Every Five Nights At Freddy’s Game, Ranked

Highlights

• Five Nights At Freddy’s
  has forever changed the indie horror genre with its unique gameplay mechanics and created a sub-genre of fan games.
• Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator
  offered a fun and easily playable game but was criticized for being too easy and lacking the difficulty of earlier horror games in the franchise.
• Five Nights At Freddy’s: Ultimate Custom Night
  was a free-to-play addition that was extremely difficult for many players and provided a challenging gameplay experience with its “custom nights” mechanic.

Five Nights At Freddy’s is a franchise that has flourished and forever changed the genre of indie horror games since the first game was released in 2014. The original Five Nights At Freddy’s was the first of eight main games as of 2022, with the most recent installment being Five Nights At Freddy’s: Security Breach in 2021.

No matter how fans or critics feel about the original game and its sequels, it’s an understatement to say that Five Nights At Freddy’s has forever changed the indie horror genre, including creating its own sub-genre of fan games inspired by the gameplay mechanics of the original.

Updated on May 6, 2024, by Jake Fillery: The Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise always comes back, and as fans eagerly await the newest entry of the series, Five Nights at Freddy’s Into the Pit, releasing as part of the tenth anniversary of the franchise, it’s as good as time as any to look back on all FNAF games and experience the highs and the lows, the weird and the wonderful. The FNAF series has often had some strange additions mixed with the more serious aspects, and here is every FNAF game ranked in terms of story, gameplay, and overall enjoyment for fans of the horror animatronics.

15 Youtooz Presents: Five Nights at Freddy’s

Steam Rating: n/a

• Release Date: 29 April 2022
• Platforms: iOS/Android (removed)
• Developers: Youtooz
• Genre: AR

The world of FNAF only gets weirder as the years go by, and that’s not just in terms of lore. One game that saw a release from the franchise was Youtooz Presents: Five Nights at Freddy’s, a spin-off title in collaboration with Youtooz, a company that makes vinyl figures of popular characters and influencers. When Youtooz joined Five Nights at Freddy’s, they released a free game for iOS and Android.

This game was an augmented reality mobile game where players needed to use their phone camera to watch active threats of famed FNAF characters in Youtooz boxes and stop them from leaping out until 6 AM. It was essentially a cuter promotional version of Special Delivery but wasn’t the most popular.

14 Five Nights At Freddy’s AR: Special Delivery

Steam Rating: n/a

• Release Date: 25 November 2019
• Platforms: iOS/Android
• Developers: Illumix
• Genre: AR

The series goes to augmented reality for the first time thanks to this 2019 release. The game itself promised to immerse players in a scary and thrilling AR game, where audio and visuals would be key to harnessing the potential of each animatronic. Players could use the game in real-time locations to play wherever they are, and the collect elements allowed players a more personal experience with their animatronics.

However, the game didn’t last all that long and was shut down with the app removed from stores in February 2024. There was a reasonable amount of content for an AR game for fans to enjoy, even if the microtransactions and in-app purchases were a tad much for something so minor as the game itself.

13 Freddy In Space 3: Chica In Space

Steam Rating: n/a

• Release Date: 18 October 2023
• Platforms: PC
• Developers: Scott Cawthon
• Genre: Side-scrolling

An elaborate troll by Scott Cawthon, Freddy in Space 3: Chica in Space was a surprise reveal that was actually released under the title FNAF: The Movie: The Game. With fans expecting a side-scroller movie-tie in, they were instead given a sequel to one of the more bizarre official entries in the game’s franchise with this free fantasy adventure game.

The gameplay itself was standard, and extremely similar to its predecessor, where players could take on icons of the FNAF franchise and level up to get stronger. This game is mainly just a joke, so the villains that players fight will be more inside jokes about the franchise and the fandom, leaving it with no real staying power in the main series.

