Five Nights at Freddy’s is a massive franchise that seemingly came out of nowhere. The mania started with a single video game and has grown into much more. There are currently nine main games and four non-canon spin-offs. On top of that, there are novels, toys, and a voracious dedicated fanbase. The background behind its origins and what the franchise is releasing this month make for an incredible story.
The first game, Five Nights at Freddy’s, came out in August 2014. It is a point-and-click survival horror game now available on almost every major console. However, it was only released on Windows, Android, and iOS when it debuted. Scott Cawthon created the game after receiving negative reviews of his previous family-friendly game. One of the major complaints with that game is the characters look accidentally scary.
From there, Cawthon turned something that’s supposed to be family-friendly into a new kind of horror game. The game preys on the fear of animatronics and giant, friendly-looking possessed toys. Instead of being able to shoot or fight the attacking antagonists, though, in this game, you simply must deter them and survive the night.
A New Horror
If you’re expecting a blast-the-baddies horror experience, you’re mistaken. The lack of movement and ability to defend yourself adds a new fear to the survival horror genre and captives young gamers especially. Their aversion makes sense as the game is a nightmare version of the once-popular Chuck E. Cheese Pizza, where many children have celebrated or attended parties. After gamers played the original game and their videos hit YouTube, it exploded in popularity.
This month, just about nine years after that first game, the franchise is releasing a live-action movie distributed by Universal Pictures. The movie follows the same basic story as the game. The Five Nights at Freddy’s narratives can be somewhat vague, though. Most of the backstory comes from recordings or minigames, so it can even be confusing to sort out which game takes place when. Below is the chronological order to play or replay all the Five Nights at Freddy Games and better understand the storyline before seeing the movie.
All The FNAF Games in Chronological Order
Five Nights at Freddy’s 4
The first game in the series was released in 2015 and is available for Android/iOS, Windows, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox X|S Series, and Xbox One. The game’s setting is the earliest in 1983 in a child’s bedroom. The bedroom deviates from the original games, but the basic principles remain the same. There is no dialogue in the game to make the isolated atmosphere even scarier, which is also a first for the franchise.
The child must monitor the entries in their room by listening for the sound of approaching animatronics. Instead of controlling security cameras or doors, you are running around the room and checking to see if anyone is coming at you or behind you. The main movement for the protagonist child is scurrying between the bedroom and the closet. The main tool for defense is a flashlight that can scare the incoming animatronics away.
The child must survive from midnight to 6 a.m. to pass each of the five nights. The game time for each survival level is about eight minutes, comparable to the previous titles. If the child doesn’t monitor and avoid the animatronics, they will attack and kill them, forcing the player to restart the level. In between levels, there are minigames where the player will take on the role of the child in a series of experiences that tell the game’s story.
Featured animatronics in Freddy’s 4
- Nightmare Freddy
- Nightmare Bonnie
- Nightmare Chica
- Nightmare Foxy
- Nightmare Fredbear
- Plushtrap
- Nightmare Balloon Boy
- Jack-O-Bonnie
- Jack-O-Chica
- Nightmare Mangle
- Nightmarionne
- Nightmare
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2
The second game in the franchise’s story was released in November of 2014 just a few months after the original. It debuted on Windows, Steam, and Android before eventually being released on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch. The game is the first to take place in the Pizza restaurant and follows the traditional style of play. It stars old, worn versions of the original game’s animatronics plus the new Toy Animatronics.
It takes place around 1987 in a recently opened restaurant called Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. The restaurant has animatronic performers, with the leader being the mascot for the business, Freddy Fazbear. You play as Jeremy, a security guard tasked with monitoring the building and animatronics overnight. The game once again takes place between midnight and 6 a.m. While you still have tools and the animatronics slowly make their way to you, there are some changes.
This time, you get a flashlight to scare the animatronics away and an animatronic head to wear to fool them into leaving you alone. The head works to fool everyone except Withered Foxy and The Puppet. Instead, with these two, you must scare them away with your flashlight. The Puppet is controlled by the new music box feature, which must be wound consistently throughout the night. When it fully unwinds, The Puppet will enter the security office to take Jeremy out.
The power and doors aspect of the game have been removed. While you still monitor the animatronics, you essentially must deter them by turning on room lights or using the flashlight when up close. Instead of killing Jeremy, if The Balloon Boy makes his way into the security office, it will disable the flashlight, which makes survival more difficult. Lastly, there are retro-style mini-games that occur after Jermey is killed. In these mini-games, you play as the animatronics and reveal details about the backstory.
Featured animatronics in Freddy’s 2
- Toy Freddy
- Toy Bonnie
- Toy Chica
- Mangle
- Balloon Boy
- JJ
- The Marionette / The Puppet
- Withered Freddy
- Withered Bonnie
- Withered Chica
- Withered Foxy
- Withered Golden Freddy
- Endo 02
- Shadow Freddy
- RWQFSFASXC / Shadow Bonnie
- Fredbear
Five Nights at Freddy’s Sister Location
The third game chronologically was released in 2016 on Android/IOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It takes place in the late 1980s or early 1990s, a few years before the original game’s setting of 1993. You play as Mike Afton, a recently hired technician at Circus Baby’s Rentals and Entertainment. The company is associated with Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza and rents out animatronics, hence the game’s title.
