Five Nights at Freddy's 2 (often abbreviated to FNaF2) is an indie point-and-click survival horror video game created by Scott Cawthon. It is the second installment in the Five Nights at Freddy's series, and is chronologically set before the events of the first game. The game was released on Steam on November 10, 2014,[1] earlier than its two planned dates of sometime in 2015[2] and December 25, 2014,[3] respectively, with the latter due to issues with releasing the demo.[4] Mobile ports for Android and iOS were released on November 13, 2014, and November 20, 2014, respectively.
| Five Nights at Freddy's 2 | |
|---|---|
 Steam storefront header | |
| Developer(s) | Scott Cawthon |
| Publisher(s) | Scott Cawthon |
| Series | Five Nights at Freddy's |
| Engine | Clickteam Fusion 2.5 |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, Android, iOS |
| Release | Microsoft Windows
|
| Genre(s) | Survival horror |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Similar to the previous game, Five Nights at Freddy's 2 centers around the fictional Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, where the player acts as a security guard and must defend himself from the restaurant's animatronic mascots, who are possessed by the souls of murdered children out for revenge on their murderer. The game also introduces several new gameplay components, such as a flashlight and 8-bit minigames.[5][6]
The game received mixed to positive reviews from critics, praising the new mechanics but criticizing its difficulty in comparison with its predecessor. A sequel to the game, Five Nights at Freddy's 3, was released on March 2, 2015.
Gameplay
Similar to the first game, Five Nights at Freddy's 2 is a survival horror video game with point-and-click elements. Players must survive a night shift at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, a restaurant reminiscent of those like Chuck E. Cheese's and ShowBiz Pizza Place, from 12 A.M. to 6 A.M. game time (approximately seven minutes and six seconds), without being attacked by any of the animatronic enemy characters that wander from room to room. There are multiple different animatronic characters: the original game's antagonists (the titular Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie the Bunny, Chica the Chicken, Foxy the Pirate Fox, and Golden Freddy), as well as upgraded "toy" versions of Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy (referred to as "Mangle"), a marionette referred to as "the Puppet", and a humanoid robot named "Balloon Boy".
The player cannot leave the security office, but can track the animatronics' movements via a network of surveillance cameras placed throughout the building. The office has three entrances (a hallway and two side air vents); in a departure from the previous game, none of these can be sealed off to block enemies from entering. Each vent is equipped with a light that can be used to check for any characters that are about to crawl into the office. Players are given a spare animatronic mask to ward off approaching animatronics, however, this strategy will not work on certain characters, who must be repelled by other means. A flashlight is also available, used to check the hallway and darkened areas of the camera feeds, as well as to reset Foxy via strobing. Unlike the previous title, the power supply for the cameras and vent lights is unlimited, but the flashlight does not have an infinite battery life; if it runs out, the player becomes vulnerable to attack. In addition, a music box has been placed in one room and must be remotely wound up through the camera interface, to avoid being attacked by the Puppet, who appears when the music stops. Failure to defend oneself from the animatronics will result in a jumpscare, thus ending the game.
Unlike the first game, after the player is killed, there is a chance that rather than the Game Over screen, one of four low-resolution minigames will appear, with instructions given at the start of each. These mini-games contain insight into the plot of the game.
The game consists of five levels referred to as "nights", increasing in difficulty. Completing all five unlocks an even more difficult sixth night, which in turn unlocks a "Custom Night" upon completion. In the Custom Night, the player can adjust the AI difficulty of the individual enemy characters or play one of ten pre-set challenges.
Plot
Set in 1987, the player character, whose name is later revealed to be Jeremy Fitzgerald, has started working as a night watch security guard at the improved Freddy Fazbear's Pizza.[7] As he did in the previous game, a certain Freddy Fazbear's Pizza employee calls Jeremy on the phone in the office at the beginning of each night to explain both gameplay and parts of the backstory surrounding the restaurant. He explains that the "new" (at the time) animatronics, which have special facial recognition software to protect the children from potential harm, were not programmed with a proper night mode; when things go silent, their programming tells them that they are in the wrong room and they seek out the nearest source of noise to find people to entertain, which happens to be in the office.[8]
As in the previous game, the animatronics' programming tells them that there should not be people in the restaurant after hours, so when they encounter Jeremy, they believe he is an animatronic endoskeleton without a costume and will attempt to stuff him into a spare Freddy Fazbear suit, killing him in the process. The man on the phone explains that the newer animatronics were built to make wireless connections to a criminal database so they could detect any known potential attackers or threats from a distance.[9] The man on the phone explains that this restaurant has an unlimited power source at night, unlike the previous location, but there are no doors blocking access to the office, requiring the player to use a spare Freddy Fazbear mask to trick most animatronics into thinking he is not an endoskeleton; he gives additional tips to help the player survive their shift.[9] As more enemy characters appear as the game progresses, the man on the phone informs Jeremy of the characters' presence, their movement patterns, and some background information on their presence in the game.[10] For example, the man on the phone explains that the older animatronics are in the new restaurant, and have been retrofitted with the new technology, but as they did not work properly they are kept for spare parts.[11]
As the game progresses, it is hinted that something is going on during the day, as the man on the phone mentions that rumors are going around and, later, that a police investigation is going on regarding the restaurant. Atari-styled minigames reveal that the restaurant has had a troubled past, as it was apparently the location of a mass murder in which five children were killed by a someone portrayed as a purple-colored man.[12] On the game's fifth night, Jeremy is informed by the man on the phone that the restaurant has been put on lockdown due to an event that he will not describe but which is in place to make sure no employees, present or former, can come in or go out. The man also mentions that the position of the restaurant's day shift security has a vacancy and Jeremy may be promoted to it, and that the owner of the older restaurant named "Fredbear's Family Diner" will be contacted for more information on the animatronics.[13] On the sixth night, the man on the phone informs Jeremy that the restaurant has been shut down for undisclosed reasons, although mentioning the use of a "spare yellow suit" and an issue of the animatronics not functioning properly.[14] He also tells Jeremy that he will be taking over as night shift security guard when the restaurant reopens. If Jeremy is successful in surviving the sixth night, he is promoted to day shift to cover a birthday party on the next day to make sure the animatronics do not cause any problems. A newspaper that is shown in the winning screen of the sixth night says that the restaurant will close down and the newer animatronics will be scrapped; however, the older ones will be saved for when the restaurant reopens, hinting at the events of the first game.
