20/20/20/20 Mode – A love letter to FNAF haters

Five Nights at Freddy’s Haters: Can’t we all just get along?

I feel like it’s appropriate to make this the 20/20/20/20 Mode night topic because addressing how the anonymity of the Internet turns people into dicks is a terrifying, difficult process. Granted, I also think that Scott Cawthon having to address the level of vitriol people spew is absurd because that kind of thing shouldn’t be happening.

Love FNAF? Hate it? Indifferent? Let others do what they want regarding it.

People who love Five Nights at Freddy’s definitely put the fan in fanatical. I speak from personal experience. I also know that before I really gave the games a try (and once again, Markiplier’s videos are to blame and I will gladly say that to his face on the day I never see him to avoid such a confrontation) that I thought they were overhyped and probably awful. I’d voiced that opinion to people, accepting that those people liked the game and letting them do their thing. They accepted that I didn’t like those games (based on assumptions and so on) and let me do my thing. At no point did either party feel the need to verbally berate the other.

What Scott Cawthon did is kind of amazing

It’s really amazing, actually. He created four games in, what, the span of two years? Each one was a fresh look at the franchise. The first one was a pioneer in its genre, forcing players to sit still and wait for the bad things to happen. FNAF 2 gave that new life and more ways to potentially poop yourself over loud noises. And so on. However, the detail that seems to get overlooked is that Scott Cawthon made these games. There was no big budget studio responsible, but an indie developer who undoubtedly slaved over these games. To that end, no matter if you like or hate the series, I think we can all agree FNAF is a huge success. Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 is especially impressive given the surprise early release, how polished the end-result is, and the promise of DLC. Most importantly: even if you don’t like the series, that’s no excuse to resort to personal attacks on its creator. Complain about any gameplay aspects, complain about the fanatical nature of people who love these games, whatever. However, just like everything else in life: don’t be a dick to a person over your views.

6a.m. and still alive

This week of posting has been a lot of fun. I think the Five Nights at Freddy’s series really did a lot for indie gaming and the horror genre. With the movie and FNAF 4, we see the likely end of this series once the DLC is done with…

As seen on ScottGames.com

As seen on ScottGames.com

…unless the 5 fans have found in the latest image on ScottGames.com is an indication of more to come.

Either way, this series is phenomenal. The anxiety and stress of gameplay, coupled with childhood fears and easy frights (jumpscares are the worst), make for top-notch horror gaming. Thank you, Scott, for giving us the heebly-jeeblies with some frustrating-but-ultimately-fun games. As many Steam reviews have said, these are some of the best Escape key simulators on the market.

Night 6 – Five Nights at Freddy’s: The Movie

Five Nights at Freddy’s – A movie?

Historically speaking, movies adapted from video games have tended to run the gamut from moderately acceptable to unspeakably horrible. Mortal Kombat holds a special place in my heart even if it was a little lackluster (at best) Wreck-It Ralph was Disney elevating video game concepts to an amazing level, but without focusing on one specific game or franchise.

Then, of course, there’s the Super Mario Bros. movie that no one ever wants to talk about because talking about it can only be done so with the worst kind of anger. Even with how wonderful Dennis Hopper and Bob Hoskins were.

My sister, who was well aware of my then-new obsession with Five Nights at Freddy’s, told me Warner Bros. had announced they would be making the game into a movie. I was tremendously excited at first, but almost immediately became apprehensive. How would a first-person game where the player sits in one place all night, checking cameras and doors, turn into compelling cinema? Seriously, I need to know.

Strong potential

It has been made very clear that Scott Cawthon will have a large role in this movie, and that he will be heavily involved in making sure this turns out to be true to the games. That right there should be enough to sell quite a few tickets. No one knows the Five Nights at Freddy’s lore better than Scott (I feel like a “No shit, Sherlock” moment has just occurred and I’m sorry for that). That was enough for me to go see the movie in theaters. The next announcement I saw regarding the FNAF movie sold me entirely.

