Five Nights at Freddies, the best designed indie horror game of recent memory?

[HeirOfRage]

The only time I can actually get some sort of awesome original and unique core gameplay are in puzzle games like Closure, Portal, and Perspective.

Portal wasn't the original of its type. The original Portal was called Narbacular Drop.

 

[Everything.]

I FUCKING HATE jump scares, they're stupid and cheap as hell.

I need to address this.

Jump scares are only "cheap and stupid" if they come from nowhere with no warning and no way to properly anticipate them.

"Five Nights at Freddy's" is the King Of The Universe when it comes to jump scares being used entirely correctly. They're not cheap, they're not stupid. With a bit of observation, you quickly figure out exactly what causes them and how to avoid them, and they only occur when you screw up.

...

...excepting the Fifth Animatronic.

Screw the Fifth Animatronic.

But even he gets a pass for being so damn effective - and while he can't be properly anticipated and avoided, he's still not "cheap", because there's a Zalgo-esque cue of his arrival if you pay attention to the cameras (although, when you see it, you're doomed).

Oh no, don't get me wrong, this game in particular does a excellent job of making them anything but random but I'd just like to say that jump scares themselves, no matter how they are done, do not represent the 'horror' in a horror game - and are.. still 'dumb'.

I mean, again, Freddy's pounce on you is funny but the real thing about this game is the suspense, the eeriness.. the damn cameras.. the fact that you have a animatronic pirate running down the hall. Those are the real factors of course.

Anyway, what exactly happens with the fifth animatronic? "you're doomed"?

 

[HeirOfRage]

I don't like how jumpscares and screamers have taken over a lot of horror games. I do understand that it's well used in Five Nights at Freddy's, but still.

 

[HeirOfRage]

I FUCKING HATE jump scares, they're stupid and cheap as hell.

I need to address this.

Jump scares are only "cheap and stupid" if they come from nowhere with no warning and no way to properly anticipate them.

"Five Nights at Freddy's" is the King Of The Universe when it comes to jump scares being used entirely correctly. They're not cheap, they're not stupid. With a bit of observation, you quickly figure out exactly what causes them and how to avoid them, and they only occur when you screw up.

...

...excepting the Fifth Animatronic.

Screw the Fifth Animatronic.

But even he gets a pass for being so damn effective - and while he can't be properly anticipated and avoided, he's still not "cheap", because there's a Zalgo-esque cue of his arrival if you pay attention to the cameras (although, when you see it, you're doomed).

Oh no, don't get me wrong, this game in particular does a excellent job of making them anything but random but I'd just like to say that jump scares themselves, no matter how they are done do not make a game, a horror game and are.. still 'dumb'.

I mean, again, Freddy is funnybut the real thing about this game is the suspense, the eeriness.. the damn cameras.. the fact that you have a animatronic pirate running down the hall.

Anyway, what exactly happens with the fifth animatronic? "you're doomed"?

The fifth animatronic 'Foxy' can be seen running down the hallway towards you if you either watch his camera too often or too little. He's very picky. You only get a few seconds to close your door before he kills you.

 

[Everything.]

No, I know which one he meant now. Foxy is technically the fourth.

This one.. he's quite rare.. and well creepy.

 

[xaszatm]

I FUCKING HATE jump scares, they're stupid and cheap as hell.

I need to address this.

Jump scares are only "cheap and stupid" if they come from nowhere with no warning and no way to properly anticipate them.

"Five Nights at Freddy's" is the King Of The Universe when it comes to jump scares being used entirely correctly. They're not cheap, they're not stupid. With a bit of observation, you quickly figure out exactly what causes them and how to avoid them, and they only occur when you screw up.

...

...excepting the Fifth Animatronic.

Screw the Fifth Animatronic.

But even he gets a pass for being so damn effective - and while he can't be properly anticipated and avoided, he's still not "cheap", because there's a Zalgo-esque cue of his arrival if you pay attention to the cameras (although, when you see it, you're doomed).

Oh no, don't get me wrong, this game in particular does a excellent job of making them anything but random but I'd just like to say that jump scares themselves, no matter how they are done do not make a game, a horror game and are.. still 'dumb'.

I mean, again, Freddy is funnybut the real thing about this game is the suspense, the eeriness.. the damn cameras.. the fact that you have a animatronic pirate running down the hall.

Anyway, what exactly happens with the fifth animatronic? "you're doomed"?

The fifth animatronic 'Foxy' can be seen running down the hallway towards you if you either watch his camera too often or too little. He's very picky. You only get a few seconds to close your door before he kills you.

Spoiler

Actually, the fifth animatronic is Golden Freddy. Starting on the third night, the camera for the hallway right outside your left door might show a colored poster instead of the usual one. If you were to switch off the camera, an empty golden colored Freddy suit will appear in front of you. If you don't IMMEDIATELY switch back to your camera and switch rooms, you will instantly get a game over that shows an extreme close up of said Freddy. This close up can crash the game.

