Reviews Videogame / Five Nights At Freddys

I get how this game doesn't scare you, but you've said nothing about the lore.

"I've even heard the arguement that Five Nights has 'really good lore'. Maybe I'm an elitist who's played too many Elder Scolls games, but no. No, it does not."

And there's nothing else about that.

Eh, everyone gets into this kind of situation with something, it just happens to be your turn now. I had mine when My Little Pony inexplicably become popular a few years back. I just taught myself not to give a shit. It's not worth the effort. You can't stop it, and fuming about it isn't going to do much except making you seem bitter and that. And hey, you're lucky, because this is more likely to be a fad that'll go away in a few years. Not so much with the ponies.

Donny KD, the 'really good lore' in this game is a basic backstory that you get in any video game. You're the new guy at a nightshift at some Chuck-E-Cheese-esque pizza place. The animatronics want to get to you, and if they do, they'll kill you. Something happened in... Is it 87? I think it's 87. That's about it, really. Nothing awful, certainly, but definitely not more than what you generally see in quick little games like this.

And yes, the Hype Aversion has hit me very hard with this one. I fully acknowledge that.

Honestly, I haven't yet come into contact with the fanbase, which is apparently obnoxious. Hope I never do.

" I've even heard the arguement that Five Nights has 'really good lore'. Maybe I'm an elitist who's played too many Elder Scolls games, but no. No, it does not. "

Not... exactly the fairest comparison ever. TES has had more than five games to flesh it's setting out, much larger budget, wildly different playstyle that allows for more exploration and the mechanics for entire libraries of lore.

It's like saying 'Hey I've been told King Kong has really good special effects, but speaking as someone who's seen all the Star Wars movies, no it does not.'

Stop liking what I don't like. = This review in a nutshell.

As for the lore, there’s more to that: there were kids who were killed there and are probably haunting the animatronics, so there are lots and lots of open questions as to what they’re really after and who Mike Schmidt is.

As for the game itself: I haven’t played it myself, but from what I gather, the feeling of helplessness and the unconventional challenge (I’m not a gamer, but I don’t think other games make you plan your resource management like F Na F does) is why people like the gameplay, along with the general creepiness of animatronics (which I don’t really get—I’m from Israel, and I don’t think animatronics have been in use here anywhere).

Since I have had a small experience with the game. I guess I can share my two cents...by looking at other comments!

"I've even heard the arguement that Five Nights has 'really good lore'. Maybe I'm an elitist who's played too many Elder Scolls games, but no. No, it does not."

-they may be referring to theories. But no, an indie developer cannot be compared to a franchise with a huge budget. Thus this comparison is unfortunately invalid. A better comparison may be the slender man games...

"As for the game itself: I haven’t played it myself, but from what I gather, the feeling of helplessness and the unconventional challenge (I’m not a gamer, but I don’t think other games make you plan your resource management like F Na F does) is why people like the gameplay, along with the general creepiness of animatronics (which I don’t really get—I’m from Israel, and I don’t think animatronics have been in use here anywhere)."

- ding! Main reason why I like this game. I personally think its really unique.

"Honestly, I haven't yet come into contact with the fanbase, which is apparently obnoxious. Hope I never do."

- this fanbase is nothing compared to that horrible brony fanbase.

"Stop liking what I don't like. = This review in a nutshell."

-ah more butthurt. Attempting to tell someone to disregard opinions and now pointing out something that was already addressed and resolved in a failed attempt to make yourself look superior.

You sad, remarkable creature. :/

@Ryochi: Actually, disliking something because a lot of people like that thing is a terrible reason to dislike it. It's very hipster. Also, one of your arguments was that the Five Nights fanbase is bad, but it's not as bad as a fanbase that has absolutely nothing to do with this game. Really, I have no idea why you brought it up.

"Actually, disliking something because a lot of people like that thing is a terrible reason to dislike it."

- Yeah, I know. I'm simply pointing out it was already resolved..........while sorta being a jerk.

"Also, one of your arguments was that the Five Nights fanbase is bad, but it's not as bad as a fanbase that has absolutely nothing to do with this game. Really, I have no idea why you brought it up."

- Yeah I was really vague. My fault. I was just trying to point out the fact that the Five Night at Freddies fanbase isn't as bad as those...horrible people.

But otherwise, yeah it was pretty pointless.

Sigh, it really helps well people call me out on something that is legitimately wrong. Believe me it helps.