12 Freddy In Space 2

Steam Rating: n/a

• Release Date: 3 December 2019
• Platforms: PC
• Developers: Scott Cawthon
• Genre: Side-scrolling

Whilst some may immediately look at Freddy in Space 2 and just wonder what is going on, they might want to know some context first. Scott Cawthon created the game as not just a spin-off sequel to a minigame in FNaF World, but to also bring awareness to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s fundraiser, and in memory of a fan who passed away, Skylar Ginn.

In terms of gameplay, Freddy in Space 2 is pretty unique, as it’s a fantasy adventure set in a side-scrolling universe, where entirely 2D assets must fight and shoot their way to some pretty interesting boss fights. As a free-to-play side-scroller, it’s rather cute, and for a good cause.

11 FNaF World

Steam Rating: n/a

• Release Date: 21 January 2016 / 8 February 2016
• Platforms: PC
• Developers: Scott Cawthon
• Genres: RPG

The curious case of FNaF World, the lighthearted, yet still somewhat horror-themed entry into the FNAF universe that has since been brushed under the rug. FNaF World was Scott Cawthorn’s attempt to create a softer entry into the franchise and an RPG. Whilst the game is brimming with lore from its steady stream of updates and hidden secrets, it’s one that was quickly removed from Steam, and later ports were soon canceled.

FNaF World brought about an animated adventure with over 48 animatronics and more. Whilst FNaF World is indeed an interesting entry and a colorful one at that, the game is pretty unbalanced and chaotic, leaving many fights a carnage of numbers and animations, a far different fear than fans are used to.

10 Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator

Steam Rating: 9/10 (27,070 Reviews)

• Release Date: 4 December 2017
• Platforms: Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
• Developers: Scott Cawthon
• Genres: Horror

Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator was the sixth main game in the Five Nights At Freddy’s franchise. Released in 2017, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator was unlike any other game in the series, aligning itself more with the format of Five Nights At Freddy’s: Sister Location than any of the previous games. Although this change in the gameplay format was necessary for the series’ linear, and at times predictable, style, many fans found the difficulty of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator to be much easier than earlier horror games.

This significant shift in the game’s difficulty made it extremely easy to complete quickly, especially for those who have mastered previous games in the Five Nights At Freddy’s franchise. Having said that, it still makes for a fun, easily playable game, as the atmosphere is haunting and the writing manages to be self-aware, funny, and satirical at times.

9 Five Nights At Freddy’s: Ultimate Custom Night

Steam Rating: 10/10 (53,707 Reviews)

• Release Date: 27 June 2018
• Platforms: Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
• Developers: Scott Cawthon
• Genres: Horror

Five Nights At Freddy’s: Ultimate Custom Night is a free-to-play addition to the Five Nights At Freddy’s series. Five Nights At Freddy’s: Ultimate Custom Night entirely bases itself on the mechanic of “custom nights,” which is a feature that all the Five Nights At Freddy’s games have as an unlockable gameplay mode after players have finished the main portion of the game.

The game pits up to fifty different animatronics against the player, each with its own mechanics to keep them at bay. Easter eggs that are hidden in the game point to Five Nights At Freddy’s: Ultimate Custom Night being a metaphor for the eternal suffering of William Afton. Known as the “purple guy” and creator of the animatronics, he is being tortured by his own creations in his own personal hell. Many players found the game extremely difficult and near impossible to fully complete.

8 Five Nights At Freddy’s 4

Steam Rating: 9/10 (11,989 Reviews)

The fourth installment of the Five Nights At Freddy’s franchise was advertised as the “final chapter” of the series, but as many fans know, this wasn’t actually the case. Five Nights At Freddy’s 4 caps off the story of the Bite of ’83, showing what happened to the crying child, whilst providing more questions than answers for the supposed finale, Five Nights At Freddy’s 4.

While other games in the series have been focused on making the player keep track of visual cues through checking cameras and keeping track of animatronics, Five Nights At Freddy’s 4 switches up that formula. The game forces players to wait and listen for the breathing of an animatronic lurking in the shadows. If players switch on their flashlight while an animatronic is waiting just outside their bedroom door, they’re greeted with a nasty jump scare. It cuts through the focused silence of waiting and listening for their audio cues.

