The true horror of this game is the cruel reality of the average underpaid employee in the fast-food chain industry. It's not Freddy who we must fear, the real monster here is the CEO of that cursed company.

It's REALLY hard to not see Five Nights at Freddy's as anything but the thing would end up inspiring such a massive cultural phenomenon and be the grand-father of the plague that it's the ''Mascot-Genre'', and right out of the gate many will despise it for that reason alone, and I mean, it's not like FNAF is the most quality franchise out there, but as someone that was there to witness the YouTube explosion when the original four games released and I still have a soft spot for these animal robotic weirdos, so it was only fair to face my past and beat the origin of the nightmare… and I’m left feeling so conflicted…

For the first two nights we have a game that manages to create an oppressive ambience, only make even more dreadful ad the prospect of not being able to move, be at the mercy of two metallic doors and a power system, and specially because of the looks and sounds of this crusty pizzeria and the lack of knowledge of the things that haunt you. It’s not a simple background for funny YouTube men to scream at in exaggerated ways, it truly manages to create a knot in your stomach, you are lost but always knowing what tools at your disposal, you are left in the dark and on your own, only accompanied by the calls of another night-guard that’s clearly trying to make this situation look like everything except what it really is. The jumpscare is only the release of all tension built during the night and the punishment for failing, and not what the fear of the experience fully revolves around. This blend of elements works wonderfully, and it made me realize that this game may be far than it could appear now-a-days… and then night 3 comes around and that just kinda stops.

Nothing in the game necessarily changes for the worst, but every horror elements goes away by that point and a deep feeling of routine sets in; you begin doing the same things over and over just faster and faster, and yes, it still is satisfying to overcome a night, but not because I feel like I defeated the mechanical forces that were going after me, it felt more like just getting over an incredibly boring shift… which it honestly may be even more suffering inducing. But even jokes aside, that’s just what it feels like, a samey experience that still retains some moments of terror with the introduction of Mr. Fredderick himself, but it also doesn’t last long once you realize what you need to stop him from even moving, and that the biggest problem the game could possibly have, because without those feelings it evokes at the beginning, you are left with a simplistic, not really visually pleasing nor interesting and tedious experience that only the only thing that it doesn’t even have a story yet, not that it matters ‘cause seeing how it convoluted it is a this point, it’s for the better to not really have it.

Five Nights at Freddy’s is not really horrible, and I don’t think I could bring myself to call it consistently bad. It works, it functions, it has an amazing start and really cool ideas, but it only strives to be an average arcade game instead of expanding on what it initially builds upon. Maybe more mechanics and animatronics would have helped, maybe they would have turned into less of a horror game, it’s really hard to tell with this one…

In the end, even if it’s not a great game by any stretch of the imagination, after playing all I can think of is not the problems , the night 5 tedium and the unspeakable horrors it would inspire, but the good memories of sharing theories and watching announcements about it with friends, the actually great stuff related to it, be it fan web series or fan-games. It has it’s own dumb beauty that a game so flawed could create so good moments for many… but I’m not dumb, I know very well of how its community and creators around can be and do some of the most horrible things imaginable, but I really want to leave this review in a good note so let me have this!

And hey, maybe the new upcoming Plus remake may solve many of the problems I have with it and turn it into a worthwhile horror game, but that may be me just being way too optimistic, only time will tell…

EDIT 08/14/2023: SO... THAT AGED QUITE POORLY QUITE FAST... I don't want to get into specifics since this not the time nor the place, but putting it short: following a controversy related to FNAF Plus's main developer, he resignated from the "Fanverse Initiative" and, considering how the game's page was pulled from Steam, it's fair to say that the game is not seing the light of day anytime soon... It's honestly embarassing to end the review in such a positive note only to be proven wrong mere days after the fact, even if there's a bit more of nuance in this case (I say this but the creator acted EXTREMELY bad and unproffesionally,I'm not condonning anything what-so-ever). Again if you want to get the full picture, you'll have to do it on your own, but now one thing is clear; this outcome is far more bleaker than I could have ever expected, and sometimes I should be more cautious with my optimism... Man, this sucks...

