Five Nights at Freddy's and the Nature of the Jumpscare

[RJ Dalton]

FNAF isn't really all jumpscare. It's all build-up to the jumpscare. Although all build-up does mean it's still all *about* the jumpscare, so maybe it's the same thing.

I dunno, I think the game is really effective at what it does, but I can't play it either because the build-up and tension is never released (except when you die, which is a failed state), and I just can't handle the tension over that extended a period of time. Some can. Me? I like the idea, have enjoyed watching a couple of people play it, but while it makes for a good example of excellent minimalist design, it doesn't have lasting power. That's why I roll my eyes at the sequel. The concept is good to work through one short game. Making a sequel, they just crammed it full of more stuff to the point where you can't even appreciate the build-up of tension because you're never not doing something in near-blind panic.

So, basically: yeah, as a short, single game, FNAF accomplishes what it set out to do very effectively. As a lasting experience, it gives you no reason to go back to it. As an experimental indie game, that's good. As a franchise, it fails to understand its own value.

 

[Evonisia]

Plus it's funny that people have been saying for years "Stop giving so many weapons, stop making the player able to beat everything, horror is better the more helpless the character is!" at games like Dead Space and you get a game where the character is completely helpless and the same people are like "That's too helpless! I want to be able to fight back and run around!"

I'd like to think that with FNaF it's a case of the horror logic being so poor. In, let's say, Slender your character is willingly putting themselves into that area and the environment is naturally dicking you over in your pursuit of papers. In FNaF I have absolutely no idea why the security guard can't just barricade an opening with a table and then close one door all night (the one that Foxy doesn't go after, of course, because apparently punching doors removes electricity?). Or better yet, hide and take your iPad with you, it's not like they have X-Ray vision.

I'll leave aside the issues with that job existing in the first place, because it's irrelevant to the situation the security guard is in.

I think Yahtzee, though contradicting himself, is trying to say that there needs to be some kind of balance with the helplessness factor. It's simply unreasonable that all you can do is prevent jump scares from happening for as long as possible because you've nothing to defend yourself with. You can't even hide like in Outlast and Amnesia. You can't focus on these hallucinations or the audio of the cameras when you're busy trying to stop a Chicken that has teeth from invading your private space.

 

[PunkRex]

Wow, well this article's gonna garner some mixed responses, two things in particular:

1. Anticipation as the looming sense of dread, e.g. the static in Silent Hill 2.

2. The lack of movement/combat adding to the sense of weakness, e.g. tank controls.

But before peeps start riling, maybe consider that horror (like every other theme) means different things to different people. I know it sounds like an after school special but there are many ways to create something, you don't need to enjoy every method.

 

[Thanatos2k]

Plus it's funny that people have been saying for years "Stop giving so many weapons, stop making the player able to beat everything, horror is better the more helpless the character is!" at games like Dead Space and you get a game where the character is completely helpless and the same people are like "That's too helpless! I want to be able to fight back and run around!"

I'd like to think that with FNaF it's a case of the horror logic being so poor. In, let's say, Slender your character is willingly putting themselves into that area and the environment is naturally dicking you over in your pursuit of papers. In FNaF I have absolutely no idea why the security guard can't just barricade an opening with a table and then close one door all night (the one that Foxy doesn't go after, of course, because apparently punching doors removes electricity?). Or better yet, hide and take your iPad with you, it's not like they have X-Ray vision.

I'll leave aside the issues with that job existing in the first place, because it's irrelevant to the situation the security guard is in.

If you start applying logic to horror games/movies or video games in general you're gonna have a bad time. Rather than grumble about how unrealistic everything is, it's far more fun to come up with theories why things are the way they are. (Security guard is criminal on parole, REALLY needs the money, can't find work anywhere else, etc) The game leaves most of this stuff to your imagination intentionally.

 

[EvilRoy]

I still don't quite get why Yahtzee is complaining about the anticipation in this game when he praised Amnesia for relying on anticipation over cheap surprises. And now here he's saying that cheap surprises are better? Hell, the gameplay in Freddy's reminded me of nothing so much as Papers, Please, where you're stuck in one place and trying to operate equipment as quickly as possible, constantly afraid of what will happen if you screw up.

I think part of it is the peaks and valleys. In games like Silent Hill or Amnesia, you have your general atmosphere of dread or unease creating a backdrop for everything you do and the anticipation of an action ramps up to and down from a scare. In FNaF, your atmosphere is the sense of anticipation, and it can only ramp up until you game over or win. So the whole environment is really homogenous.

There's nothing wrong with stressing someone, but you can't necessarily do it constantly for the same reason very few FPS are just one constant high speed shootout for the full game. At one point or another peoples ability to deal with this or that emotion peaks, and we have to take a rest - normally this would be built into the game but here it just isn't and people who react poorly to stress will just get exhausted and quit or tune out and defang the game by not caring.

