Thankful Throwback Thursday: Ranking Every FNAF Game – Part Three
It’s time for the second-to-last entry in my rankings of the mainline FNAF series. After this post, we will have officially entered the top three. For now, however, here are my picks for five and four. Additionally, here are the rules in case you are unaware:
- Although I do enjoy FNAF’s lore, my rankings will primarily be based on my enjoyment of their gameplay, with the lore coming second. Feel free to discuss/provide your own rankings in the comments!
- I haven’t played Into the Pit or Secret of the Mimic yet, so both of these entries will be excluded from the list.
- I will avoid ranking spinoffs, such as FNAF World and Special Delivery.
Number Five: Five Nights at Freddy’s 4
Although I can certainly respect the impact FNAF 4 had on the series as a whole (both in terms of lore and its gameplay), it is also the game I come back to the least from the original four. That is not to say it is a bad game by any means (even ranking higher than FNAF 3 in my opinion). Rather, I find its gameplay loop tedious (and even frustrating in some cases).
To be clear, I find the concept of FNAF 4’s audio-based gameplay to be a brilliant gameplay pivot from Scott. Whereas FNAF 1-3 relied on visual cues from the cameras, FNAF 4 directly relies on how well you can detect auditory cues. This often forces you to turn your volume up considerably, making the consequences of missing moving/breathing sounds especially punishing.
However, my issue comes from the execution of this gameplay. In my experience (especially on harder difficulties), there are cases where it is genuinely almost impossible to hear an animatronic breathing, even on a higher volume setting. Additionally, the behavior of characters like Nightmare and Nightmarionne can feel more random and unfair than challenging.
Still, I do feel that FNAF 4 contains some great, spooky atmosphere. Scott did a great job making the player feel a growing sense of uncertainty as they stare into the dark hallways, preparing to use the flashlight.
It certainly harkens to the childlike fear of something hiding in plain sight, ready to move as soon as you do. This feeling is only compounded by the somewhat comforting sounds of the grandfather clock and a barking dog, which provide appropriately moody ambience.
Of course, as alluded to earlier, FNAF 4 was easily one of the peaks of FNAF theorizing. The overall ambiguity of the story, combined with new key plot points and unanswered questions, made the FNAF community scramble to figure out what it all meant (even if some of those explanations sound insane looking back).
As always, Scott excels at environmental storytelling, with FNAF 4 being no different. Even if the game’s lore is still confusing to understand today, the experience of trying to solve it with others was definitely memorable.
Number Four: Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator
When Pizza Sim originally came out, it would have ranked higher up this list. However, after revisiting the game and reflecting on it, I realize I do have a few issues with the gameplay. To start with the positives, I appreciate Scott using more comedy in certain portions of the game. This was a trend that started in Sister Location, but arguably peaked with this game.
As for the gameplay, there are many portions I highly enjoy. Mainly, the pizzeria builder section is excellent and is arguably more fun than the survival portion (more on that later). It is surprisingly in-depth and offers tons of replayability depending on how you allocate your funds. I also appreciate how your performance in these sections directly correlates to your game’s ending, with appropriately hilarious remarks from the tutorial guide depending on which one you achieve.
The salvage mechanic is also a welcome addition to gameplay. Like FNAF 4, Scott did a great job building up the tension of these portions, as you stare at a potentially dangerous animatronic face-to-face in a dimly lit room. In general, the difference in atmosphere between the cheery restaurant management portions and the more unsettling nighttime sections was expertly managed.
Salvaging was also expertly tied into the third gameplay pillar. Failure to detect frequent animatronic movement adds another threat to my least favorite gameplay element: the office sections.
Truthfully, I don’t think the office gameplay is entirely terrible. Rather, I think it’s held back by somewhat simplistic gameplay. The constant back-and-forth between printing flyers and checking the vents to reset audio lures does work, particularly because the office is otherwise relatively quiet. Unfortunately, that pretty much sums up the entirety of the gameplay.
While there are upgrades to improve the speed of your tasks (which are purchased using your restaurant’s revenue), the game doesn’t ever really make you feel like you need these upgrades to survive. This is especially true if you remain cautious during all of the salvage sections. Most shockingly, you can’t even see the animatronics in the vents as they approach your office, which seems like a massive oversight rather than a technical limitation.
Finally, in terms of the lore, I would argue this was yet another high point for the series. Admittedly, Pizza Sim doesn’t contain as much environmental storytelling as its predecessors. Yet, the game’s true ending offers one of the most chilling monologues in the series’ history, providing a perfect conclusion to the “classic/Scott era” (besides Ultimate Custom Night).
This concludes my rankings for this week. Let me know what you think of my choices in the comments, and which games you would rank differently!
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