On the seventh night (Custom Night), the player plays as a new character named Fritz Smith due to Jeremy's promotion. Upon completing Custom Night, Fritz is fired for tampering with the animatronics, general unprofessionalism, and odor, a callback to the first game's Custom Night completion screen.
Development
Shortly after the release of Five Nights at Freddy's, developer Cawthon began to confirm rumors of a sequel to the game.[15] Just one month after the original game's release, Cawthon posted a teaser of a sequel on his webpage, and continued to post teasers until the game's release.[16] A trailer for the game was released in October 2014. Five Nights at Freddy's 2 was first released for Microsoft Windows on November 10, 2014, earlier of its planned release of December 25, 2014. Ports for Android and iOS were released on November 13 and 20 of the same year.
Reception
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (September 2017) |
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | (PC) 62/100[17] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| PC Gamer (US) | 70/100[18] |
| TouchArcade | (iOS)    [19] |
Five Nights at Freddy's 2 was met with mixed to positive reviews from critics; the Microsoft Windows version holds an aggregate score of 62 out of 100 on Metacritic.[17]
Omri Petitte for PC Gamer gave Five Nights at Freddy's 2 a score of 70 out of 100, commenting that what he wanted in the sequel "was more mind games and more uncertainty. I wanted the plodding animatronic suits to find me and rip my face off in new and interesting ways. I wanted working legs. What I got was a horror game dipping heavily into deception and subtlety, a wonderfully cruel cocktail of supernatural mystery and jolts of panicked adrenaline. Enjoying the good parts, though, comes with a cost of a frustratingly steep difficulty."[18] Destructoid also gave the game a positive review, saying that "It's absolutely terrifying to know that you could be attacked at any moment from multiple avenues", praising the introduction of new animatronics and mechanics, but also criticizing the jumpscares and called the game "too hard for its own good".[20]
References
- ^ Prescott, Shaun (November 10, 2014). "Five Nights at Freddy's 2 is now available on Steam". PC Gamer. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
- ^ Squires, Jim (September 23, 2014). "Five Nights at Freddy's 2 Coming in 2015". Gamezebo. Retrieved September 23, 2014.
- ^ Lionet, François (November 5, 2014). "Interview of the author of a top paid game in AppStore". Clickteam. Archived from the original on November 6, 2014. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Jeffrey Matulef (November 11, 2014). "Five Nights at Freddy's 2 sneaks out on Steam". Eurogamer. Retrieved November 12, 2014.
- ^ Carlson, Alex (October 21, 2014). "Five Nights at Freddy's 2 Hits Steam Greenlight, Removes Doors". Hardcore Gamer LLC. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
- ^ Prieststman, Chris (October 24, 2014). "Five Nights At Freddy's 2 Let's You Wear A Freddy Mask". Siliconera. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
- ^ Scott Cawthon. Five Nights at Freddy's 2. Night 5 completion cheque.
- ^ Scott Cawthon. Five Nights at Freddy's 2. Scene: Night 1.
- ^ a b Scott Cawthon. Five Nights at Freddy's 2. Scene: Night 1 phone call.
- ^ FNaF 2 Phone calls.
- ^ Scott Cawthon. Five Nights at Freddy's 2. Night 2.
- ^ Scott Cawthon. Five Nights at Freddy's 2. Night 4.
- ^ Scott Cawthon. Five Nights at Freddy's 2. Scene: Night 5.
- ^ Scott Cawthon. Five Nights at Freddy's 2. Night 6.
- ^ "Sequel to 'Five Nights at Freddy's' On The Way | mxdwn Games". games.mxdwn.com. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
- ^ "Horror Game Five Nights at Freddy's Teases Sequel". GameSpot. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
- ^ a b "Five Nights at Freddy's 2 for PC Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
- ^ a b Petitte, Omri (November 24, 2014). "Five Nights at Freddy's 2 review". PC Gamer. Future plc. Retrieved November 30, 2014.
- ^ Musgrave, Shaun (March 27, 2015). "'Five Nights At Freddy's 2' Review – Back On The Job". TouchArcade. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
- ^ Nic Rowen (November 17, 2015). "Review: Five Nights at Freddy's 2". Destructoid. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
External links