 

[Mirrorknight]

I think the appeal of FNaF lies in several factors.

1. Some folks (like Yahtzee) get irritated by lack of control. I mean, if they were stuck in some insane ass Chuck E. Cheese with murderous animatronics, they'd grab the nearest heavy blunt object and swing wildly until they're through the exit door. That makes sense. However, some people like the restraints put on them. That they have no choice but to survive with just some doors or a flashlight. As opposed to being repulsed by the feeling of anticipation, it's appreciated by others. It's not so much the jumpscare that gets the adrenaline pumping. it's the waiting. The knowing that they are coming after you, and all you can do is hope you have enough power to make it through the night. Different strokes for different folks.

Of course, after awhile, one gets used to it which leads to

2. They're blissfully short. Comparative to most other horror games, FNaF is fairly short. Depending on your level of skill, you can have the game cleared in a matter of a few hours. This is good, because if it went on any longer then they currently do, it would certainly get stale. However, the creator seems to have found the sweet spot of not being so short to not be worth the money, but not long enough to outwear it's welcome.

3. By the time you reach the end, it's not about the scares. It's about the challenge. By the time you reach the extra nights, the jumpscares aren't scary anymore. It becomes more about seeing if you -can- survive, despite the difficulty. People that do 4/20 or Golden Freddy mode don't do it for the scares. They do it to see if they can do it. It demands perfection, and like any game that's difficult, while it's a pain in the ass trying and failing again and again, once you accomplish it, hell yeah.

4. It has interesting story. You have to read between the lines for a lot of it, explore (via your cameras) for it, but the story is rather dark and tragic once you figure it out.

As you can tell, I'm a bit of a fan. However, I will say that I hope it ends with 3. It -is- starting to carry on a bit, and I'd like the series to wrap up before it -does- get too stale. Cool the one guy hit it big on the series, but it might be time to move on, at least with a completely different setting/story.

 

[squallina]

I agree with Yahtzee on this one. No FNAF for me - I've got better horror games to play that don't involve me just sitting in a chair listening to a guy talking over a phone, checking cameras, and waiting to be pounced. Let me at the bastards!

 

[gunpowder_saint]

I would like to argue that there strung out, anticipation of the jump scare and resulting death is Not the climax of the game. It's when the clock clicks over to 6am and you get that little music and the cheer. That, I feel is the point of the game. Struggling not against an inevitable jump scare, like how Paranormal Activity was, and even Blair Witch, but the pseudo struggle to the finish line. It's different than 2D Horror Films because in film the scare is inevitable, but here it can be fought and won against. However, on the same hand, stripping the fear of the jump scare and the strung out environment of the game does leave it a sort of lacking, methodical; left, right, left, right, door, kind of thing. I see your point, but disagree. However I do agree that the "game" portion of the game is fairly forgettable, the victory that comes with it is not.

 

[Evonisia]

Snip

If you start applying logic to horror games/movies or video games in general you're gonna have a bad time. Rather than grumble about how unrealistic everything is, it's far more fun to come up with theories why things are the way they are. (Security guard is criminal on parole, REALLY needs the money, can't find work anywhere else, etc) The game leaves most of this stuff to your imagination intentionally.

I don't take issue with the job itself. Same with Slender as I said in that other post. They're willing to do whatever hell the game throws at them. It's more of a bad taste brought on once we're in the horrifying position.

In fact my last post makes me hope somebody makes a FNaF style game where you can take the iPad with you and hide. I think that would be cool and add another layer of horror to the mix (as well as adding a bit to the logic which is always nice). Maybe hiding outside means that more power is used up because the iPad is further away.

 

[Bindal]

In fact my last post makes me hope somebody makes a FNaF style game where you can take the iPad with you and hide. I think that would be cool and add another layer of horror to the mix (as well as adding a bit to the logic which is always nice). Maybe hiding outside means that more power is used up because the iPad is further away.

The second game kind of has just that: You hide (by putting on a mask). You also got infinite power due the sequel being set before the first and the company not being in financial trouble - but you also got to deal with two other defense mechanics as well and all three of them are mutually exclusive to each other and each animatronic is only fooled by one (most by the mask, one by the music box and one by the flashlight).
And only god (or the ONE developer) knows what the mechanic of the third game is going to be. And yes, there is a third game already in the work, coming probably Feburary.

Also, there is no iPad (considering the games are set in 1993 and 1987, respectively) so it is just a monitor that can be folded up and down, so there is no "leaving the building with it"

 

[Evonisia]

Snip

I call it that for similarity, it would only be completely valid if the character sat on the toilet at some point (probably nearby that dead Freddy), as iPads exist only for the purpose of playing video games on the toilet regardless of what year you're in.

Well yeah, the second game has the mask, that's reasonably close I suppose. Oh and by outside I meant The Office, not the building, sorry.