 

[scorptatious]

Haven't played it myself, but I have watched a few videos and it is pretty damn creepy.

I hate the idea of having to stay in a tiny little room at night having to constantly check the security cams for homicidal animatronics for SIX. HOURS. STRAIGHT.

That kind of shit is traumatizing.

 

[lacktheknack]

Oh no, don't get me wrong, this game in particular does a excellent job of making them anything but random but I'd just like to say that jump scares themselves, no matter how they are done, do not represent the 'horror' in a horror game - and are.. still 'dumb'.

I mean, again, Freddy's pounce on you is funny but the real thing about this game is the suspense, the eeriness.. the damn cameras.. the fact that you have a animatronic pirate running down the hall. Those are the real factors of course.

Anyway, what exactly happens with the fifth animatronic? "you're doomed"?

There's a small chance when you look into a certain room, one of the posters will change into a decayed yellow bear face. If it does, looking away from the cameras reveals the SCARIEST DAMN THING sitting across the room from you. It's a yellow Freddy Fazbear, except without eyes and decayed. Apparently, you can ward it away by switching the cameras to a different room immediately, but if you're most people, you'll be seizing up in startled panic.

Then it zooms into a closeup on its face after a couple seconds, and your game crashes while screaming.

 

[hazabaza1]

I've got a much better idea on how to avoid the jumpscares.

Spoiler

Not playing the game.

Because it seems kind of bad.

Granted this could just be because I'm not really a fan of many horror things nor many puzzle things but this game kind of seems like an exercise in tedium mixed with the occasional "ooga booga". No thanks.

 

[SD-Fiend]

I'm too scared to actually download this so I'm mostly just browsing through the fanart.

Spoiler: This pretty much sums it all up

 

[EmperorZinyak]

Why doesn't the guard bring a pistol or something after his first night? Or how about just quit after the first night? If you were desperate enough to get 120 dollars for being stalked by killer animatronic robots for 6 hours, you should just go and stick up a convenience store or rob a bank.

In other news, I think that Foxy is kinda cute. She's so damn eager to see you, she just cant help but go running for you.

 

[ADDLibrarian]

Watched Markiplier's play through. Creepy as heck, it's unnerving enough to WATCH someone play it. I think it's a perfect pick for Yahtzee, and here's why:

-Simplistic controls (you control cameras, lights, and doors- that's it)

-Horror game where most of the fear comes from within your own head before the "abloogy woogy woo" moment (Oh gosh, when is it coming? Which way is it going to come from? Oh gosh, I'm running out of electricity! AAAAAAAAAAAAH)

-Animatronic mascots/Yahtzee's fear of costumed mascots...it's like the two were made for each other!

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Question: Why not dress up like one of the mascots? Makes them think you're one of them.

Also, why do you need a security guard at night? Seems like if vandals broke in the T-1000 muppets could take care of themselves.

Then again, like the OP said, your character is very stupid.

Spoiler: Here is one possible reason why that wouldn't work

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

People are to scared to play this? Oh wow.
From what I saw you just need to click through all the cameras every once in a while and close the door when one of them is near. It doesn't seem like you are in any danger at all as long as you do this.
That game over jump scare seems to be the only scary thing this game has to offer. Remove it and there's nothing to be scared of, unless you get scared just because one freeze frame changed a little from the last time you checked it.
They are not even really moving or anything. They won't jump at the camera or whatever.

Spoiler: Well, not quite

Freddy, and a rare golden version are able to get in the room, even if you have both doors shut, and are activated by looking at the camera. Freddy will come after you if you look at him enough in the camera, and the golden version can appear if you see a poster of him. So checking the cameras actually opens you up to even MORE dangers.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

I just realized that this is just a horror version of Project GUARD [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PO1SvuuXBBw] by Nintendo (Specifically Shigeru Miyamoto). Now, I'm not saying this isn't a neat idea and I'm not saying it doesn't have a cool concept, because it does. But it's not original, because Nintendo did it first.

Regardless, this indeed looks fun. I might pick it up if it gets more levels, more enemies, and a deeper story then just "You're going to die tonight if you waste all of your electricity".

<_<

I see you liked it.

Did you find a deeper story than you expected?

 

[Strelok]

As an Amnesia, Call of Cthulhu, Outlast and Among The Sleep fan I was ready to judge this poorly just by what I saw of it. This thread convinced me to buy it when it appeared on Steam today... And it scares the hell out of me, and I love it. Recommend it for sure, best designed? Don't know about that, worth $5? Absolutely.

How my night 2 ended... Damn... come on...

Spoiler

 

[Vausch]

This game must be played for Zero Punctuation.

Seriously, Yahtzee's fear of mascots combined with his love for horror games? This will make him shit himself so hard he'll rocket to the moon.