Five Nights At Freddy’s PC Quick Look

The premise is simple. You work as a secuirty guard monitoring the cameras at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. The pay isn’t much and the owners are stingy with the power.

Your job is to monitor the security cameras to make sure each of those mechanical stuffed animals stay where they belong. See they have a habit of wandering around in the night.

This game is a simple point and click with no keyboard controls (except hit Esc to quit) and no options menu whatsoever.

The Hype

Can you survive five nights at this place? Everything you do uses electricity. Viewing the security camera uses power, closing the doors and keeping it that way uses power and so do the lights.

The game starts off slow with you juggling between multiple camera feeds all the while trying to conserve electricity. Your shift begins at midnight and you have to survive till 6AM (around 8 minutes real time). Sometimes you’ll notice out of its place. Often you’ll catch a glimpse of those mechanical animals staring right back at you which might startle you.

Five Nights at Freddy’s warn you about its jump scares and it has a lot of those. If one of them gets too close, you’ll have to shut the doors, otherwise its game over. One time I was frantically searching for one of those deranged stuffed animals and as I pulled out of the security camera monitor it was already too late. I was met with a jump scare and game over screen. Sadly, I didn’t make it through the second night.

This is where the game shines, creating a sense of dread all the while trying to save electricity in the off chance that you need to close the doors quick least one of them jumps at your face. I thought I was being clever by not using the security camera at all and frantically turning lights on and off to keep those childhood monstrosities at bay. But I let my guard down for just a bit and it was the end.

Also, the game’s sole voice actor does a pretty good job with his voicemail calls. The way he lightly jokes about not worrying too much about your face from getting stuffed in a weird contraption sets the mood of the opening night perfectly. Don’t take this game too seriously but be on the lookout.

Hype Buster

This is an indie game produced by a single guy named Scott Cawthon and it shows in the graphics department.

Also, while the game succeeds in creating tension, the gameplay is simple point and click with no movement. You’re basically stuck in the security room the entire time. It might get to a slow start for some. After the five nights (which might take a while) there is nothing more to do and has limited replay value.

I noticed some screen tearing and there is no options menu. I had to force V-Sync from AMD’s Catalyst Control Center manually.

The Bottom Line

At just 5 bucks it deserves a look. Play with your headphones on and the lights off and you’ll get some decent scares. There’s also a free demo.

At the very least you can see this video of a guy playing the game and getting so scared that it’s funny.