Five Nights at Freddy’s, developed by Scott Cawthon, became one of the games of the year shortly after its August unveiling, with its unexpected jump scares and unnerving environment, leading to a sequel being released only a few months after the first game. Five Nights at Freddy’s was released on Aug. 8, and Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 was released on Nov. 11. This impressive success of the game is only second, however, to the story that inspired its creation.
One day at a Colorado Chuck-E-Cheese, there were five employees left after hours to help clean up and close for the night. Little did they know that there was another man in the building with them, an ex-employee who had been fired, hiding in the girls bathroom and wielding a pistol.
The five employees were spaced out, for the most part. One of those five was the manager, who was in her office. Another was in the kitchen, cleaning up the dishes. The last three were in the main party room scrubbing down the tables.
The man from the bathroom ventured out into the main room and shot the three employees. He then moved on to the kitchen and shot the employee there, blowing his jaw off. Finally, he proceeded to the manager’s office and ended it all.
Although it seemed inevitable, the employee who had been shot in the kitchen was not dead. His jaw was blown off, but he was only playing dead so the shooter wouldn’t return to finish the job. This man was used as a valuable asset in the trial against the former employee, and the shooter was found guilty. He was ultimately given the death sentence, although it has been delayed for a while.
Five Nights at Freddy’s has a similar story: a man put on an animatronic suit, a robotic suit intended to look and function like an animal or other creature, like the ones at Chuck-E-Cheese, and lured five kids into a back room after hours, proceeding to murder them and stuff their bodies into other animatronic suits. Customers complained that these suits began to smell foul and were soaked in blood, which led to the bodies’ discovery.
That is the story that the game originates from and incorporates into what players actually do in the game. It’s also how animatronics are involved in the game series, but it’s not as obvious which victim is which animatronic in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2.
The five obvious ones are the original, now mangled up, animatronics: Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, Freddy and Golden Freddy. There are an additional six new animatronics in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2: toy versions of Bonnie, Chica and Freddy, Mangle (the newer Foxy), the Puppet and Balloon Boy or BB.
The original Bonnie, Chica and Freddy are the three victims from the main room, as it sounds like they are holding on to their last breath. Foxy is the manager because managers can be pretty pushy and aggressive, and Foxy is by far the most aggressive animatronic. Golden Freddy is a victim, but is not dead.
Golden Freddy does not come at you on his own in the first game, as he is a secret you must find. In Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, on the sixth night, he appears in the hallway and in front of you and he will vanish, but he jumps at you soon after if you don’t defend yourself. In the original, you must find a poster in one of the cameras that has Golden Freddy on it and when you take down your camera he will be there, loose and limp. Who else went loose and limp? The man in the kitchen. Connections have been made.
There aren’t many theories on who the new animatronics are, but they are certainly creepy in a cute way. As in most horror, the cutest things are the scariest.
The toy versions of Chica, Bonnie and Freddy now look more polished and less scary, but are still scary in their cuter and cleaner form. It may not have been intended, but it sure has worked, especially when they stare at you from the vents.
The main character is a late-night security guard who works the weekdays from midnight to 6:00 a.m. each day at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria. He generally sits in his office watching the cameras to make sure nothing seems suspicious. The only problem is that the animatronics come alive at night so that their servos don’t shut down, and when they see you, they think you are a metal endoskeleton without your costume and they will try to stuff you into a Freddy Fazbear costume. They will find their way to your office and mess with everything and make your night miserable.
The new office in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 has no doors, but it does have a hallway that leads straight to the office, a flashlight to shine down said hallway, a Freddy Fazbear head to fool the animatronics, and two vent lights to watch for any animatronics trying to sneak in. Having no doors in the office requires more strategy from the player than just hunkering down until 6:00 a.m. comes around.
In this game, the lights are your most valuable tool against the oncoming animatronics. The more you flash your lights at them, the less they will move towards you. The man on the phone said it locks up their systems when bright lights are flashed at them.
The man on the phone at the beginning of each night gives vague hints as to what each animatronic does and what you should do to defeat them as they come, almost like a subtle tutorial throughout the game. He was the previous security guard before the main character, so he left messages for each day for the new security guard to hear and learn from.
Although you may learn and know everything about the game, nothing will help you in the onslaught of fierce animatronics. With the now three ways they can reach you, you are more susceptible to attacks, unless you can outsmart them fast enough with your Freddy Fazbear head.
The guard can now put on this mask to save himself from imminent death, whether it be to quickly fool the old animatronics, or just to send BB packing. The only one it will not fool is Foxy the Pirate.
Normally, this mask will send all of the animatronics away, but Foxy doesn’t get fooled that easily. When Foxy comes out, he stands in the hall leading to the guard’s office. In order to get rid of him, you must flash him with your flashlight and he will eventually go away. Lights won’t send all of them away, however.
Mangle, the “new” version of Foxy, comes out at night three or four times and makes static sounds. He inches closer and closer to your office and will eventually disappear. The location he disappeared to is your office ceiling. Sleep tight. There is a way to get rid of him, and the phone man says how in his phone call.
He mentions that looking at the animatronics gives them more reason to come after you. This implies that you shouldn’t look at them, and Mangle is the best example of this. You aren’t supposed to flash your light at him, even though it won’t hurt to. When you have the Freddy mask on, it’s hard to tell that you’re staring at them, so most of the animatronics will just leave, except the old animatronics.
The old animatronics appear in the hallway and when you put your camera down, they will stand in front of you. You have to put your mask on immedietly and turn to one side. If you don’t do it in time, the scare factor is there, for sure.
Jumpscares are the main feature in the Five Nights at Freddy’s series. If there’s a flaw in your strategy, be prepared for a scare. Make a stupid mistake, you’ll probably die. If you don’t do something to secure your survival, you don’t survive.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 has most of the elements that a horror game needs, and it works. It is simplistic in execution, but is stressful (in a good way) to play. It keeps you on your toes and makes you aware of your surroundings at all times. There is not much to complain about except for why the security guard even took the job in the first place, despite it’s history.
As someone who hates horror anything, I actually find this game to be suspenseful and very enjoyable. It unintentionally puts the player into a horror movie of sorts, and with it’s back story, it makes it seem so much more true. If this series continues, I would recommend all of the games, as I have never experienced anything bad about it.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is more of an indie security guard simulation game than a horror game, but the horror elements are definitely there. Many people that have bought the game love it, even if they can’t handle the pressure of being a guard in the night shift of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria.