Aside from new animatronics, the major differences are the ability for some movement and required objectives to complete in addition to surviving the night. Again, minigames explain what happened to Michael after the first game.
There is also a custom night, a throwback to the original game. It includes using doors and the camera system familiar to players of the first Five Nights at Freddy.
In the main game, you are led by a new AI character called HandUnit, similar to the previous “guy on the phone.” This character informs you about the game missions and makes recommendations.
Featured animatronics in Sister Location
- Ennard
- Circus Baby
- Ballora
- Bon Bon
- Funtime Foxy
- Funtime Freddy
- Yenndo
- Minireena
Five Nights at Freddy’s
The first game ever in the series dropped in August of 2014 on Android/IOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. In the game, you play as Mike, a security guard at a well-established pizza restaurant with performing animatronics in 1993. The game was a huge hit, and the sequel came later the same year respectively.
In this game, you monitor the sometimes mobile and hostile animatronics on various room cameras from the safety of the security office. You must check the cameras, turn on lights in the adjacent hallways, and close the doors to the security office to keep them away for as long as possible. The doors, lights, and cameras all run on a power system that gets shorter each night, which means more strategy and less room for error.
There are four main animatronics in the game, which are reused in most subsequent games in some version or another. Golden Freddy also makes an appearance in the game but is a more mysterious side animatronic. Each animatronic has unique movement patterns that help predict where they’ll go as they make their approach.
There are five levels or nights to survive, each counting down about ten real-time minutes. The story is told through voicemails each night from a previous employee at the restaurant. They explain the origins of the animatronics bad behavior and eventual turn to murder. If you survive all five nights, a sixth night opens up. Then, likewise, a seventh night with customizable AI becomes available.
Featured animatronics in Five Nights at Freddy’s
- Freddy
- Bonnie
- Chica
- Foxy
- Golden Freddy
Five Nights at Freddy’s 3
Starting with this game, the franchise has jumped forward into the future. This game, released in 2015 on Android/IOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, is set in 2023, 30 years after Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza closed. This game has a meta aspect, picking up from the first game’s events and runs with them.
In this game, you are in Fazbear’s Fright: The Horror Attraction. It’s a spooky funhouse based on the events that took place and are now well known at the original Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. They have original animatronics from the first game and pizza restaurant in the building to make things authentic!
You play as a security guard, monitoring the business and animatronics from the security office at night. You still use monitors, but you can also power up and down systems in the building to help keep the animatronics from reaching you.
This time, there is only one animatronic in the building that can harm you, named Springtrap. There are other appearances by previous animatronics, but they are phantoms or hallucinations. These enemies can’t hurt the player but can interfere with the cameras and defense tools and also trigger Springtrap to appear.
Featured animatronics in Freddy’s 3
- Springtrap
- Phantom Freddy
- Phantom Chica
- Phantom Foxy
- Phantom Mangle
- Phantom Puppet
- Phantom Balloon Boy
Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator
The sixth game in the timeline released in 2017 and is available on Android/IOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It contains usable animatronics, one of which is Springtrap, which points to this game taking place sometime after Five Nights at Freddy’s 3. You again take on the role of Michael Afton, who is now running his own Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza location.
The game is a business simulator but also keeps the horror and survival aspects alongside it. The horror stems from Michael needing to repair the junked animatronics found outside the restaurant at some point. These animatronics include Springtrap and other familiar faces. The simulator aspect is important, though, as you must keep the business running and safe or face the legal consequences.
The game begins with an 8-bit style minigame involving pizzas and Freddy Fazbear. The game transitions into listening to directions on a cassette tape and messing with a Circus Baby head, which comes to life.
From there, the survival aspect of the game is staying in an office and monitoring the business. The animatronics are attracted to noise and enter the office when there is too much. Things like turning on a computer or a fan to keep the office habitable make more noise. The flashlight scares them away, but they can also be lured away from you by other sounds.
The salvaging and repair aspect occurs in between nights. Fully restoring an animatronic increases the business revenue and, therefore, success. The animatronics can come to life if you’re not careful. An added taser feature can freeze the animatronics three times before damaging and reducing their value.
This game has a big reveal at the end that impacts the storyline throughout the franchise, including the dark reason behind the animatronics’ murderous ways.
Featured animatronics in Pizza Simulator
- Scrap Baby
- Scraptrap
- Molten Freddy
- Lefty
Five Nights at Freddy’s Help Wanted
This installment in the franchise is the first to deviate from the classic video game style of the previous titles. Help Wanted is the first virtual reality experience in the Five Nights world, released in May 2019. It is a continuation of the game’s story and overall series through this collaboration between developers Steel Wool and Scott Cawthon.
