Five Nights at Freddy’s Review
Played on Xbox One (base)
Developed by Scott Cawthon, Clickteam & Scottgames
Released 23rd July 2014
Before FNAF, Scott Cawthon was bombarded by negative reviews of his previous projects such as the 'Chipper & Sons Lumber Co'. Despite being discouraged at first, Cawthon utilised the criticism against his child-friendly characters looking "terrifying" and distanced himself far from the typical Christian style he was developing with. After 6 months of using the Clickteam Fusion 2.5 game engine, a cult classic was born.
Story
This game excels in the horror genre due to 2 things: 1) the tense atmosphere and 2) the deep lore and horrifying worldbuilding. The scratching surface of the story is light enough on the exposition to validate the player's position and motive. The quick synopsis you'll need is that you're hired as a nighttime guard for Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, a pizza chain that was heavily inspired by Chuck E Cheese. You spend your time between 12 am and 6 am periodically checking cameras as the murderous animatronics wander the halls trying to stuff you in a suit, killing you in the progress. This could be considered as the main story of the game but from the theories and little side stories revealed when you dig deeper, you realise the nighttime guard ploy is more of an excuse for you to analyse the game's contents followed by its sequels. Given this, the game manages to stir an immense amount of mystery and suspense into an already horror-filled formula. Tackled with some great environmental storytelling when rapidly checking the cameras, and audio cues that help prove and debunk theories, this is a great start to an already great series.
Gameplay
The gameplay is definitely not the highlight, however, it was considered to be quite revolutionary; not due to the way it was done, but rather why it was done this way. Instead of being hunted by a monster and having many means of escape, such as in games like Outlast or Amnesia, FNAF instead flips it on its head and forces you to be vulnerable to these horrors. With running away or fighting back not being a choice, you're stuck with temporarily closing yourself off from these antagonists, forming the peak of this gameplay as you juggle security and surveillance. When playing this game naturally, it can lead to some fun and genuinely unnerving moments: unsettling audio cues, flashing visions of Golden Freddy and watching the animatronics rabidly twitch as they look into the camera knowing you're there watching them.
However, if you want to beat this game, there are strategies that a still-active community can give you which will guarantee victory on the harder nights including nights 6 and 7 but doing these can lead to repetitive and unappealing gameplay that will stress you out regardless of your experience. Not employing these tactics does lead to a similar repetition, as you die over and over again which backs you up to one of two choices: a monotonous gameplay cycle, or a monotonous death cycle. As you play, you'll realise that all of your actions are based on your power remaining and power usage. The more you check the cameras and flashlights, the more the power will be drained until you reach 0, and unless you luck out with it turning to 6 am, you'll most likely be attacked by Freddy after he does his taunting yet horrifying peek into your office. I personally believe that this power system is the best way to make the player think strategically while still making sure they are pissing themselves, but the predictable behaviour of the animatronics contradicts this quality.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere within Five Nights at Freddy's is the horror equivalent of being buried alive; heart rate racing, sweaty palms, excessive breathing and a stomach-twisting feel that fills you with dread. For a horror game, this is amazing and fantastic and huge congratulations to Scott Cawthon. For your blood pressure, not so much. As mentioned before, the audio of this game is top-notch, from the banging against the metal door that's protecting you, to the clatter of dishes in what's meant to be an empty room that you can't see into. As the children's giggles echoed down the poorly managed and lifeless, creepy hallways, I think the shaking of my hands increased by like 70%. The design of the game is great with most things only being illuminated by the silhouette while the poor connection of the camera's feed brings the child-friendly robots an eerie feel of the unnatural; like being alone in a school or being after dark in familiar streets.
Story- 7.5/10
Gameplay- 6/10
Atmosphere- 8.5/10
Good
The original Five Nights at Freddy's is excellent on a first playthrough - eerie audio, an enigmatic story and frightening visuals. On a replay or after plenty of theory videos, you notice in your hindsight that the gameplay is quite weak and most of the game’s cards are revealed within the first 3 nights.
