On August 8, 2014, a then unknown indie game developer named Scott Cawthon released a game titled “Five Nights at Freddy’s.” The game had you playing as a security guard named Mike Schmidt who was hired to work the night shift and make sure the animatronics stayed safe. However, unknown to this unsuspecting guard, these animatronics are out for blood, and with limited power and resources, your goal is to stay alive until 6 am for five days. With over 20,000 downloads today, this game shot indie horror games into the spotlight on YouTube and created a new era for such games. However, even though this game was a massive success, a question must be asked: just how much of the same formula is too much?
After the amazing success of FNaF 1, the expectations were high for Cawthon to create a follow-up to this game. So, in just four months, Cawthon released “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” This time, instead of four animatronics, there are twelve animatronics to take care of. There are no doors- you have to use a flashlight and mask to make yourself “look” like one of the animatronics. Along with this, if you don’t keep a music box wound up, the Puppet will 100% come for you and end your game. Many people found that this game was much better than the last, and praise was poured onto Cawthon for not only making a better game, but establishing a story and using better game-play mechanics. Personally, I love the new mechanics; it freshens the gameplay and puts more control in the player’s hands in controlling the game instead of just depending on random number generators.
And then… four months later… the third game came out. Five Nights at Freddy’s 3. This time, the setting was in a haunted house based on the lore, and there is only one true animatronic in the entire game. Although there are “phantom” characters that will jumpscare you, they won’t end the game, and the jumpscares the animatronic gives are… really barely jumpscares at all. Many people agreed that this game was a large step down from the previous game, and many gave it a poor rating. And sadly, I have to agree with these people. Although the game answered a lot of lore questions- and brought up even more- I found the gameplay overall to be even more monotonous than the first game, and was overall very disappointing.
Once again, four months later- Cawthon seems to really like four month gaps- another game was released. Five Nights at Freddy’s 4. And honestly? This game is one of my favorites.
