Five Nights at Freddy's

Perhaps one of the most famous and infamous of viral sensations to emerge over the past few years is Scott Cawthon's wildly popular media franchise "Five Nights at Freddy's"- a horror series that started rather humbly with the release of this original game only two short years ago.

An independent point-and-click game, the narrative follows a night- watch security guard recently hired at the popular children's restaurant chain " Freddy Fazbear's Pizza." The gimmick of the restaurant being it's highly advanced cast of adorable animatronic animals who have the ability to roam freely, including the titular "Freddy." However, as there is fear that the animatronic's servos would lock up should they stop moving for prolonged periods of time, they are allowed to walk freely throughout the restaurant during the night... And it quickly becomes apparent that should one of these characters discover you during the night, you're in for a nasty surprise! And so, you must use a simplified control scheme to keep watch of the characters on CCTV monitors and try to keep them from discovering you by locking doors around you.

The graphics and controls are extremely simplistic, but that's a big part of the charm of the gameplay. You can't really run away- you're stuck and only have a limited supply of energy to close and lock the doors. It's an elegant and simple mechanic that inherently and quickly generates thrills and chills... being stuck in one place creates an automatic sense of claustrophobia and paranoia that works wonders for the atmosphere. Cawthon's design work is also top-notch, as not only do the animatronic's look true-to-life in comparison to those that exist in the real world (including the obvious reference to a certain mouse-based pizza place/arcade), but they're also quite startling and can quickly turn devious at the drop of a dime. The design-work for the building itself is very nice as well, with the usual "happy" look of a restaurant looking very spooky in the dark.

This is also a game (and a series as a whole) that rewards in-depth plot rumination and analysis. While you can play it simply based on its high-concept (and admittedly somewhat shallow) premise alone, there's a lot of very subtle imagery, suggestions of treachery and even some phenomenal sub-text that is evident throughout that hints of a greater storyline taking place. You can start to piece together the history of the going's on and theorize as to what exactly is causing all of the horror, and it adds a lot to the experience. Especially when played in context of the overall franchise, as each of the games slowly add more and more to the story as a whole.

Were I to lodge any complaints against it, it would be that the gameplay can become a bit monotonous over time (especially towards the end), it can be hard to get a handle on things and sometimes the subtle hints of backstory are... well... way too subtle. But that cannot detract from an otherwise pretty darned fun and entertaining new horror-phenomena. For only a few dollars on your phone's app- store or online, you could definitely do a lot worse. And it's definitely well-worth checking out for horror fans.

I give the original "Five Nights at Freddy's" a strong 8 out of 10.

There's not really mutch to talk about here, because it's a pretty small game. So this is a short review.

Scott Cawthon (Creator) managed to do something special here, the animatronics are creepy aswell as being child friendly animals that you can hug. He took something that all players felt an amount of safety and entertainment around and made that change. The gameplay is unique making you come up with a way to survive yourself, which gives a very creepy atmosphere. It's insane to think about how these games have evolved, and for the most part in a good way. If I have to give one negative it's that the cameras aren't really that necessary since you only have to check Foxy and Freddy, but they're still better implemented than they are in FNaF 2.

Get into the lore. It had so much potential and it used it. Truly one of the best horror games

This one is probably still the best game good animatronic designs. Not to over exaugurated pretty eerie not too scary tho.

Scott Cawthon's first hit game and an icon in the Horror Games genre, Five Nights at Freddy's is a point-and-click with an easy-to-learn concept that had a very strong impact on the gaming community and remained relevant for a long time on YouTube, where reputable YouTubers such as Markiplier and Jacksepticeye made videos that lead the game to become popular in a relatively short time among teenagers. The game's success was due to its simplicity and shallow story (which turned into a complex timeline in the following games), making it a good introduction to horror games. An important fact to note is that Five Nights at Freddy's was the driving force behind other game franchises, such as Hello Neighbour and Bendy and the Ink Machine.

The story behind this game is simple: the protagonist is hired to work as a Night Guard for five nights (from Midnight to 6am) in a pizzeria similar to the American fast-food chain Chuck E. Cheese. Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria presents itself as a decaying pizzeria for children's parties where shows are put on by a group of four animatronic robots (Freddy Bear, Chica the Chicken, Bonnie the Rabbit and Foxy the Fox). The protagonist's job (which is controlled by the player) is to make sure that nothing happens to the place during the night, keeping an eye on every room in the pizzeria via a video surveillance system. This is when the "horror" element of the game comes into play: the robots come to life at night and are hostile towards the player, who can only close the office doors to protect himself from the robots' attacks (the "jumpscares"). The use of the office doors, the video surveillance cameras and the torch is limited to a percentage of the battery which, when runs out, leaves the player totally vulnerable. Each robot has a behavioural pattern that becomes more complex as the nights progress, leading the player to have a reaction time of mere seconds in order to not lose the game. The game's narrative is implied by small pieces of paper and objects scattered around the setting, as well as by easter eggs that may appear during each night and through the phone calls of "Phone Guy", the protagonist's supposed instructor who calls at the beginning of each night to explain what we should do (and who ends up revealing some of the events of this reality). Basically, the strategy of Five Nights at Freddy's is simple, with the player simply having to memorise the behaviour patterns of each robot and prevent imminent attacks through the sounds made and the use of office doors and video surveillance cameras, requiring strategy and attention throughout the game.

Despite its simplicity, Five Nights at Freddy's has generated a huge community of fans and had such an influence on POP culture that it has spawned more than 13 games, 28 books and the film that premiered on 1 November 2023. Despite being considered a game with old-fashioned graphics and gameplay, it offers the player a healthy challenge that is neither easy nor difficult. Once the player has completed the "Story Mode" (which consists of the five nights), they can still do the 6th Night (a more difficult night) and, finally, they can choose the difficulty of each robot (from 0 to 20) in the "Custom Night Mode" (where the 4/20 difficulty challenge represents the most difficult way to play the game). All that remains for me to say is that Five Nights at Freddy's is a simple game with a mild level of terror (basically zero for true fans of horror classics) and a good way to introduce the theme of horror games to new players. Although it doesn't offer much in the way of long-term entertainment (it can become repetitive or boring), it can provide a few hours of fun and a lot of satisfaction for the player when they complete each of the five nights. With that, I close this review by giving the game a rating of 7/10.