So I'm sure you've all heard of FNAF by now. If you haven't, you must seriously be living under a rock. It's a series of point and click games where you play as a security guard and try to keep yourself save from haunted killer animatronics. Sounds pretty odd, right? So let's talk about the first one, the one that started it all.

FNAF 1:

A random dude by the name of Scott Cawthon has made many games in his past, Like Rage Quit!,Sit N' Survive, Chubby Hurdles, Cropple, and Slumberfish. Out of all those games, Scott created one called Chipper and Son's Lumber Co. You could probably just say that this is the first game in the FNAF series because it was really the one that started the series in the first place. People complained (and right they are) That the characters in the game looked like terrifying animatronics. I personally think it's mostly because of the way their eyes look dead and they smile much to often :b I mean, just look at this thing it's so creepy it hurts to look at :V Scott was crushed, and was about ready to quit making games, until an idea popped into his head. If they look like animatronics, then maybe I can make a game about it! And so he did. And that's where FNAF 1 begins. It starts with our core concept: You are a security guard named Mike Schmidt who works at a pizzeria joint named Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. The main cast of characters in this pizzeria is Freddy himself, Chica, Bonnie, and Foxy. You work the night shift, protecting the place from threats (Although why would you really need to with those killers walking around :V) and protecting yourself from getting stuffed into a Freddy Fazbear suit and dying, because apparently there's all sorts of contraptions in there that can stab and kill you! (I've actually looked it up, and no, there's nothing I could find that could actually kill you in an animatronic suit.) It's pretty basic. I wouldn't say that it's exactly fun, and yes while it can scare you for about the first 10 minutes or so, it gets old after awhile. To keep yourself safe, you watch cameras and close doors on either side of you when the animatronics get to close to your office. But don't close the doors too much, or you'll waste power. If your power gets down to 0, you'll be completely vulnerable. Why Fazbear Entertainment doesn't have a backup generator or something is beyond me. But hey, it's an original idea that no other game has attempted before, and therfore the game was launched into fame.

FNAF 2:
Then this game comes out! Still the same thing, a new security guard named Jeremy Fitzgerald working at yet another Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. This time, your getting chased down by 10 animatronics with no doors to hide behind. So that's nice. I just lost my last shread of security. :b There's a couple new game mechanics, Albiet they don't really add anything to the game and make it even more boring. You have to wind up this music box to keep this puppet in this prize corner thing, then you have to use this flashlight you have to keep ol' Foxy in the middle hallway (that's a thing) all the while you have to watch the cameras and check the vents on either side of you to keep yourself safe. If anything does show up, just put on your empty Freddy head on and hide. Because apparently it makes animatronics think your an animatronic. Even Freddy himself is fooled. How does that even make sense? If they are haunted, obviously they have some amount of human intellgence in them, and should be able to tell human from animatronic. It's not like your wearing a full suit, your just wearing a head. Other than the confusing mess of game mechanics, there's not much else to say about the gameplay of FNAF 2. It's mostly just the first one with a new paint job. Which is actually what the game is really all about. The old animatronics have been scrapped to be replaced with new ones. So that's something.

FNAF 3:

At this point in the series, It's really just downhill from here. It's been 30 years since the last pizzeria joint shut down, and now Fazbear Entertainment is no more. A new museum of sorts dubbed Fazbear's Fright has brought in all they could find from the old buildings. You, once again, are a security guard which is really actually meant to be protecting the place, of course, until the Fright crew finds an animatronic *slow clap* You can see where the game goes from there. While it did tie up the story well, The game itself was terrible and unfinished, in my opinion. It was even more boring than the first two, actually. With only one animatronic to hide from and "Phantom" animatronics that can't actually do anything to you but get in your face, it's easy to see how this game could be terrible.

FNAF 4:

Now I'm just facepalming. There was hope for this installment, yes, considering it would be coming out October 31st. That gives Scott plenty of time to make a great game! right? Right? sadly wrong. It is actually coming out in August. Just like I thought it would. Since it's not actually out yet, we don't know much about it, but the trailer gives us some info. It's taking place in a HOUSE, for some odd reason.. And hey, you move around. so that's nice. Other than that, we don't know much else. Not sure why but this game looks worse than a DOS game.. and those are OLD. This was made in 2015. :I

So what's the verdict? Well, I can say the first FNAF was a good attempt at a video game. The second was most likely to appease the growing number of fans by releasing a new game for them to enjoy. But the 3rd and 4th installments have no saving grace, And are mostly just cash grabs in a lot of people's eyes. So let's just hope that the game ends here, because I'm not so sure anyone could take anymore FNAF.

As always, what do you think of FNAF? Do you think there will be more? Do you think it's for money? and that ends this article, thanks for reading :3

Eirinn :
juuldude :
patar4097 :
A user of this :

Eh, I don't particularly dislike FNaF, but I'm not a fan anymore :/. I like the lore, and I like the fan-made music people make for the series, but that's about it. The gameplay isn't my kind, and I don't like horror games in general.

