If I described Five Nights at Freddy’s to you, you’d think that it was a horror movie version of Night at the Museum. You work at a night shift security guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza; it’s like a Chuck-e Cheese. Freddy Fazbear and his friends are animatronic robots… and they come alive at night. They think you’re an animatronic that has escaped from your suit, so naturally they want to find you, catch you, and shove pieces of your body back inside the animatronic suit.
Like I said, horror version of Night at the Museum.
So how do you survive the night? You sit in a small office that looks like it probably has a mold problem. You have a limited amount of energy to last you through the night (the night ends at 6 a.m.), and you use that energy to view cameras, shut the doors to your left or right, or turn the hallway lights on to your left or right. As there are two entrances to your office and there’s not enough energy to keep the doors shut all night, you’ll click around the multiple security camera feeds, keeping an eye on where the creepy characters are. When you finally see their sadistic faces outside of your office, you shut the door.
I didn’t think the game would be scary at all from the look of it. But Five Nights at Freddy’s had me jump out of my chair and scream multiple times. When they get to you — and they will — it’s a terrifying experience. Especially if you hate big costumed animals. Like a creepy chicken/duck/whateveritis that has teeth and a bib that says “Let’s eat!!!” Only the taste of human flesh will satiate his hunger. Sometimes a camera will go out. Then you know they’re on the move. And they can move fast! Sometimes all you hear are creepy noises coming from an audio feed. Other times you click on a camera and you just see their evil eyes peering at you through the darkness. And then there’s times you turn on the hallway light and they’re right there.
The resource management adds a good amount of stress to your situation, as well. You'll need good timing and awareness of all of the animatronics' locations if you're to survive even past the first night. How long should you keep that door shut when you know Freddy is close, you have 15% energy left and two hours to go?
The premise is so simple, but as far as jump scares go, Five Nights at Freddy’s excels despite the fact that you just point and click your way around the screen. Each night gets more difficult, and the creepiness never lets up, even though the premise is quite ridiculous. For five dollars, it’s a fun play that you can get a couple of hours of entertainment — and plenty of scares — out of.
