Five Nights at Freddy's 4

Five Nights at Freddy's 4
Steam storefront header
Developer(s)	Scott Cawthon
Publisher(s)	Scott Cawthon
Series	Five Nights at Freddy's
Engine	Clickteam Fusion 2.5
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Android, iOS
Release date(s)	Microsoft Windows‹See Tfd› WW: July 23, 2015 (2015-07-23) Android‹See Tfd› WW: July 25, 2015 (2015-07-25) iOS‹See Tfd› WW: August 3, 2015 (2015-08-03)
Genre(s)	Survival horror
Mode(s)	Single-player

Five Nights at Freddy's 4 is an indie point-and-click survival horror video game created by Scott Cawthon, and the fourth entry in the Five Nights at Freddy's series. Originally planned for release on October 31, 2015, the game was pushed forward to August 8, then again to July 23, when it was unexpectedly released on Steam.^[1] It was released for Android devices on July 25, 2015, and for iOS devices on August 3, 2015. It received generally mixed reviews from critics.

Gameplay

Unlike previous Five Nights at Freddy's games, the game is not set in a security office, but in a child's bedroom. There are no cameras, and instead of "Phone Guy", the player is given on-screen instructions to help the player during the game.^[2] The player is equipped with a flashlight, similar to the second game, although the light has unlimited power.^[3] It can be used to ward away any animatronics seen down the hall; however, if the player hears an animatronic's breathing at the door or they see Nightmare Fredbear or Nightmare upon turning on the flashlight, they must immediately close the door, however, the door will open as the player walks away. The player must also monitor the closet to avoid getting attacked by Nightmare Foxy by closing it if necessary, as well as shooing the three miniature versions of Nightmare Freddy on the bed before they manage to assemble and attack the player. If the player is not careful in shining the light towards the hallways or leaves the doors, closet, and bed unattended for too long, the player will be jumpscared, leading to a game over.

After beating each night, the player can play a timed minigame titled "Fun with Plushtrap", where they must try to get a small plush toy version of Springtrap, the only true animatronic in Five Nights at Freddy's 3, onto an "X" marked on the ground within a specific amount of time. If the player wins, the player will start the next night at 2 AM. Like the nightmare animatronics, this timed minigame becomes more difficult as the game progresses. It is impossible to use the time bonus in the unlockable modes. Additionally, if the player gets a game over, the bonus is no longer valid for further plays of the same level.

Like previous games, the game's main storyline takes place over five increasingly-difficult nights with unlockable extra levels. The first four nights will put the player against four animatronics: Nightmare Freddy, Nightmare Bonnie, Nightmare Chica, and Nightmare Foxy, with Nightmare Fredbear, who combines the scare tactics of the previous four, solely taking over on the fifth night. Completing all five nights will unlock an additional sixth night that serves as the epilogue, in which the four animatronics will haunt the player until Nightmare Fredbear takes over when the clock hits 4 AM. Completing the sixth night will unlock the "Nightmare" night, which is essentially the same, except that the animatronics are very persistent and Nightmare Fredbear is replaced by his highly aggressive version, Nightmare, who has a unique game over screen compared to other animatronics. A secret cheat code will unlock an eighth night based on the Custom Night modes from the first two games, which sets the A.I. of the animatronics to maximum difficulty. Other unlockables include galleries of the various animatronics and jumpscares, as well as behind-the-scenes looks at the 3D-modelling process for Fredbear and Foxy.^[4]

As in some of the previous entries of the series, the story of the game is revealed in interactive Atari-esque minigame sections between nights. Each of the minigames are set in a time frame corresponding to the five nights, beginning with "5 days until the party", up to "0 days until the party".

