Five Nights At Freddy’s 4 Review
Played on Xbox One (base)
Developed by Scott Cawthon, Scottgames, Clickteam
Released 23rd July 2015
Originally teased and announced as the 'The Final Chapter' of the FNAF series, Five Nights At Freddy's 4 was released to mixed reviews with polarising views on the gameplay. And to fill out this intro section a little bit more, here's a fun fact: it's the only game in the series to not feature any spoken dialogue.
Story
The story of this game is where the series' lore begins to get chaotic. The premise on the outside layer is that you play as a child in your room awoken at midnight, trying to survive the nightmares manifesting in your head until 6 am. The scratching surface of this narrative itself is still riddled with questions and possible theories. The game was considered the origin story of the FNAF franchise, with explanations for Golden Freddy, the Marionette and more. However, these explanations themselves were problematic as new ideas debunked each other before amassing a pile of theories. This game might be the messiest and most unfavourable in the franchise. While it dishes out clues left, right and centre, it doesn't answer any questions to the fullest and instead heaps even more confusion on top of the franchise. In the previous games, you'd find a working theory that leads to new questions that, when answered, would relay back and connect. This game, however, doesn't do that, especially among its 16-bit moments in between nights.
Gameplay
The gameplay is fantastic yet a heavily flawed experience with no solution in sight. The greatest thing about this game is that it's the scariest FNAF title to date. After the jumpscare vaccine that FNAF 2 and 3 administered, it seemed that the horror would start spiralling, however, this game proved me wrong. Nearly every jumpscare evoked a major reaction in me and I haven't had my heart beat so fast ever since I beat Night 5 in FNAF 1. The reason the horror is so excellent is due to the unsettling behaviour and design of the animatronics, and the subpar auditory mechanics. Whenever you approach each door, you'll need to momentarily listen for any "breathing" from the animatronics before you decide to turn on your flashlight and jumpscare yourself. The clever and risky gamble of increasing your headset volume to better hear the breathing at the cost of a more thunderous jumpscare is great but isn't riddled without its own faults.
At times, the game doesn't follow its own rules in playing the audio cues which felt incredibly unfair, falling into a well full of the franchise's previous mistakes. The game's mix of an RNG system with an adaptive playstyle feels incoherent with how the animatronics' behaviour feels too random to adapt to and the gameplay's core mechanics of checking each door individually are too slow and inefficient to keep up with, especially how each animatronic is designed to operate solo rather in synchronicity like in previous instalments.
The smaller nitpicks I have with the game are the difficulty, imagery and tutorial. Besides the failed cocktail mix it tries to do, the game is demanding for some as it is an extreme listening simulator. For people who either have loud households or substandard audio quality, this game will be no fun in mere minutes. The cameras and their imagery are gone which was the number one thing I loved about FNAF. The closest thing you have that can compare to the stalker-like Springtrap of FNAF 3 or the prey-playing Bonnie of FNAF 1 are the few frames of jumpscares from the most horrifyingly designed animatronics in the franchise, which are incomparable. The previous instalments of this animatronic horror show include a notorious character- The Phone Guy. And what do we have to replace this graceful tutorial guide? A big blob of text on Night 1 - disappointing. The game also features a redemption mini-game of attempting to catch Plushie Springtrap mid-movement onto the X, succeeding at this will result in the ability to skip 2 hours on the next night's attempt - I'm not sure how I should feel about this addition.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere is terrifying but could be better. The ambience and soundtrack are chilling. Though not actively frightening, it sends a feeling of dread throughout, which is what FNAF, in general, does right. While the imagery is not as haunting or silencing as the other games, the fear of well-designed, horror-filled, 8ft animatronics circling a child in their room is creative and consciously appealing.
Story- 5/10
Gameplay- 4/10
Atmosphere- 8/10
Subpar
With such potential to be the most terrifying instalment in the series, its auditory ambition undermines that future and acts as the fall from grace for FNAF.
