Five Nights at Freddy's 4
Steam storefront header
Developer(s)	Scott Cawthon
Publisher(s)	Scott Cawthon (PC) Clickteam LLC USA (Console and Mobile)
Series	Five Nights at Freddy's
Engine	Clickteam Fusion 2.5
Platform(s)	Windows Android iOS Nintendo Switch PlayStation 4 Xbox One
Release	Windows July 23, 2015 Android July 25, 2015 iOS August 3, 2015 Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One November 29, 2019
Genre(s)	Survival horror, point-and-click
Mode(s)	Single-player

Five Nights at Freddy's 4 (FNaF 4) is a point-and-click survival horror video game developed and published by Scott Cawthon. It is the fourth installment of the Five Nights at Freddy's series. The game takes place in the bedroom of a child, where the player must avoid being attacked by nightmarish animatronics that stalk them.

The game was announced in mid-2015 under the working title Five Nights at Freddy's: The Final Chapter. It was originally planned for release on October 31, 2015, however the game was pushed forward to August 8, then to July 23 when it was unexpectedly released on Steam.^[1] It was released for Android devices on July 25, 2015, and for iOS devices on August 3, 2015. A port for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One was released on November 29, 2019.^[2] The game is notable for its different gameplay and darker tone.

Upon release, the game received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its unsettling atmosphere but were polarized over the game's mechanics. Five Nights at Freddy's 4 is the only game in the entire Five Nights at Freddy’s series that features no spoken dialogue. The game was followed by Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location, released on October 7, 2016.

Gameplay

A gameplay screenshot showing the protagonist shining their flashlight down the left hallway

Five Nights at Freddy's 4 is a point-and-click survival horror game.^[3] Unlike previous installments, it is set in a child's bedroom rather than a security office. The player, who takes the role of a child, must defend themselves from variants of the four animatronics of the first game—Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy—for four nights and then against Fredbear for the fifth night.^[4][5] Each night lasts from 12 am to 6 am, or roughly six minutes in real time.^[4] If the player does not sufficiently monitor the four entrances—the bed, two side doors, and the closet—an animatronic will jump scare and kill them, and they must start the night over again.^[4][6] The player must rely on audio cues, such as muffled footsteps, to determine whether an animatronic is approaching, to shine their flashlight or to shut the door.^[4][5]

In between nights, the game shifts into "faux-retro" minigames which follow the child the player is playing as, who is subject to abuse from their father and brother.

After beating each night, the player may play a timed minigame titled "Fun with Plushtrap" (in the Halloween update, Plushtrap is replaced by a nightmarish version of Balloon Boy from the second game) in which a plush edition of Springtrap, the central animatronic in Five Nights at Freddy's 3, must be lured to stop on an X marked on the ground within a specific amount of time. Successfully doing so allows the player to start the next night at 2:00 am (1:00 am in challenge modes). Like the main nights, this timed minigame becomes more challenging as the game progresses. The time bonus does not apply to the unlockable modes. Additionally, if the player gets a game over, the bonus is no longer valid for further plays of the same level.

The nightmarish Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy are antagonists in the first four nights, while a large yellow bear animatronic called Nightmare Fredbear becomes the sole attacker on the fifth night. Completing all five nights will unlock a star and an additional sixth night, where the four animatronics will stalk the player until Nightmare Fredbear takes over at 4:00 am. Completing the sixth night will unlock another star and the seventh night titled "Nightmare", in which the animatronics are very aggressive and Nightmare Fredbear is replaced at 4:00 am by an animatronic called Nightmare, who has a unique game over screen compared to other animatronics. A third star and secret code will unlock an eighth night called 20/20/20/20 mode based on the "custom night" modes from the first two games, where the A.I. of the animatronics are set to maximum difficulty. Completing this will grant the fourth star. Other unlockables include galleries of the various animatronics and jumpscares, as well as behind-the-scenes looks at the 3D-modelling process for Fredbear and Foxy.^[7] The extra menu also includes the Fun with Plushtrap and Fun with Balloon Boy minigames to play, a cheat menu, and a challenges menu, which includes 4 challenges that have their own stars to unlock.