A first-person version of the survival horror experience makes perfect sense while seemingly quite challenging at the same time. The result is a hands-on take on many previous games’ tasks and levels. A second non-VR version of the game is also now available.
The game’s story mentions many bad past experiences at Freddy Fazbear locations that have become something of a legend. To profit off those legends or maybe recoup losses, the company creates a VR game based on those horrifying accounts, but it has had some problems. The main enemy that is part of those problems is a new animatronic Glitchtrap that wants to possess you.
In this game, you play as a technician repairing the animatronics. While fixing them, you must keep them from coming to life, avoid them, and complete other tasks, many of which occur in dimly lit areas. The game consists of 40 minigames that borrow from the previous titles Five Nights at Freddy’s, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, Five Nights at Freddy’s 3, Five Nights at Freddy’s 4, and Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location. Likewise, almost every animatronic from these games appears along with a new set.
New featured animatronics in Help Wanted
- Glitchtrap
- Dreadbear
- Grimm Foxy
- Plushbabies
- Plushkin
- Nightmare Endo
- Dark Freddy
- Party Freddy
- Neon Bonnie
- Neon Chica
- Burnt Foxy
- Shadow Mangle
- Reluctant Follower
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Special Delivery
Special Delivery, released just a few months after Help Wanted, keeps it in the virtual world. This game is essentially the successful version fo the AR game mentioned in development in Help Wanted. It was released in November 2019 by developer Illumix and is available for iOS and Android.
In this nightmare, the animatronics are sent to your home for an immersive stay-at-home Freddy Fazbear experience, seemingly after the augmented reality attempt didn’t go well. You must survive the animatronics sent directly into your home in this game. First, you will observe the animatronics on a map as they close in on you. The map slowly reveals where the animatronic is and which one it is.
When an animatronic enters the room, you can only hear them. You can scare them with a flashlight and use the taser again to defeat them. You either have to put on an animatronic head or look away once an animatronic presents itself directly in front of you.
Defeating animatronics is crucial to the third aspect of the game, The Workshop, as you can earn useful items. In The Workshop, you can use collected items such as Parts, Remnants, Plush Suits, and MODs to customize an endoskeleton and create your own animatronic. An animatronic that you create can, in turn be sent to a friend’s game at home and attempt to get to them.
Most of the previous animatronics from seven previous titles appear in this game. In addition, many Skins that change the appearance of the existing animatronics continue to be released. These are part of events such as Shamrock Freddy released for St. Patrick’s Day. Due to the vast amount of Skins, this game has the most animatronic appearances of any of the franchise’s games.
New featured animatronics
- Freddy Frostbear
- 8-Bit Baby
- Plus most animatronics from all previous games
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach
The most recent entry in the main series is also the last in chronological order. The game occurs in Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex, a mall wholly centered around Freddy Fazbear animatronics. Taking clues from the story puts this game sometime in the future after Freddy’s has made another comeback and grown even bigger than it ever was. The game is a collaboration between Steel Wool Studios and Scott Cawthon, and debuted in 2021. It is available on Google Stadia, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch.
This time around, you play as a young boy named Gregory, and while the animatronics are still a problem, there’s also Vanny, mall security, and S.T.A.F.F. robots to avoid. There is a new set of Glamrock animatronics, and the Freddy version is actually an ally this time. Gregory can hide within Glamrock Freddy’s stomach compartment and get past other animatronics and enemies. Freddy can be upgraded with various useful tools and abilities as the game progresses.
The game is free-roaming, and instead of controlling the surroundings, Gregory must move around them and hide and wait for the morning. The game is only one long night instead of five, and there are now boss battles depending on your play style. Gregory has a flashlight, Faz Camera, and Fazerblaster, which can stall enemies but have limited power and need recharging. Due to the free-roaming nature of the game, there are six multiple endings, each with different cutscenes and results.
Featured animatronics in Security Breach
- Glamrock Freddy
- Glamrock Chica
- Shattered Glamrock Chica
- Montgomery Gator
- Shattered Montgomery Gator
- Roxanne Wolf
- Shattered Roxanne Wolf
- The Daycare Attendant
- S.T.A.F.F. Bots
- DJ Music Man
- Wind-Up Music Man
- Glamrock Endoskeletons
- Glamrock Bonnie
- Wet Floor Bot
- Glamrock Mr. Hippo
- The Blob
- Burntrap
Five Nights at Freddy’s Spin-offs in Release Order
- Five Nights at Freddy’s World (2016)
- Ultimate Custom Night (2018)
- Freddy in Space 2 (2019)
- Security Breach: Fury’s Rage (2021)
Five Nights at Freddy’s Main Games Release Order
- Five Nights at Freddy’s (2014)
- Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 (2014)
- FNAF 3 (2015)
- FNAF 4 (2015)
- Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location (2016)
- Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator (2017)
- Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted (2019)
- FNAF: Special Delivery (2019)
- Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach (2021)