Oh and also, I played this with a buddy watching me and after dying a lot of times in the fifth night, the winning attempt was the one we talked about Ford v Ferrari and Christian Bale, so the fact that actor and this series of games will be forever intertwined in my brain for now on is not the outcome I expected, but it is very funny nonetheless.

Five Nights At Freddy's é um dos jogos indies mais importantes na minha opinião, já que FNAF é a única série do gênero terror que me interessou além do seu auge em 2014 e 2015, Five Nights At Freddy's 1 foi extremamente inovador pra sua época, com sua gameplay Point and Click e com o sistema de câmeras fez com que esse jogo ficasse bastante famoso, mas será que mesmo depois de 8 anos, ainda é um bom ?

Primeiro temos que lembrar que esse jogo basicamente não tem história e os poucos rastros de história são apenas Easter Eggs então não tem o que falar da história aqui.

A atmosfera do FNAF 1 sendo bem sincero acho que é a melhor da série, pra começar já na sala do segurança, ela sozinha já tem um clima meio assustador e o ambiente escuro ajuda isso mais ainda, algo que na minha opinião isso meio que perdeu nos outros jogos (especialmente no Security Breach mas esse não joguei ainda).

Como eu disse antes, a Gameplay é o ponto forte, basicamente precisamos fechar as portas e acender a luz quando um animatronic aparecer, mas existe uma coisa muito importante, a estratégia, já que essas ações gastam energia e se sua energia zerar você leva um Jumpscare do Freddy, então use as portas e luzes com cuidado, outro ponto importantíssimo são as câmeras, você precisa delas pra saber aonde que eles estão, elas também gastam energia mas bem pouca, não é obrigatório ver todas as câmeras, mas pelo menos a câmera do Foxy e o lugar que o Freddy estiver são as mais importantes.

Outra parte tão importante ao mais são os Animatronics, basicamente os "vilões" eles são: Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy e Golden Freddy e cada um deles possui uma mecânica diferente e todos eles são carismáticos, por exemplo o Freddy você precisa observar ele senão ele vai matar você, o Bonnie você precisa fechar a porta esquerda, a Chica você precisa fechar a porta da direita, o Foxy você precisa prestar atenção porque ele fica na Pirate Cove e ele vai correndo até você pela porta da esquerda e o Golden Freddy que se você encontrar um cartaz estranho na Câmera 2B, ele aparecerá dentro da sua sala e as portas não funcionam mas você precisa apenas abrir as câmeras que ele vai embora mas caso você não faça isso, ele dará um Jumpscare que vai sair do jogo.

Five Nights At Freddy's 1 é um jogo difícil, já que você precisa de estratégia e a Custom Night na dificuldade máxima é bem difícil, mas não tão difícil quanto dos jogos seguintes, nesse caso, acho a dificuldade do FNAF 1 a melhor da série, o maior problema de todo FNAF é que a Custom Night sempre é injustamente difícil mas nesse caso até que não.

Pro primeiro FNAF da série acho ele perfeito, simples e carismático, por isso a nota de três estrelas e meia que eu considero um 7,5. É que os outros FNAFs na minha opinião são melhores então por isso que o FNAF 1 pode não ter recebido uma nota tão grande assim.

It was highly unlikely such a small indie game like this would become the massive cultural phenomenon it did, but that's exactly what happened. Now that I've finally played it for myself I must say it's easy to see why. Five Nights at Freddy's is certainly simplistic in nature and design as you step into the shoes of a nighttime security guard who is trapped in the back office of a small pizzeria and must manage a limited, ever-dwindling power supply in order to fend off the attacks of the parlor's sentient animatronics until his shift ends. Yet, developer Scott Cawthon was able to mine a surprising amount of depth and strategy from the premise to ensure the experience is more engaging than it might at first seem.

Often discredited as being a cheap jump scarefest by its detractors, there are many who would have you believe that all this has to offer in the terror department are the quick, unexpected appearances of something popping out with a shriek from the darkness. Well, please let me be the one to tell you that the tension comes from more than just nervously anticipating the possibility of getting caught off guard by an unsettling sight suddenly leaping in front of you. Arguably the biggest source of uneasiness is the management component. Everything you do from flipping on light switches to checking cameras or closing doors should one of the mascots get too close puts you a step closer to ending up in the pitch black with no way to defend yourself. The struggle between keeping up with the tasks necessary to watch your back and preserving precious electricity is really effective at keeping you on the edge of your seat.