Plot

Playable minigames in-between nights tell the story of a young boy in 1983, presumed to be the player character.^[8][9] In the first minigame, he is locked in a bedroom with plush toys that he considers to be his "friends". Throughout the minigame, a plush based on the animatronic Fredbear appears constantly teases and torments him, which strengthens his fear of a family restaurant near his home. Through the next minigames, the boy is terrorized by his older brother, being deliberately scared, abandoned at the restaurant, teased, and unwillingly locked in the restaurant's parts and services room. Throughout the game in the kids bedroom, a bottle of pills, an IV drip, and a vase of flowers can be spotted at different moments.^[8]

In the sixth minigame, the boy is tormented once more by his older brother and several other bullies, whom take advantage of his fear and place him into Fredbear's mouth for a "kiss", which subsequently bites down on the boy and crushes him as the bullies watch in horror. On the seventh minigame, the boy is shown in a dark area surrounded by his toys, and is told by an unknown voice that they will "put you back together". The toys slowly fade out, and soon the boy does as well, while the faint sound of a heartrate monitor plays, implying the boy has died after being bitten by Fredbear. If the player beats the game on the Nightmare mode, a closed metal box is shown to the player. The box can’t be opened, and if the player attempts to open it, the text "Perhaps some things are best left forgotten, for now" is displayed. The meaning of the box was never explained or elaborated on.^[8][10]

Development

Beginning April 27, 2015, Cawthon posted images on his website teasing another game in the series, originally known as Five Nights at Freddy's 4: The Final Chapter. The images, featuring the characters from the series, cryptically teased at a release on Halloween.^[11] A trailer was released on July 13, 2015, hinting that the game took place in the main character's house. The subtitle, The Final Chapter, was dropped.^[12][13]

A demo for the game was released to select YouTubers on July 21, 2015, with the full game being released on July 23, 2015.^[1] The game was released for Android devices on July 25, 2015,^[14] and for iOS devices on August 3, 2015. On July 27, 2015, two updates were released, dubbed v1.01 and v1.02, the former making both Chica and Bonnie's breathing sounds louder, as there were a multitude of complaints about the sounds being too quiet and hard to hear. The latter of these updates were merely described as "minor bug fixes". On October 30, 2015, two more updates, both dubbed as v1.1, were released. One consists of a set of cheat options, challenge modes, and an altered version of the "Fun with Plushtrap" minigame that uses a nightmare version of the character Balloon Boy (from Five Nights at Freddy's 2) in place of Plushtrap. The second is a "Halloween Edition" that replaces Nightmare Bonnie and Nightmare Chica with Jack-o-Bonnie and Jack-o-Chica, and introduces nightmare versions of the Five Nights at Freddy's 2's characters Mangle and The Puppet, (known as Nightmarionne in-game) the former replacing Nightmare Foxy and the latter replacing Nightmare. Nightmare Chica's cupcake is also replaced with a Jack-o-Lantern. Unlike other Five Nights at Freddy's games, the game does not feature spoken dialogue (outside easter eggs).

Reception

Five Nights at Freddy's 4 received "mixed or average" reviews according to review aggregator Metacritic, assigning the Windows version a score of 51 out of 100.^[15] Destructoid criticized the gameplay as being too confusing, and gave the game a review score of 4 out of 10.^[16] The Escapist gave the game a positive review score of 4 out of 5 stars saying that they liked the reworked mechanics, darker and emotional storyline, scary jumpscares, and sad ending but noted the game's bugs and glitches.^[22] Nadia Oxford of Gamezebo gave it 4 out of 5 stars in her review praising it for its intense environment, creepy sounds and graphics, and jumpscares. She criticized the game for being difficult to survive in certain environments when relying on audio cues and the Android version not containing the story-centric minigames.^[17]

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Five Nights at Freddy's 4.

• Five Nights at Freddy's 4 at IndieDB