Perhaps one of the most appealing factors of the current state of Five Nights at Freddy’s is the intense amount of detailed and compelling lore that surrounds the many events and characters of the series. Across many mainline games and a litany of spin-off titles, the lore of FNAF runs deep and may be understandably overwhelming for somebody new to the franchise.
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The Original Five Nights at Freddy’s
The first Five Nights at Freddy’s release came in 2014, and immediately rose toward the top of the survival horror genre thanks to the deeply tense nature of its sinister gameplay. In the game, the player takes control of a nightshift security guard at a derelict pizzeria known as Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, which is rumored to contain haunted and reanimated life-size animatronics that wander the facility at night.
The pizzeria itself is in a state of disrepair thanks to a series of tragedies associated with it, namely the kidnapping and likely murder of five children by a man named William Afton. It is rumored that the victims’ bodies had been stuffed inside the many animatronic mascots of the pizzeria, named Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy, which had led to a widespread boycott of the business and directly led to its demise.
With the protagonist monitoring the animatronics at night through the use of security cameras, it quickly becomes apparent that these rumors are true, with the mascots moving freely throughout the facility, edging closer and closer to the player’s location with malicious intent. The player can only survive the lengthy period in the facility by managing the power supply of doors and lights, ensuring that none of the possessed animatronics can get close enough to inflict a mortal wound.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 released in 2014 very close to its predecessor, telling a prequel tale to the events of the first game. Taking place in a different location of the same restaurant chain, the title features many of the same animatronics from the first game while introducing a spate of new ones, such as a more passive figure known as Balloon Boy.
The original animatronics from the first game are kept in the restaurant initially as backup suits, but once again roam the facility at night along with their newer counterparts. FNAF 2 goes into more detail about the aforementioned murder of five children that was explored within the first game, telling the lore via Atari-style mini-games. The perpetrator of these crimes is depicted as a sinister and gaunt purple figure, earning him the moniker of Purple Guy for most of the franchise’s story. Following the murderous intent displayed by the newly introduced animatronics in the title, the game ends with them being decommissioned in favor of the classic characters that dominate the first game.
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Five Nights at Freddy’s 3
The third mainline installment to the FNAF franchise gave fans a huge acceleration to the series’ lore and story, taking place 30 years after the events of the original game. This game is set within a new establishment called Fazbear’s Fright, a horror attraction attempting to capitalize on the sinister urban legends surrounding the restaurant chain.
Once again, the player assumes the role of a nightshift security worker at the location, with deadly paranormal encounters saturating the core gameplay of the title. The key lore from FNAF 3 stems from the introduction of a brand-new animatronic known as Springtrap. It is revealed through the same kind of mini-games as FNAF 2 that Springtrap was formed from the killer William Afton, or Purple Guy, hiding from the ghosts of his victims in an empty rabbit animatronic suit. With the suit malfunctioning and trapping Afton inside, his spirit seemingly lingers on inside.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 4
Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 is one of the most unique installments to the franchise, taking place within a child’s bedroom instead of the norm of a security office within a facility. With the player taking control of the child, it is revealed that the protagonist has an intense fear of the animatronics at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria, indicating that the title takes place before the events of the first game.
The game’s story chronicles the infamous “Bite of ‘83”, in which a child was tragically killed in an accident involving one of the animatronics at the facility. It is revealed that the protagonist of the game is the victim of this event, being relentlessly bullied by his friends and brothers over his irrational fear of the pizzeria’s characters. During a birthday party at the location, his head was stuffed into one of the animatronic’s mouths, with his tears causing a technical fault that caused the animatronic to bite down, killing the boy.
Subsequent Five Nights at Freddy’s Releases
Many other titles have released within the FNAF universe following FNAF 4, despite not continuing the sequential titles of the previous installments. The game Sister Location explained how William Afton was the creator of the animatronics of Five Nights at Freddy’s, with his daughter’s soul supposedly possessing a smaller animatronic called Circus Baby which predates the establishment of the Fazbear restaurant chain.
During the events of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator, the player takes control of William Afton’s son, Michael. With the animatronics of the franchise now being seriously dilapidated, so much so that they are now barely functioning and rebuilt scrap versions of their prior selves, it is revealed in the title that Springtrap survived the events of FNAF 3, now known as Scraptrap.
The most recent release, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach, offers free roam gameplay and only spans a single night, bringing fans up to date with the story of the franchise. Security Breach reveals that an entire mall has been created under the Freddy Fazbear franchise, with the player controlling a boy named Gregory who works alongside a new non-hostile Freddy to navigate the maliciously programmed animatronics of the facility. With the game culminating with a revisit to the ruins of the original pizzeria and the reveal of Afton’s spirit living on as the even more disfigured “Burntrap”, it is clear that the story of the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise is not over yet.
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