It honestly seems like it's gonna be a cash grab tbh.

With the first installment, I was somewhat interested in this niche game and I felt it had some potential provided they lighten up on the screamers. The second game offered nothing really innovative or new, same goes for the third game. Now that this new game has been pushed forward I am totally convinced it's a cash grab. Nothing really new throughout the series, no serious attempts at sophisticating it, it's a cash grab.

I'm not sure there will be another game after this. It probably won't be a main FNAF title, though. Perhaps Scott will wait a while then make a spinoff series retaining the same formula as the main games, then piggy back off his FNAFs' rep to make a whole new series out of THAT.

Note that was my cynical side speaking, but it's not really a stretch.

Maybe i'm starting an FNAF dislike thread trend

Anyway, nice thread.

When I first heard of it, I was like okay..?

I was never big on using animatronics for the characters.

In my opinion - what it comes down to, is just sitting on a chair closing a door and turning lights on and off and waiting for a boring jump scare.
 But I made an entire thread about that.


I really like what you did here gingy

I think there's going to be one or 2 more FNAF games after the 4th one. This series seems to be more for cash as it goes on judging by your descriptions and opinions of each game. Even though I've never played FNAF (other than a minute of it because my friend forced me to), I've never liked it and find it boring.

The only reason I find it scary is because it isn't hard to scare me.

You did a nice job with this article! It was easy to keep reading it because I was very interested. Plus I'm tired of hearing people talk about FNAF in a positive way since I don't see the positives of it except for it causing Scott Cawthon to make a lot of money. That helped me to be interested

Keep up the great article writing!

Gotta admire Scott for making so much money for what you can really consider little work. The first game really could have been considered a classic if it were left as a standalone game. Maybe just a fun little thing that was big for awhile, then fizzled down.

The fact it's all jumpscares, or staring in the wall like a 4 year old in time out, never really made the game sound appealing to me. But 3 was complete trash. It was somehow the easiest game in the series. There's only one thing to worry about only 4/5 nights and that's it. It did however tie up all the loose ends to the story...Until 4 happened; and all the inevitable sequels to follow. At least Scott has donated a lot of the profits to charity. That part I appreciate if anything.

Also, FNAF 4  looks a lot like this, and if it really is, I just may buy it.

I learned a while back to neither praise nor criticize games I hadn't yet played. This lesson has been brought to me by several games that have either blown me away when I actually tried them (most recently Arkham Knight and Ben 10 Protector of Earth...don't ask) or let me down by paling in comparison to my expectations (Tiger Woods PGA Tour '08 was terrible compared to '04...and not great as a stand alone. Also Rise of the Kasai was...a let down).

This has even happened to me with game systems. So that said, I cannot speak well of or poorly of FNAF. I can however say that it sounds...unentertaining (is that even a word?) to me based on what I've heard from fans and critics alike.

The horror genre as a whole has gone downhill though. I remember when horror games genuinely scared you, but now it's always jump scares. The novelty grows thin.

Anyway, rant aside, while FNAF could surprise us, I doubt it will for a few reasons:
#1. None of the installments before now have, and yet the games are being praised to no end, so why change it? Cash grab or not, Scott has a legitimate reason not to change it up if his fans are raving about them all. I only wish Marvelous would have thought of that as well. Change for the sake of change is almost never good.

#2. The game is coming out too close to FNAF 3 to change much of the formula unless he uses an engine for an older game of his or hires some more help in. Even then it'll be a stretch.

#3. I think it's a cash grab, and if it is there's no reason to even try.

In short, I agree with you here.

I think my opinion on the series as a whole is already known.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I did like the 1st game because it was a pretty unique style of gameplay even though there was a lot of nonsensical things about the game and I wouldn't call it absolutely fantastic just pretty good.

But I'm basically not interested in anything past that. The 2nd was alright on it's own I suppose but it's largely just the same game that's been recycled and a few gimmicks has been added which doesn't really add much to the experience in my opinion, as a whole the game really is inferior to the 1st.

The story hasn't really interested me much, seems so barebones you could hardly call it one as you have to try and clumsily piece things togethe yourself, and it seems like he was too lazy to expand on it.

The 3rd is obviously a blatant cash grab (though I'd say the 2nd was too) it's inferior in basically every way and most of the time you're even left at the mercy of the RNG. It was also riddled of bugs, and I just cannot think of one way it improved.

I'm thinking 4th might possibly be better than the 3rd but there is no way I'm picking it up and personally I'm just hoping the franchise dies after this installment at least, the fact that it's being released earlier than anticipated doesn't suprise and honestly just sends out red lights for me. Of course any franchise with a release cycle this short would.

A user of this : That is actually pretty funny. 

From the trailed, it looks like FNAF 4 is going to be a roaming game where you can actually move. This would essentially change all the mechanics and rules of the first 3 games, throwing the player out of touch, and confusing the hell out of them. This would be a great way for Scott Cawthon to finish the series.