Fully-realized, fabricated animatronics created by the Jim Henson Creature Shop. Even if the plot turns out terrible, it’s safe to say that everything will look absolutely amazing. Granted, I also feel like this is the movie magic equivalent of summoning Bloody Mary; making real versions of Freddy Fazbear, Chica, Bonnie, and Foxy is just asking for problems. I’ve not yet seen anything that indicates this will draw exclusively from the first game. With four games worth of lore, plus DLC for FNAF 4, this movie could really tell one Hell of a story. If it ends up being a companion piece to the games, that would be even more amazing.

…and also the potential for failure…

Please, oh please, don’t let this be horrible. Please don’t let this turn into something that is campy and not frightening at all. Don’t let it be Five Nights at Thomp-Stompers.

What this can do for movies adapted from video games

It’s amazing that an indie series like FNAF is getting this much attention (even if it’s because Hollywood loves chances to fill more swimming pools with money a la Scrooge McDuck). If this turns out well, it could mean more well-done movies based on video games. If it’s amazing, just think of how much further this could distance us from Super Mario Bros. the movie? Because seriously, that’s what we’re all quietly hoping.

But seriously. Please let this movie be a collection of pants-shitting moments of anxiety and terror. Please don’t mess this up, Hollywood.

Night Five: Dissecting the Horror Behind Five Nights at Freddy’s

Five Nights at Freddy’s: A Mastery of Anticipation Horror

The Five Nights at Freddy’s game is a lot of things. It has proved to be surprisingly polarizing among gamers, with some loving it and some absolutely hating it. While I’m not big on speculating about the lore of Five Nights at Freddy’s, as I feel like I don’t fully understand it (having not beaten the games).

I have, however, been thinking a great deal about what goes into making these games so effective at drawing out fear, anxiety, stress, and frustration in gamers. Obviously this isn’t concrete, and it’s well past when it should have been posted…but it’s been a long day.

Moving on! Continue reading

Night Three – Five Nights at Freddy’s Three: Springtrap haunts my nightmares

Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 – Springtrap is more than enough to kill you

Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 takes place thirty years after the original game, with Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza having become a distant memory surrounded by horrifying rumors and children disappearing, murders, and so on. Like any local legend, someone decided to cash in on this by turning one of the old buildings into Fazbear’s Fright, a horror attraction based on the murders and disappearances and less on the warm and fuzzies people might have felt surrounding good old Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.

The attraction itself is full of artifacts from the old restaurants, and players get to act as the night guard (mostly to make sure no one steals anything, the new phone guy says, or makes out somewhere in the attraction). There’s some disappointment, however, because though the place has an authentic–and creepy–feel, it lacks one thing: animatronics. Night 1 goes smoothly, with no jumpscares or horror. The ambiance of the attraction is one thing, but having to check the cameras for both the attraction and the vents throughout the building, the doorway to the office, and maintain various systems (audio distractions, the ventilation system, and the video feeds for the cameras). Because the building is so old, if the vents stop working things get even more pants-shittingly terrifying.

Night 2, however, is where the real terror begins. Phone Dude informs players that some of the old training tapes were found from back when there were wearable suits that doubled as animatronics. Even better, however, is that they found one. A real one. They found a working animatronic from the old restaurants.

This is a moment I've gotten used to seeing. God damn it, Springtrap.

This is a moment I’ve gotten used to seeing. God damn it, Springtrap.

Continue reading

All Aboard the Hype Train – FNAF Edition

Naturally, the best way to approach this horrible idea was to buy all three games.

Naturally, the best way to approach this horrible idea was to buy all three games.

Happy Easter, or happy Sunday if Easter isn’t applicable. Either way, I hope you’re all having an at least moderately enjoyable weekend. I’m distracting myself with buffalo chicken dip as I write this, so there are no complaints here.

Instead of dancing around today’s topic, let me get to the point: I finally caved and bought the Five Nights At Freddy’s (FNAF for short) trilogy (or, rather, the three games that presently exist in a series that could continue) on Steam. I’ve mentioned, at least on two occasions, that I have a strange fascination with these games and how much of a following they’ve accrued, but I’m also terribly susceptible to jump scares. Not exactly the makings of a good purchase, so I instead lived vicariously through YouTube videos of people playing FNAF. After multiple viewings of Markiplier swear-babbling his way through all three games, as well as seeing The Completionist’s videos on this trilogy, I finally decided to take a chance at being the night shift security guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. Continue reading