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Franchise creator Scott Cawthon has struck gold with his indie horror hit Five Nights at Freddy’s. The series, dealing with terrifying animatronic mascots reminiscent of Chuck E. Cheese characters terrorizing the player, has struck a chord with the gaming community thanks to its substantial ability to provide genuine scares.

Cawthon has been busy with the series for the past year. The original Five Nights at Freddy’s released on August 8th of 2014, and now the fourth installment, Five Nights at Freddy’s 4: The Final Chapter, will be releasing exactly one year later on August 8th, 2015. To tide fans over until then, Cawthon has released a creepy debut trailer for Five Nights at Freddy’s 4.

The trailer depicts a setting unlike any seen in previous games in the series. Instead of a horror theme park or a Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza restaurant, Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 apparently takes place in the home of an as of yet unnamed main protagonist.

The trailer also offers a glimpse as to what the gameplay will entail. It doesn’t appear that players will be shifting through security cameras any longer, but rather fully exploring the setting using a flashlight, or possibly even a camcorder of some sort, if the time stamps in the upper right hand corner of the screen are any indication.

While exploring the house, players will encounter the usual animatronic terrors, albeit in more bite-sized varieties it seems. At one point, the player character checks a closet and sees the damaged head of Foxy, and numerous mini Freddy Fazbears are seen cackling on a bed near the end of the trailer.

The trailer was fairly revealing, yet at the same time, there’s still a lot of unknowns surrounding Five Nights at Freddy’s 4. We still don’t know who the main character is or what year the game is set in (it’s rumored to be a prequel), and probably won’t know until the game itself is out on August 8th.

Originally, Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 wasn’t set to release until Halloween, but Cawthon found it more fitting to release the game on the date that marked the one year anniversary of the original. That being said, in order to keep Halloween special for Five Nights at Freddy’s fans, Cawthon plans on releasing a free update for the game that will add additional content.

The popularity of the series has spawned plenty of app store ripoffs, as well as fan films. With Five Nights at Freddy’s 4: The Final Chapter set to bring a conclusive end to the story, these copycats and ripoffs, along with the potential upcoming Five Nights at Freddy’s movie from Warner Bros., will help to keep the franchise’s spooky spirit alive for years to come.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 4: The Final Chapter is scheduled to release August 8th for PC, with an Android and iOS release likely to come later on.

Source: Scott Cawthon