weird, conflicting, and ultimately kinda unfruitful (but not uninteresting!) mistep for me. i do See The Vision fwiw...the procedural and mechanical horror of the previous games loops exchanged for a tighter more varied experience that can deliver thru Intentionality and Control what cant be with random number generators that ask u to Respond To Their Chaos. aesthetically this is also perhaps my favorite entry besides 4,,,i know the pivot to far fetched sci fi tech alienated some fans but it all looks fucking awesome imo, my fave jumpscare animations in the series (anything with the faceplates rules) and an astonishingly good array of environmental and enemy designs. it feels like an opulent, Lavish production for being made by only one dude. i find myself wishing this was more of a Walking Simulator type thing, where i was allowed to just Exist in the tunnels...its a cool and spooky place to exist, and Existing In A Place is just ab the core of video games for me! far more then traditional Systems or Mechanics
unfortunately the actual play experience is the worst of both worlds...neither mechanically intricate nor unobtrusive enough to let me get completely lost in the vibes. as it stands it doesnt feel like a New Direction For The Series so much as No direction. in a sense it makes me appreciate the others more...a super linear series of minigames and scripted scares should have been far easier to pull off then an interestingly balanced and genuinely spooky set of interlocking mechanics, yet Weirdo Jesus Freak scott cawthon is astonishingly more adept at the latter! im told this gets even more proved in this games custom night, which i frankly Did Not Have The Patience To Unlock so that will be a blind spot for now! it seems cool tho !
would be remiss to not mention that this game is the Entire Reason to my understanding that fnaf lore exists as it currently does...creating and recontextualizing events past present and future, redefining it from a spooky story about a serial killer that may have been Dreamed Up By A Child to a story with actual characters, a specific set of power players with interlocking (familial) relationships. the afton family is a good dramatic bedrock for the series and mostly a positive development i think...certainly some rly striking stuff in here esp with the ennard ending. and the striking stuff happening in the Immediate Present is a nice development too ! theres real stuff to get invested in here, guts to be Punched, and family members make for something inherently emotionally stirring without having to devote too much time to characterization. ofc the hasty rewriting and recontextualizing by both cawthon and various theorists to account for these developments which were Clearly Not Envisioned From The Start creates quite a bit of roughness in the transition. im also not super super sold on Mad Scientist William Afton, robs him of a bit of the mystique he had when he was merely an urban legend child killer. but overall its a good reorientation that was probably necessary for Any catharsis to be achieved by the story of this series, kind of a magic trick in and of itself. perhaps its too much to expect that the reorientation of the actual play experience would pull off a similar miracle...ah well
unfortunately the actual play experience is the worst of both worlds...neither mechanically intricate nor unobtrusive enough to let me get completely lost in the vibes. as it stands it doesnt feel like a New Direction For The Series so much as No direction. in a sense it makes me appreciate the others more...a super linear series of minigames and scripted scares should have been far easier to pull off then an interestingly balanced and genuinely spooky set of interlocking mechanics, yet Weirdo Jesus Freak scott cawthon is astonishingly more adept at the latter! im told this gets even more proved in this games custom night, which i frankly Did Not Have The Patience To Unlock so that will be a blind spot for now! it seems cool tho !
would be remiss to not mention that this game is the Entire Reason to my understanding that fnaf lore exists as it currently does...creating and recontextualizing events past present and future, redefining it from a spooky story about a serial killer that may have been Dreamed Up By A Child to a story with actual characters, a specific set of power players with interlocking (familial) relationships. the afton family is a good dramatic bedrock for the series and mostly a positive development i think...certainly some rly striking stuff in here esp with the ennard ending. and the striking stuff happening in the Immediate Present is a nice development too ! theres real stuff to get invested in here, guts to be Punched, and family members make for something inherently emotionally stirring without having to devote too much time to characterization. ofc the hasty rewriting and recontextualizing by both cawthon and various theorists to account for these developments which were Clearly Not Envisioned From The Start creates quite a bit of roughness in the transition. im also not super super sold on Mad Scientist William Afton, robs him of a bit of the mystique he had when he was merely an urban legend child killer. but overall its a good reorientation that was probably necessary for Any catharsis to be achieved by the story of this series, kind of a magic trick in and of itself. perhaps its too much to expect that the reorientation of the actual play experience would pull off a similar miracle...ah well