Honestly it really is a great game... at first. The main problem is replayability. When you're going into the experience knowing nothing about it, it is terrifying. So ironically enough, its downfall is its popularity. The internet talks about it all the time, so it's nearly impossible to get that "oh God what am I doing" feel from it anymore.

Hey Ryoichi, I happen to be one in that ‘horrible brony fanbase’. The Bronies I’ve come to know were some of the nicest people I know, who truly internalised the ‘love and tolerate’ message. Stop being a tool, will ya?

Let's not start yet another pointless brony derail, shall we?

Anyway, this is a game where I can see the point of it being popular kind of killing the experience. The concept of the game is good, and is well executed. The big problem is that it doesn't evolve too much from its core concept, making it so watching a few minutes of gameplay pretty much gives you the whole rundown on what the game has to offer; and there are way more than just a few minutes of footage out there.

I'm not really a fan of survival horror in general, so seeing another big horror-game fanbase spring up was really annoying. Like I've experienced similar games - you have to find and ration batteries in Outlast, your torch in Slender runs out with time, you have to escape the murderous SCP-173 or have your neck broken - and this game just feels like more of the same. Except now you're stuck in a room, you can only look out and hope to God that you aren't besieged by a bunch of spoopy possessed robot animals.

I kind of like the resurgance of the Chuck E. Cheese-esque animatronic robots in different media, I will admit. I just like the lampshading of those things in general. And though I'm really not a fan of the game, genre or fanbase, I have to give props to one guy for making it. It's like Makoto Shinkai - Voices of a Distant Star was written and animated solely by himself, which is deserving of praise, but by God are the characters ugly. Likewise with this game - I don't like it because it feels like more of the same (with the same in question being something I don't care for much), but the fact that it was a solo effort is commendable.

Lastly, I'm down with fanbase issues being a prime reason for disliking a work. Like okay, Naruto might have its merits - the fanbase has at one point been numerous and disgraceful, the Japanese fanbase in particular running the mangaka's brother's [[{{666Satan}} manga]] out of print because they thought he was plagiarizing Naruto's artstyle, and that fanbase puts me off even giving Naruto a chance. Or Avatar: The Last Airbender - I haven't seen a more overzealous and angry bunch of shippers in my life, and despite my ongoing appreciation for the show, I can't help but feel embarrassed for the amount of crazy, angry crap that the fanbase causes, and which I once took part in as a young fan.

What was I talking about again? Oh yeah - I can at least appreciate the fact that the game was made by one guy. I can't appreciate that the game is all resource management, waiting around for spooky sounds and happenings, and then being jumpscared when you can't manage your power supply well enough. I just don't find resource management fun, and I was around when jump-scare horror games were really getting their foot in the door so it's more or less been done to death imo. I also can't comprehend the fanbase, because again - you sit around and wait for robotic animals to move around and spook you. There may be history behind why the robots are possessed, but to call "some kids died and are possessing the machinery, and they're after you" a strong and rich lore is a bit much. An open-ended backstory isn't good lore - it's fun because you can fill in the blanks yourself or construct whatever spooky-scary thing you want with a group of fans or enormous fanbase, but it's not "great" lore. It is lore, being a backstory, but it's not spectacular or fleshed out.

So yeah. Not a fan, don't really get the hype. But it doesn't really matter unless I hear about the game - I'm perfectly content ignoring this new fad.

Svarti Kotturinn:

"Hey Ryoichi, I happen to be one in that ‘horrible brony fanbase’. The Bronies I’ve come to know were some of the nicest people I know, who truly internalised the ‘love and tolerate’ message. Stop being a tool, will ya?"

-I didn't mean EVERYONE. I meant the majority. Its cool that you met nice people but there are a lot of Bronies that don't really internalize the love and tolerate message and just come off as hypocritical people who bully people into liking that show.

Don't even get me started with all the other stuff they did. But yeah, I don't really want to start something with the Brony fanbase. I don't have a problem with the show, it's just the fanbase.

And before you say anything. No, I'm not an Anti-Brony. Those guys are no better, at some points being slightly worse than the fanbase they are bashing.

So sorry for looking like a tool and not being specific.

Elbruno:

"Anyway, this is a game where I can see the point of it being popular kind of killing the experience. The concept of the game is good, and is well executed. The big problem is that it doesn't evolve too much from its core concept, making it so watching a few minutes of gameplay pretty much gives you the whole rundown on what the game has to offer; and there are way more than just a few minutes of footage out there."