Plot

The game starts with the protagonist, a young boy, locked in his bedroom with plush versions of the animatronics from Fredbear's Family Diner being guided by a plushie Fredbear (the original Freddy Fazbear).^[5] Each night, he suffers from nightmares that he is being attacked by the animatronics, and must protect himself. After the player survives the first night, Fredbear tells the boy that "He" is hiding in the house before the boy is jumped by someone wearing a Foxy mask, which appears to have been ripped off one of the boy's plushies.^[6] After the second night, the boy is abandoned at the pizzeria, only to be warned by Fredbear's voice that "He" is coming and that he needs to be brave; however, the boy is sensitive and afraid of the animatronics and costumed mascots, and he ends up crying. An easter egg during this scene briefly shows the "Purple Guy" from the second and third games placing someone in the Spring Bonnie suit.^[7]

After the third night, the minigame reveals that other children tease the boy, calling him a coward and crybaby,^[8] and that there are rumors of the animatronics coming to life at night and attempting to murder people.^[9] The boy, in turn, sees his plush toys as his only friends and generally eschews interaction with other people in favor of them. After the fourth night, it is revealed that he was once locked in the building's parts and services room as a prank.^[10] If the fifth night is completed, the boy is shown crying at his own birthday party in the pizzeria. "He" is revealed to be the boy's brother, alongside other bullies wearing the masks of the animatronics from the first game to terrorize the boy.^[11] The group, deciding to prank the boy, grab him and try to get him close to the mouth of Fredbear for a "kiss"^[12] and end up stuffing the boy's head into the mouth of Fredbear.^[13] Suddenly, Fredbear, who was in the middle of singing, forcefully closes his mouth, resulting in the boy's head being crushed while the brother and his friends stand staring in abject horror.

After the sixth night, the boy hears a voice apologizing to him,^[14] as Fredbear promises him that no matter how many times he "breaks", he and the others will always be there to "put him back together" and will always be his friends.^[15] The characters then fade out one by one by each sentence, and the faint sound of a heart monitor flatlining can be heard, ending the game.

If the player completes Nightmare mode, an image of a locked metal trunk is displayed; if the player wiggles the padlocks, the game eventually states "Perhaps some things are best left forgotten, for now."^[16] Cawthon has remained cryptic about what is inside the trunk.

Development and release

Beginning April 27, 2015, Cawthon posted images on his website teasing at another game in the series, originally known as Five Nights at Freddy's: The Final Chapter. The images, featuring the characters from the series, cryptically teased at a release on Halloween.^[17] A trailer was released on July 13, 2015, hinting that the game took place in the main character's house. The subtitle, The Final Chapter, was dropped.^[18][19]

A demo for the game was released to select YouTubers on July 21, 2015, with the full game being released on July 23, 2015.^[1] The game was released for Android devices on July 25, 2015,^[20] and for iOS devices on August 3, 2015.^[21] On October 31, 2015, two updates for the game were released. One consists of a set of cheat options, challenge modes, and an altered version of the "Fun with Plushtrap" minigame that uses a nightmare version of the character Balloon Boy (from Five Nights at Freddy's 2) in place of Plushtrap. The second is a "Halloween Edition" that makes cosmetic changes to Nightmare Bonnie and Nightmare Chica, and introduces nightmare versions of the second game's characters Mangle and The Puppet, the former replacing Nightmare Foxy and the latter replacing Nightmare. Nightmare Cupcake is also replaced with a jack-o-lantern.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 53.33% (PC)[22] 70% (iOS)[21] Metacritic 51/100 (PC)[23] Review scores Publication Score Destructoid 4/10[3] The Escapist [24] Gamezebo [25] PC Gamer 70/100[26]

The PC version of the game received an aggregate score of 53.33% on GameRankings based on 3 reviews and a score of 51 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 6 reviews.^[22][23] The iOS version of the game received an aggregate score of 70% based on 3 reviews.^[21]

Destructoid criticized the gameplay as being too confusing, and gave the game a review score of 4 out of 10.^[3] The Escapist gave the game a positive review score of 4 out of 5 stars saying that they liked the reworked mechanics, darker and emotional storyline, scary jumpscares and sad ending but noted the game's bugs and glitches.^[24] Nadia Oxford of Gamezebo gave it 4 out of 5 stars in her review praising it for its intense environment, creepy sounds and graphics and its jumpscares. She criticised the game for being difficult to survive in certain environments when relying on audio cues and the Android version not containing the story-centric minigames.^[25]

References

External links

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• Official website