Where the whole thing runs into a problem is with its scale. Taking place over a single work week there are only five main stages (hence the name) that take a couple of hours at most to complete, if even that. There is an unlockable "Custom Night" mode which you gain access to by finishing the optional 6th level that allows you to modify the difficulty to your liking, but it does little to change the fact that the novelty of playing FNaF wears off pretty quickly. The sparsity of content also leads to a significant difficulty spike in the last two nights compared to the starting three.

Perhaps this explains why the series became a hit on streaming platforms like YouTube. You will be left wanting more, and what better way to get it than by watching others freak out while trying to survive till morning? It is great at pulling naturally funny panicked reactions from people after all.

Regardless of how long it manages to maintain your attention after that initial playthrough and the at times concerningly strange fanbase it spawned though, this is still a delightfully scary gem centered around a uniquely creepy concept that may also offer the slightest hints of snarky social commentary on blue-collar working conditions to boot. It's a wonderful example of what an independent, one-man project can accomplish with a good idea that's executed well enough to remain interesting, without simultaneously going overboard by adding in any unnecessary complexities that complicate what should have otherwise been a straightforward affair. As I'm not at this point familiar with the sequels I am currently unaware if the hate this franchise receives is justified due to mistakes that were made later on down the line or the result of the masses' irritation with the sheer Call of Duty style overexposure to the brand. Whatever the case, this premiere entry is an unfortunate victim/casualty because it stands on its own merits as a noteworthy horror title worthy of your attention that's caught in the crosshairs of their frustration.

8/10

tho it prob has something 2 do with the fact that i vividly remember when this first came out (was the only one i actually paid attention to at release) and never getting past night 3, i rly admire that even mountains of overexposure later playing this still feels convincingly like interacting with some sorta Cursed Object, more effectively in its shiny commercial package then any of those esoteric creepypasta EXEs i can care to remember. even with a million sequels in vastly different aesthetic directions this still feels p lightning in a bottle, its specific mixture of Old And Shitty But Not Overtly Nightmarish in its vibe rly makes it feel like this tangible thing, weirdly cozy and electric blankety (even trying my best to consider for nostalgia) with the feeling of pitch black secrets oozing out of view. helps that i rly rly love the designs in this one, lots of weight and just generally imposing physical presence in their overt chunkiness.

im not good at analyzing mechanical stuff but i appreciate how everything clicks together here a lot...the cameras in particular, are this amazing combination of Power and Powerlessness, they tend to feel a lot safer when yr in them cuz of the Layer Of Removal (and also how much information u have access to) but the split-second process of entering and exiting them bookends the whole experience with a little Pierce of anxiety,,,rly compelling micro-emotional flow worked into the practical mechanical loop of tearing u from the cameras to the office over and over. it stops being Spooky after a certain point obviously but thats fine ! its offering a nice little challenging game in return. tho it does seem like what ive praised here falls away a bit at high levels of play where the cameras are barely used, even playing only to night 5 i got to a point where i basically only needed the foxy camera and the freddy far corner camera. perhaps a more rigorously designed system would be able to withstand that amount of pressure, but i always find it a bit pointless to criticize things for not living up to some Ideal. this is v good work and would be a memorable blip on my memories even without the larger franchise

it's been a while since I've come near a fnaf game or fnaf in general and it's ENTIRELY a coincidence that it happened after I found out there's a sexy alligator in one of the latest entries something that I may have seen via rule 34 furry gay bara porn as I said a coincidence or maybe shall i say fate


years ago I had an online group chat with so many friends all hyping the series and I kind of miss those times . all in all I've never been the biggest fan of this series but I do get the general appeal and why people would create such strong fanbases over something so mundane

the incipit is pretty simple youre a security guard (?) is that the term maybe night watch is a better term anyway youre a guy who's gotta stay you guessed it five nights at freddys looking after the shut down pizzerias animatronics moving around because theyre in a free roam mode or whatever and all this for the bomb payment of 120$ wow !!!!!!