-Yeah that's true I guess.

Mr Mallard:

"Lastly, I'm down with fanbase issues being a prime reason for disliking a work. Like okay, Naruto might have its merits - the fanbase has at one point been numerous and disgraceful, the Japanese fanbase in particular running the mangaka's brother's [[{{666Satan}} manga]] out of print because they thought he was plagiarizing Naruto's artstyle, and that fanbase puts me off even giving Naruto a chance."

- Exactly. But I think a work should kinda be judged separately from the fanbase since the fanbase doesn't say everything about it.

And wait...they did that? Wow. That's really bad.

"Or Avatar: The Last Airbender - I haven't seen a more overzealous and angry bunch of shippers in my life, and despite my ongoing appreciation for the show, I can't help but feel embarrassed for the amount of crazy, angry crap that the fanbase causes, and which I once took part in as a young fan."

- Expand on this. I'm kinda curious in what "crazy, angry crap" they caused.

"Any 'tension' I felt while playing it came from "Man, I don't want this goofy thing to pop up and scream in my face" — My thoughts exactly. I have no idea why a couple hours worth of jump scares warrants a "Scariest game of all time" label.

I was expecting a lot more atmosphere from the game. The screens where the animatronics are just standing being creepy, those are quite cool! But those unnerving images are only in service to "BOO GOTCHA!" which is a huge letdown.

OP: Any 'tension' I felt while playing it came from "Man, I don't want this goofy thing to pop up and scream in my face" My thoughts exactly.

I'm with you, Pigeons. I'll admit that I haven't played this game, so I can't judge it fully. But I have watched a playthrough of it. It looks like a decent experience, but I'm utterly perplexed at how big the game's fanbase has gotten. It's a fairly simple concept, but people act like it's one of the most unique experiences horror games have to offer. Another thing, I'm not opposed to jump scares as long as they have some creativity put into them, but a lot of people just don't seem to get that it's easy to scare people with sudden sounds and images, and that shouldn't be taken as an effective horror experience.

It reminds me of Slender. Slender looks like a decent game. Maybe not much more than a novelty. But some people thought that it was literally the scariest game ever made, even though it just boils down to a monster chasing you in the woods. That's nothing compared to the countless commercial horror games that put you in far more unique situations and pit you against much more complicated enemies. Anyone who thinks Slender is the scariest horror game probably hasn't played any other horror games.

It's not just indie games either. In my experience, most Creepypasta readers have horrible taste. The most popular pastas are usually the Lost Episode and Video Game ones, even though they're not scary and tend to be pretty similar. Jeff the Killer is super popular, even though he has a badly written backstory and aside from his appearance there's nothing unique about him. The average villain of an episode of Criminal Minds is far more interesting than Jeff is, but people love him anyway.

I really don't want to be elitist, but people on the internet seem so easily pleased by horror that I can't help but feel frusterated. Hardcore horror fans often lament on how hard it is to find a truly good horror movie or video game, which makes it just stand out more when a mediocre work gets an inexplicably huge fanbase.

I've seen some photos and videos of this game. By far, the scariest aspect is that when you're on the lookout for Freddy, you can only see him by the light of his eyes in darkened areas, which are easy to miss. I get the impression that this game actually delivers admirably on providing a tense atmosphere, not just jump scares. Too bad I'm not willing to play the game to check it out for myself.

From what I understand about this and it's sequel, the real big thing is it's challenge. Almost everyone admits that the simple scariness of the animatronics wears out very fast. However, the tension brought by trying to manage the energy, trying to learn the patterns, etc. keep you on edge. It is at this point that even though it's not so much creepy or scary anymore, it's still startling and surprising. The second game improves a lot more on this department (with more things to micromanage and different methods that you need to use and not confuse) while also developing more on the creepy and unsettling factor (with the mini-games and occurrences). I've seen a couple of post talk about how it's simple, but don't simple but difficult games often strive?

You do come across as a bit of a Fan Hater. Still, I agree with most of the points. Everyone has different tastes in horror. Personally, the games make me paranoid, but that doesn\'t apply to you, and that\'s fine. Seriously, though, tone down the Fan Hater-ness. It\'s the same situation as Undertale, a good indie game with a fanbase that will shove it everywhere even where it doesn\'t belong. Peace out, man.