Five Nights at Freddy’s is a series that has come a long way. From being a game developer’s last ditch effort, to him going on to gain millions by releasing game after game (even books),to being turned into a cinematic release, the entire series has definitely grown since its early days all the way back in the early 2010s.
Many people have made videos playing the games, theorizing the games, reviewing the games, and comparing the games. While a lot of people have different opinions on which game is the best, this article is focused on explaining why the sixth installment in the series (Five nights at freddy’s 6, pizzeria simulator) is the best in almost every way. The game certainly has its flaws that we’ll go over though.
In almost every fnaf game, you follow the standard repetition of whatever that game requires you to do, and the games can somewhat be summed up in a few short sequences.
Fnaf 1: Check both hallways, check foxy, check freddy, repeat
Fnaf 2: Wind music box, get rid of whatever animatronic is coming into your office, flash foxy, repeat.
Fnaf 3: Depends on whether or not you get jumpscared by a phantom, however if you don’t, the game is simply just spam audio lures and then reboot it once it breaks.
Now these games do have their nuances, and the gameplay isn’t this 100% of the time, but FNAF 6 is the only game that you simply cannot come up with a repetition formula for (and no, I don’t count security breach or secret of the mimic. Those are not FNAF games.)
Thanks to the tycoon aspect combined with the office gameplay and the salvages, there’s so much stuff to do to kill the repetition that often comes with FNAF games, and even the office segment alone is far less repetitive than any FNAF game thanks to the randomness of how the AI works. You constantly have to switch between tools, and there’s no 100% guaranteed formula on how to beat the game. That’s what easily makes the gameplay the most fun out of all the games, and that isn’t even counting all the arcade games that you can also play, the game easily has the most replayability factor, and objectively has the most stuff to do out of all the games.
Just like in every other FNAF game, FNAF 6 heavily focuses on its story (or lore, if you will.) However, Fnaf 6 easily has the best out of all of them, thanks to the amazing ending and the various easter eggs you’re allowed to unlock. Most importantly, unlike in other games like FNAF 2, the easter eggs are consistent and not impossible to get most of the time, and they actually contribute to the story instead of just being random.
(SPOILERS FOR A 9 YEAR OLD GAME AHEAD): In the story, you play as an unsuspecting business owner who thinks they’re running a business, but instead, you’re essentially playing as bait for your employer who lured a bunch of animatronics into a labyrinth in which they would be burned to free their spirits. There’s a lot more to the game than that, but that’s essentially the dumbed down version of it. This story is brilliantly foreshadowed and told throughout the whole game, making the ending that much more impactful as well. In fact, if you ask many fans of the series, a lot would agree that the series should’ve ended with this game (or at least the next installment, ultimate custom night.)
Now just like everything on this Earth, the game isn’t perfect. Because even though the gameplay is overall the best, this game easily has the worst jumpscares in the series (aside from ultimate custom night, but that game has the excuse of having more than 50 animatronics in it.) The jumpscares don’t feel integrated into the game nearly as well as the others in the series, most likely because unlike the other games, the fnaf 6 office is cramped, making it harder to blend in animations with the environment.
Fnaf 6 is easily the best game in the entire series, and I don’t see that changing in a while. The game’s variety, story, and overall gameplay easily takes the cake from the other games in the franchise. It’s certainly the magnum opus of the FNAF series.
If you want to give it a try for yourself, it’s easiest to do it through steam at:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/738060/Freddy_Fazbears_Pizzeria_Simulator/