ok so actually there's a guy on the phone that will explain the current situation and how to deal with the funny anthro animals mascots but what's interesting is the backstory about this since its about an animatronic biting a kid and calling it the bite of some time in the 80s and so they disbanded the pizzeria or something in those lines of thought

sooooooo gameplay wise this is just a "survival" horror game you're gonna work from 12 pm to 6 am and animatronics are gonna try to get you into one of their suits like it's an iron maiden so to help you do that youre gonna sit in your fucking chair for 6 whole ass hours (im saying this like it's a bad thing but I actually do that everyday for like 15 hours) look at your monitor for the different camera recordings in different parts of the pizzeria turn on and off the lights and close doors and push freddys nose on the poster to make a funny sound

this is already kinda chaotic but you gotta add the fact that all this stuff consumes electricity and if you get to 0% that means DEATH TO ALL OF THEM

trying to coordinate all these aspects may be tough at first but you'll get the hang of it soon enough since the animatronics have stereotypical movements that messy baddie chika always comes from the right bonnie from the left foxy is a fucking menace to society and freddie I actually to this day to not 100% understand how he works but I'm fine

mmmmbnmhgrrr not that bad but the horror aspect went out of the window years and years ago for me so youre left with some oppressive and claustrophobic atmosphere and some stress capitalism workload and animatronics who want to kinda fuck you

-tbh got to the final night and kind of stopped bc don’t have the patience or reflexes to completely finish it lmao. but it’s a real good time and genuinely kind of expertly made, lots of cool stuff done w the audio cues and the animatronics glitching. mise en scene is genuinely rlly captivating and makes this rlly feel like an actual run down and half abandoned arcade which is a very cool vibe. mostly I just think it’s a little undercooked(??) like the phone calls are all so good and wonderfully acted and tense but they’re so short and then the rest of the night is listening to the same audio cues for like ten minutes which is kind of boring when ur bad at time management AND reflexes. wish there was more in terms of audio logs/voicemails as it’s the best stuff here.
-didn’t rlly grow up w this franchise but also I did as did anyone under a specific age. like my sister in law is not someone who plays any games and she’s like five years younger than me but also is one of my favorite ppl on this planet and we have a v similar sense of humor. she knows all about the characters and lore of the series despite never playing or watching any of these just through like sheer cultural osmosis. i’m very into the connective tissue between generations and I’m an older zoomer where as she’s a core zoomer and yet even though neither of us have ever played any of these we have referenced various memes and tiktok audios relating to the series since we’ve been friends. I just find stuff like that rlly interesting.
-played this mostly bc I was very excited for the movie and it’s rlly great. more slow paced and slow moving than most other modern horror films? even slower than the more prestige and artsy fare, which is kind of crazy. but the trade off is actually learning about and growing to care about these characters. like I thought all we would get between mike and abby is the first twenty minutes, vague characterization and background stories so that we ultimately feel bad when someone is in danger. but that doesn’t happen instead the entire movie is the relationship this family has which is kind of crazy that a movie who’s sole selling point is scary animatronics ends up having some of the better writing I’ve seen in movies lately. lots of cool stuff about the actual physical space that is the pizzeria too like how it’s just left to rot and decay like plenty of places are in the real world and the game series seemingly ends up being more about the disregard ppl have to the places and environments that surround them as time goes on and the decay and rot settle in. also I like that bc the animatronics are so iconic in the real world as cutesy stuffed animals sold in mall kiosks or like feddy images or markiplier sound bites that there’s not much horror u can get out of them and I thought it was rlly interesting what they used as scares to get around the fact that a decade in the spotlight has made these characters lose any scares they might have. worst part of the movie is during a rlly well done emotional monologue josh hutcherson says theory but earlier they had matpat say theory and it took me out. idk there’s a scene where the little girl is drawing these creepy images while talking to mike and that scene is so fucking overwhelming, think it’s genuinely rlly impressive that they didn’t lean into campiness and comedy when that had to be the easier option and instead made smth rlly tense and uncomfortable. josh hutcherson still looks like way too good and matthew lillard ate!
-went to a few diff chuck e cheeses during the pandemic and they had this very specific run down and half blocked off vibe that both this game and the movie rlly do well. like idk seeing like just a few kids running around this rlly bright and rlly obnoxious place that exists just as a time/money sink while underpaid workers have to work during a global pandemic is an image that has stuck w me a lot. as has a photo I got of one of my best friends peering into some rando non-chain arcade when we went on vacation like two years ago. her hand pressed up against a dirty streaked window as she looks into this sparse and neon blue lit arcade. it’s a definite vibe and look all it’s own that’s more gross and sad than it is like scary.

