FNAF 4
Five Nights at Freddy's 4, originally named Five Nights at Freddy's: The Final Chapter in development, is an indiepoint-and-click survival horror video game created by Scott Cawthon. It is the fourth installment of the Five Nights at Freddy's series. Originally planned for release on October 31, 2015, the game was pushed forward to August 8, then again 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.
It received generally mixed reviews from critics, who praised the scary environment, and either praised or harshly criticized the game's mechanics, which greatly depart from the previous games, as well as the jumpscares and the story.
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Gameplay[edit]
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Unlike previous Five Nights at Freddy's games, the game is not set in a security office, but in a child's bedroom. There are no cameras, and instead of "Phone Guy", the player is given on-screen instructions to help the player during the game.[2] The player is equipped with a flashlight, similar to the second game, although the light has unlimited power.[3] It can be used to ward away any animatronics seen down the hall; however, if the player hears an animatronic's breathing at the door or they see Nightmare Fredbear or Nightmare upon turning on the flashlight, they must immediately close the door, however, the door will open as the player walks away. The player must also monitor the closet to avoid getting attacked by closing it if necessary, as well as shooing three miniature animatronics named 'Freddles' on the bed before they summon Nightmare Freddy to attack the player. If the player is not careful in shining the light towards the hallways or leaves the doors, closet, and bed unattended for too long, the player will be jumpscared, leading to a game over.
After beating each night, the player can play a timed minigame titled "Fun with Plushtrap", where they must try to stop a small plush toy version of Springtrap, the central animatronic in Five Nights at Freddy's 3, on top of an "X" marked on the ground within a specific amount of time. If the player wins, the player will start the next night at 2 AM. Like the nightmare animatronics, this timed minigame becomes more difficult as the game progresses. It is impossible to use the time bonus in the unlockable modes. Additionally, if the player gets a game over, the bonus is no longer valid for further plays of the same level.
Like previous games, the game's main storyline takes place over five increasingly-difficult nights with unlockable extra levels. The first four nights will put the player against four animatronics: Nightmare Freddy, Nightmare Bonnie, Nightmare Chica, and Nightmare Foxy. Nightmare Fredbear, who combines the scare tactics of the previous four, is the sole attacker on the fifth night. Completing all five nights will unlock an additional sixth night that serves as the epilogue, in which the four animatronics will haunt the player until Nightmare Fredbear takes over when the clock hits 4 AM. Completing the sixth night will unlock the "Nightmare" night, which is essentially the same, except that the animatronics are very persistent and Nightmare Fredbear is replaced by his highly aggressive version, Nightmare, who has a unique game over screen compared to other animatronics. A secret code will unlock an eighth night based on the Custom Night modes from the first two games, which sets the A.I. of the animatronics to maximum difficulty, however, this can only be completed once. 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.[4]
As in most of the previous entries of the series, the story of the game is revealed in interactive Atari-style minigame sections between nights. Each of the minigames are set in a time frame corresponding to the five nights, beginning with "5 days until the party", up to "0 days until the party".
Plot[edit]
The game starts with a minigame which shows a young boy who is locked in his bedroom with plush toys, in which he calls his friends.[5] It is speculated that Five Nights at Freddy's 4's gameplay is the result of the boy suffering from nightmares that he is being attacked by the animatronics, and must protect himself. After the player survives the first night, Fredbear tells the boy that "he" (who is presumably the boy's brother) is hiding in the house, before the boy is jump-scared by his brother, who is wearing a Foxy mask. [6] After the second night, the boy is abandoned at the pizzeria, only to be warned by Fredbear's voice that "he" is coming and that he needs to be brave; however, the boy is sensitive and afraid of the animatronics and costumed mascots, and he ends up crying. An easter egg during this scene briefly shows the "Purple Guy" from the second and third games placing someone in the Spring Bonnie suit.[7]
After the third night, the minigame reveals that other children tease the boy, calling him a coward and crybaby,[8] and that there are rumors of the animatronics coming to life at night and attempting to murder people.[9] The boy, in turn, sees his plush toys as his only friends and generally eschews interaction with other people in favor of them. After the fourth night, it is revealed that he was once locked in the building's parts and services room as a prank.[10] If the fifth night is completed, the boy is shown crying at his own birthday party in the pizzeria. "He" is revealed to be the boy's brother, alongside other bullies wearing the masks of the animatronics from the first game to terrorize the boy.[11] The group, deciding to prank the boy, grab him and try to get him close to the mouth of Fredbear for a "kiss"[12] and end up stuffing the boy's head into the mouth of Fredbear.[13] Suddenly, Fredbear, who was in the middle of singing, forcefully closes his mouth, resulting in the boy's head being crushed while the brother and his friends stare in abject horror.
After the sixth night, the boy hears a voice apologizing to him,[14] as Fredbear promises him that no matter how many times he "breaks", he and the others will always be there to "put him back together" and will always be his friends.[15] The characters then fade out one by one by each sentence, and the faint sound of a heart monitorflatlining can be heard, ending the game. Following this, the player unlocks Nightmare mode, which is the same as the sixth night with the exception of a new animatronic, Nightmare (theorized to be a nightmarish version of Shadow Freddy, as seen very rarely in Five Nights at Freddy's 2 and seen in the minigames of Five Nights at Freddy's 3) who is a more aggressive version of Nightmare Fredbear.
If the player completes Nightmare mode, an image of a locked metal trunk is displayed; if the player wiggles the padlocks, the game eventually states "Perhaps some things are best left forgotten, for now."[16] Cawthon has remained cryptic about what is inside the trunk, and eventually announced that he will not reveal what is in it.
Throughout the game, when one looks in the background, very rarely, they can see a container of pills on the night table, an IV, and flowers on the night table, implying that the boy is now in the hospital after the events of the Bite, and one theory suggests that the reason that he sees the animatronics, particularly Fredbear, (his root fear) as nightmares is that he was killed by one of them.
Development and release[edit]
Beginning April 27, 2015, Cawthon posted images on his website teasing at another game in the series, originally known as Five Nights at Freddy's: The Final Chapter. The images, featuring the characters from the hies, cryptically teased at a release on Halloween.[17] 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.[18][19]
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 Androiddevices on July 25, 2015,[20] and for iOS devices on August 3, 2015.[21] On October 31, 2015, two updates for the game 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 makes cosmetic changes to Nightmare Bonnie and Nightmare Chica, and introduces nightmare versions of the second game's characters Mangle and The Puppet, the former replacing Nightmare Foxy and the latter replacing Nightmare. Nightmare Cupcake is also replaced with a jack-o-lantern.