on the monster machines, which can lower their value for the business simulation.
Ultimate Custom Night
This chapter in the FnaF series was also released for free for PC. It was ported to mobile devices later. Initially, it was going to be expansion material for the previous game.
The gameplay for this game adds strategy elements to the usual horror feel. You can choose from 50 different characters from the series.
You can put their difficulty levels anywhere from 0 to 50. Then, you have to survive nights in the usual way.
Elements that are different include the ability to collect items like death coins to stop whichever animatronic you want, or Faz-Coins to buy other power-ups.
Like the other games, you have to manage air duct systems and doors in order to keep the monsters from attacking you and ending the game.
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted (2019)
Help Wanted is actually a virtual reality game for the series, coming out for Windows, mobile games, and the usual console games.
It first was usable on the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift headsets. In this game, you have 40 different minigames you can play, which are all inspired by the previous game.
These games all make you lose through the jumpscare model. The plot of the games is very self-referential, imagining that the owning company of the restaurants is real and that they are trying to battle bad press by putting out a VR game that shows that the press is actually all fictional games.
There are tapes throughout the game that proves this to be false, however.
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Special Delivery (2019)
This game is actually an augmented reality game, where you look through your mobile device and experience the game world that way.
Animatronics are sent to your home inside the game world, and you have to try to survive them once they get there and come to life.
The way to survive the game is to use your flashlight and taser device. You can also find parts and construct your own animatronics to send to your friends’ fictional house.
Plot-wise, the game branches off from the plot in Help Wanted. The game adds brand new characters as well as characters from previous games.
You can play it for Android or iOS. It’s similar to Pokemon Go where the game uses your camera to see the real world around you and then adds game elements on top of real terrain seen through the camera, making it look like digital game content exists in real life.
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach (2021)
This game should be out sometime in late 2021. It’s going to be an adventure game, which is a break from the survival horror elements that are more common for the series.
The game will be set in Fazbear’s Megan Pizza Plex, which is a fictional 80’s style mall that’s three stories tall.
The character you control will be a female security guard. It will come out for PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, followed by a port to PC about three months later, though this probably won’t be exact.
The game will include new characters like Montgomery Gator. It will also include characters like Glamrock Chica and Roxanne Wolf.
Not everything about the game is known yet, and it probably won’t be known for sure until it’s released whenever it comes out sometime during the later part of the year.
Image Credits
By Scott Cawthon – http://store.steampowered.com/app/319510, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47654221
By Scott Cawthon – http://store.steampowered.com/app/332800/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47654226
By http://store.steampowered.com/app/354140/?snr=1_5_1100__1100, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45564933
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