like many 10 year olds, i was on that fnaf train for many years and i still hold the memories from that time close to my heart, countless hours watching theories, chatting with friends, listening to the fan songs, but wanna know a secret? i never played the games! i watched them as a kid on YT but i was always too scared of the jumpscares. i couldnt even watch my buddies play them on their phones i was that scared, lol

i tried to play fnaf 1 a year ago during halloween and got stuck on night 3, however with the buzz around the movie which i still havent seen but will eventually (and being honest an amazing will stetson cover of fnaf 1 song), i decided to give fnaf 1 a shot, and beat it, finally. and it's... pretty good, tbh.

sure the jumpscares are cheap, and it's just a glorified slideshow, but it's tense as fuck. they weren't kidding when they said its carried by atmosphere, once you see an animatronic at your door, its a rush to the door button. maybe it's cuz i havent played much other horror(if at all) but that adrenaline rush i got was unmatched. there's also the management aspect of it, it's fun to conserve power.

its nigh impossible to separate this game from it's impact on me, but the game itself has an addicting loop and i can totally see why it took the world by storm. i outgrew the series by sister location, and have heard by ear it's gone down the shitter both gameplay and lore wise. i will check out the other games up until sister location, maybe soon, maybe not.

i did not do night 6 or 4/20 mode but i beat the Five Nights at Freddy's so i think that counts as completed.

PS: i unintentionally beat the game on 11/12 which is the same day you get your paycheck. i thought it was a variable based on your pc date, but nope it's canonical. go me, i guess?

How to feels to have Temple Run, Sonic Dash, and Five Nights at Freddy's in your Recently Played.

Kinda underrated?????? Like that sounds insane to say about probably the most financially successful horror IP of the last decade but it's true! Most people haven't actually played fnaf and just osmosis it from markiplier let's plays and MatPat memes but when your actually behind the wheel? Fnaf is a genuinely anxiety inducing time! A collage of unpleasant sounds that you have to mentally shift through to find the one's that actually are of danger to you and also i just love the way this things looks, Does a better job replicating the 90s pre-render look (And also the weird esoteric game design of that era. me googling "freddy fazbear kill me even tho i can't see him help???") then most intentional efforts.

Also on the topic of jumpscares uhhhhh copy and paste Brandon Reese Kotoko review here and also
1. jumpscares are your punishment for failing. So just get gud (/s fnaf is a really frictional game so i can see why people might not want to be treated with something so unpleasant every time they fail. I'm sorry for breaking the bit lol)

2. Alot of them ARE built up! Like when you run out of power and are waiting in the dark unsure if you will be able to hold out long enough to roll over to 6AM or if Freddy will get you beforehand. Genuinely terrifying shit!

Also love how understated most of the actual plot is. Like you can play the game without looking at the background newspaper clippings changing (Like i did...) and not even know that there really is much of a plot.

It kinda loses steam after night 4 but those first nights are great!

Finding out some of you played this when you were a kid, and this is a "nostalgia game from childhood" has officially made me feel like a fucking geriatric. This came out when I was graduating high school!! I was taking the damn SATs while you were going goo-goo-ga-ga over Freddy Fazbear??? I was at Barnes & Noble and a mom and daughter were looking at a book of the FNAF characters, and while it was very, very adorable to hear the little kid talk about Nightmare Freddy, it was still a stark realization that a long time has passed since FNAF 1 came out.