 

[Bindal]

Snip

I call it that for similarity, it would only be completely valid if the character sat on the toilet at some point (probably nearby that dead Freddy), as iPads exist only for the purpose of playing video games on the toilet regardless of what year you're in.

Well yeah, the second game has the mask, that's reasonably close I suppose. Oh and by outside I meant The Office, not the building, sorry.

Which would be rather suicidal to leave as in both games, the office is so far the safest place for two reasons:
1. It has the cameras (giving you your ONLY option to see everywhere without being seen)
2. It's the room furthest away from the stage, the startingpoint of most animatronics.
And in the first game, you also got the doors on top of that.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

The best Halloween haunted houses I've ever been in were a mixture of horror elements, not limited to jumpscares, creep-factor, psychological horror (rooms that felt alternately huge and confining simultaneously), and such. That is how you do horror. When there is only a single mechanic that a horror-situation hinges on, such as a jumpscare, the whole purpose loses the subtlety of horror done right. Its cheap scares. Jumpscares are just easy horror tropes, and to me using them repeatedly with little else to go with it is poor writing.

FNAF has some interesting mechanics and is by all accounts well made, but watching a few playthroughs has made me think of the weakest haunted houses I've visited that relied on mostly jumpscares and nothing else. Its a sign of a single-minded creative direction, that doesn't really appreciate the full spectrum of interlocking things that makes up a horror scene.

I did dig into the wiki a bit, and the underlying plot and stuff is quite fascinating but it feels extraneously done and overshadowed by rinse-repeat jumpscares. Were the developers to blend the more creepy and psychologically fucked parts of the backstory and plot into the narrative without being broken by game-over jumpscares... then I'd say its successful as a horror game and not just mediocre.

 

[Cid Silverwing]

FNAF's plot is overrated, which is to say there isn't any. 90% of it is bread crumbs being left entirely to the audience to figure out, which to me is one extreme of lazy storytelling (the other being rigid canon that punishes "bad choices" with "bad endings" and so on).

 

[Bindal]

FNAF's plot is overrated, which is to say there isn't any. 90% of it is bread crumbs being left entirely to the audience to figure out, which to me is one extreme of lazy storytelling (the other being rigid canon that punishes "bad choices" with "bad endings" and so on).

And that, ladies and gentleman, is a prime-example post of someone, who doesn't know what they're talking about.

 

[Warachia]

Yahtzee's acting like the game is nothing but the jumpscare at the end, as if that's all the game's about, when if you play it right the jumpscare never happens. To me the best thing about horror is the anticipation and build up which FNAF does really well, being able to swing a hockey stick at the robots would, at best turn that game into a creepier version of whack a mole and take all of the horror out of it.

 

[EvilestDeath]

I hate to break it to you Yahtzee but Five Nights at Freddys is a Puzzle game not survival horror game where jumpscares are due to lack of understanding the mechanics which take a few failures and in this case environmental perception to learn. Ignoring story and even the setting, it is a game about learning how these things react then preventing them from reaching their goal, you. Jumpscares are expected as a learning curve not to be scary as much tension as they build trying to figure things out but that's just from failing to play the game like a puzzle.

That said the setting and general description makes it hard for me to argue such so whatever, I'm an idiot whos view is not important, move along to the next comment people nothing to see here...or is there?

 

[Devieus]

I hate to break it to you Yahtzee but Five Nights at Freddys is a Puzzle game not survival horror game where jumpscares are due to lack of understanding the mechanics which take a few failures and in this case environmental perception to learn. Ignoring story and even the setting, it is a game about learning how these things react then preventing them from reaching their goal, you. Jumpscares are expected as a learning curve not to be scary as much tension as they build trying to figure things out but that's just from failing to play the game like a puzzle.

The same can be said about most (survival) horror games, failure to learn how to best deal with the situation will result in the untimely demise of the protagonist by the hands of whatever the developer found in his back pocket. It doesn't just end there, RTS is as much a puzzle where the right rock can fight the right scissor, how about finding the bestest path in an FPS. At some point, one has to accept what you just said is kind of nonsense and FNAF is actually a horror game.

 

[angel85]

My relationship with FNAF is different from yours, but my growing disdain for it is similar. All I knew about the game I learned from the copious amounts of fan art for it. Seriously it's almost as extensive a community as My Little Pony's. Eventually the time came where people started asking me to make action figures of the stupid characters (that's a thing I do) but I didn't know what the characters actually looked like since I couldn't tell the difference between the fanart and actual screencaps. Then one of the requesters linked me to the actual screencaps and...THEY LOOK TERRIBLE! When I saw those pictures in image searches I THOUGHT they were samples of lower tier fan art, but apparently "scary" translates into "graphics that would embarrass a PS1" these days. I don't watch lets plays or anything like that so I had no idea what the game actually played like, but I figured it must have been pretty impressive if it could get so popular despite the crap graphics, then I saw your review...I now officially hate this game.