Posted Feb. 7, 2022

By Elizabeth Philbrick

Staff Editor

Continuing the line of family-friendly horror games, Steel Wool Studios releases the latest installment of the Five Nights at Freddy’s series, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach, on Dec. 16, 2021.

Playing as the character, Gregory, players try to escape the Mega Pizzaplex and survive six hours, running and hiding from animalistic animatronics, as well as playing mini-golf and laser tag. And instead of the player staying in one spot looking side to side, they are now able to free-roam across a huge map. From a simple security night shift to a free-roam mall, the series has definitely gone through an upgrade since 2014, when the first game was released.

Including a new style of gameplay, the game also introduces new characters that have quickly become fan favorites; Montgomery Gator and Roxanne Wolf, who perform on the main stage, and Sun and Moon, who hang around the daycare. Along with the upgraded well-known animatronics and the only other human character, each character has gotten a lot of love.

Despite all the love for the long-awaited game, players are well aware of all the bugs and unfinished parts of the game. With the new format and different gameplay, players can tell that this game needed a lot more time; even though there’s almost a three-year timeframe since the last game. Players are guessing that the development of the game completely changed only months before release, as the teasers from years before are different from the most recent ones.

And on top of that, the longer this series goes on, the more confusing the story gets. After the official ending in the sixth game, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator, the story continues to go on with to main villain: William Afton, who “always comes back.” Unfortunately, he continues to come back to the Pizzaplex, despite what had happened to him in the sixth game. Which, again, only makes the story more confusing. The game could’ve gone on and started with a new tale, but we always go back to the beginning.

After playing a few hours of it, I can tell that it truly had potential. The playthrough is great and the new characters are a great addition. I would say that the plot is great, especially after following the release of the VR game, Five Nights At Freddy’s: Help Wanted, and following the story in that, but it’s only great up until the endings. Not only are the multiple choices confusing on their own, but the endings are terribly done and in a comic-book style; completely different from the rest of the game.

It’s a great step away from the previous games, but it still needs a lot of work.