As such, though, I regard this as the last time I ever had a pulse on what was "hip" and "cool," as ever since I have been deeply uncool, and I remember FNAF when it was new!! It was genuinely really exciting, no joke. It had this anarchic charm about it, as it had such a lame-ass graphic on steam that looked like any other shitty steam greenlight game, but was really effectively scary resource management. Just from how minimalistic everything, up to and including THE ADVERTISING is, you can really feel this was a hail mary by Scott Cawthon just to see if SOMETHING stuck, because shitty Christian games for Rod and Todd Flanders certainly wasn't doing it.

If we're keeping it 300 like the Romans, I actually think this game is still pretty cool. The sound design is very effectively unsettling, as that fan's constant buzzing really does capture something about working a terrible job that few games really can do, and the scare chord when an animatronic is just casually watching you never fails to make me flinch. There is a lot to the presentation of this thing that really makes you forget it's just a fish-eyed lens applied to a nearly static screen.

The world-building would result in many masterpieces by Matthew Patrick, but here, it is largely focused more on a much more enigmatic aspect of the series: the Fazbear Entertainment company is just absolute shit. They are cheap as cheap can be, their restaurant looks like shit and is generally nasty, and their laughable paystub is just the perfect punchline for what is essentially a tale of how much minimum wage jobs fucking suck and how evil these companies are. If I didn't know some God-fearing Republican made these games I would have assumed the absolute OPPOSITE, it's that overt.

Speaking of that guy, I don't blame him for even a SECOND that he just started pumping these fucking things out. I have been releasing music since 2012 and have had absolutely zero success of any kind, it has only occasionally been a financial benefit, and barely that. Making the stuff you want to make is more expensive than it is profitable, and actually getting that small glimmer of success is almost alien when you have constantly failed. That is why I have absolutely no qualms with him milking this cow dry, get the bag, as they say. I know he is a pro-life shithead, but honestly, if you want to enjoy any media in life you are just going to have to accept that some of it is being made by people who hold stupid-ass beliefs, not everything is going to have the squeaky-clean politics of something like Gex: Enter The Gecko.

Anyway check out my music as I have perfect beliefs and opinions and have never done wrong.
https://visitorinformation.bandcamp.com/track/far-away

This is the only FNAF i've played.
I was like 16 when this shit blew up, and while i wasn't interested i decided to give it a chance to see what it was about.
It was 2 A.M., i'm alone in my room with headphones on.
I start playing. Nothing happens. I'm bored looking at cameras.
Night 2. More of the same. I fuck up and die. I get a jumpscare, it has no effect.
I try again.
The game is really boring and tedious.
I die again, another jumpscare.

"That's all this game is" i thought and went to sleep.

The real reason the score is so low, aside from finding it super boring and a bunch of nothing, is the massive damage it caused to the horror genre and the fact that it's still a plague to this day.

I think it's rather interesting to look back on this game, after all the hype of the franchise completely died out, and the usual annoying "scream into my webcam" YouTube personalities moved on to other things.

The first FNAF is the only one I ever bothered to play, because right from the beginning, I knew what the game and all of its sequels were going for, and I frankly never cared for it. A simple point-and-click game where you poke around menus and do basic camera/door management while you helm a striking fear of having a piercing (and frankly obnoxious) screeching sound effect stab into your ears; simple, and effective for those who enjoy the very bare-minimum of horror, but as someone who needs more than artificial tension paying off with a loud sound in my ears, I just can't find myself caring about it.

Honestly, it's the lack of interactivity that kills FNAF for me. I frankly find it boring to be locked within a set location, with little-to-no movement options while I await the inevitable jump scare. When things just feel so out of your control, I can't feel invested in it. Games that helm jumpscares like any horror-centric Resident Evil, Alien Isolation, or even Amnesia allow some sort of player control to handle your situations; you're still going to be spooked, but when I actually feel in control of my actions and not just plopped into a seat and told to just click buttons until my ears get murdered, I can't muster any effort to actually play it.

If this is for you, then I'm glad. The major success of not only this game, but the series overall proves that there's a market out there for these kinds of games and it's clear that plenty of people like it for wholly legitimate reasons; I just require more from a horror experience than the game version of blockbuster horror movies that think "scary" is only loud noises.