The Best 'Five Nights at Freddy's' Games

This is the game that started it all! By capitalizing on the animatronic characters from everyone's favorite family restaurant from their childhood, Scott Cawthon created an entirely new type of horror!

The first FNaF title introduced the elements that would remain throughout the franchise, including the use of security cameras, remote lighting, various minigames, phone calls, and, of course, jump scares.... tons and tons of jump scares.

Thanks to the game's comparative simplicity, it's subsequent sequels were launched rather quickly. In fact, the sequels came so fast, FNaF holds the Guinness World Record for having the most sequels released in a year.

While all the games were received favorably, the first is considered by most to be the best, though it does have some competition. It holds a Metacritic score of 78 vs. the seventh sequel's slightly higher score of 81.

It wasn't long before Cawthon began working on a sequel to his instinct classic, which was apparent when he posted a teaser only a month after FNaF was released. The game continues like the original but removes the doors while adding new animatronic characters.

The setting puts the player into a new and improved Freddy Fazbear's Pizza restaurant with a shift from midnight to 6:00 am, which amounts to a gameplay time of about seven minutes and six seconds in total.

The original game's antagonists return for the sequel, though they are considerably more withered than the newer characters, which only serves to make them look considerably more frightening.

The first sequel didn't fare as well as its predecessor, only managing to achieve an aggregate score of 62 on Metacritic. Regardless, it kept the franchise alive, and another sequel wasn't far behind.

Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location, the fifth game in the FNaF franchise, is set in a new location with brand new animatronics. In the game, the player takes control of Mike, otherwise known as Eggs Benedict, a new employee of Circus Baby's Rentals and Entertainment.

The company works alongside Fazbear Entertainment, renting animatronics out for children's parties. Instead of being guided by a guy on the other end of the phone, Mike receives instructions by HandUnit, an AI character.

HandUnit is all about disregarding the various safety rules of the company, which run counter to the instructions of Circus Baby, which are absolutely vital for surviving the night. There are new minigames added to the title, and a "custom night" DLC was made available that incorporates elements from the first title into Sister Location.

Five Nights at Freddy's 4 changes the format a bit by placing the player in control of a young boy who has delusions of being attacked by nightmarish versions of the animatronic characters from the first game. 

Play centers around defending your character with a flashlight, doors, and listening for sounds, which give away the enemies' location. The immersive environment only serves to increase the frightening nature of the game.

Throughout the game, the young boy's story is told via minigames, which shows him being bullied over his irrational fear of the restaurant. Instead of a fellow on the phone, he's guided by an animatronic plush toy.

By the end of the game, the child is killed by Fredbear in a freak accident. FNaF 4 is often considered one of weakest games in the franchise, as it only holds an aggregate Metacritic score of 51, which is the lowest of any of the franchise's titles. Is that score warranted?

The sixth installment in the FNaF franchise, Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator, offers an adventure with a lighter, less frightening theme. The game's primary focus is to run a pizzeria while making sure it remains a safe and 

Instead of being killed by animatronic characters, the real danger comes from messing up and being sued as a result. If that happens too many times, your lovely little pizzeria may find itself on a blacklist.

Of course, that's only the premise on the surface; underneath, the real gameplay follows the player as they sit in their finished pizzeria after closing. When that happens, it's back to formula, and you'll have to end off the salvaged animatronic creatures that remain inside the restaurant.

Ultimate Custom Night is the second spin-off title to the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise. The gameplay is different from the previous games, which consists of surviving for a single night with numerous pre-programmed elements.

In Ultimate Custom Night, it's up to the player how they will survive throughout the night they ultimately enter into. There are 50 different antagonists, and it's possible to adjust the difficulty settings of them all.

The spin-off is similar to the "custom night" DLC from earlier games in the franchise but incorporates elements of them all into a single title, making it possible to create a detailed night for survival. It also includes 16 different-themed game modes for the player to customize and play.