7 Five Nights At Freddy’s 2

Steam Rating: 9/10 (18,391 Reviews)

The fast-arriving sequel to the first Five Nights At Freddy’s was among one of the most highly anticipated indie horror games to have ever been released. After the success of the first game, many fans of the series were eager to find out more about the lore of the haunted pizzeria and their favorite animatronic characters. Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 did nothing short of delivering that, falsely representing itself as a sequel when, in fact, the events of the game pre-date those of the original Five Nights At Freddy’s.

Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 has an abundance of additional mechanics that players need to time perfectly and learn in order to keep certain animatronics at bay. This includes winding up the music box, putting on the mask, and flickering their flashlight down the hallway. All that said, just as Five Nights At Freddy’s: Ultimate Custom Night became rather difficult with all those mechanics to keep track of, Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 was an incredibly difficult game.

6 Five Nights At Freddy’s: Sister Location

Steam Rating: 9/10 (9,838 Reviews)

Five Nights At Freddy’s: Sister Location gave new life to a franchise that had followed the same format for several games in a row. The fifth installment to the series finally lets players get up and move around the location that they’re stuck in until 6 AM.

Five Nights At Freddy’s: Sister Location includes a variety of challenging, haunting tasks for the player who makes the most of the new freedom to get up and roam around the underground storage facility for Circus Baby’s Pizza. Whilst still a point-and-click, the attempt at something new, and more story-orientated, made an interesting change to shake up the lore.

5 Five Nights At Freddy’s: Help Wanted

Steam Rating: 10/10 (10,628 Reviews)

The first Five Nights At Freddy’s virtual reality title, Five Nights At Freddy’s: Help Wanted certainly has some of the most interesting gameplay mechanics and lore sprinkled throughout it. Since the game is in virtual reality, it gives players the opportunity to look around areas they normally wouldn’t be able to peer behind.

Doing so unlocks a variety of tapes that have been scattered throughout the game, listening to the tapes unlocks a secret ending where players learn just a bit more about the infamous Glitchtrap and Vanny. That said, the actual linear gameplay of Five Nights At Freddy’s: VR Help Wanted combines all the best mechanics from the previous games while also including some new ones, making it one of the best Five Nights At Freddy’s games to date. However, its dependence on minigames rather than the classic gameplay makes for a lack of replayability, even if seeing animatronics in VR is intensely horrifying.

4 Five Nights At Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2

Steam Rating: 9/10 (2,321 Reviews)

Bringing the series back into VR, Help Wanted 2 brings forth new minigames so players can prove they have what it takes to be part of a Pizzeria’s management and maintenance team, even if that means they might get their face bitten off by an animatronic. Whilst Help Wanted 2 has plenty of frights, dying in the game is more frustrating than anything, as players need to restart these minigames with a seeming lack of story on the surface.

Some of the levels are extremely hard to learn and master, making replayability more of a chore than anything. Whilst the game isn’t bad, it’s mainly a collection of FNAF-themed minigames, to which there is an abundance of them. However, it really does make the best of its FNAF setting, which can result in some pretty scary scenes.

3 Five Nights At Freddy’s 3

Steam Rating: 9/10 (8,242 Reviews)

Five Nights At Freddy’s 3 introduced an interesting new mechanic that the previous two games hadn’t seen before. In the earlier FNaF titles, the amount of animatronics that the player had to keep track of ticked steadily up. In Five Nights At Freddy’s 3, however, there is only one animatronic that can actually kill the player: Springtrap.

The difficulty of the game stands on a healthy medium, with the AI of Springtrap being intelligent enough to provide a good challenge for players as they progress through each night of the game. There are plenty of mini-games and secrets hidden throughout the game, with players that find each one unlocking more secrets about the lore and even an alternate ending.

2 Five Nights At Freddy’s

Steam Rating: 9/10 (41,208 Reviews)

The original Five Nights At Freddy’s hit the indie horror genre like a train. The point-and-click horror game instilled new fears into those who always felt unnerved by the animatronics at Chuck E. Cheese as a kid and struck horror into the hearts of those with automatonophobia. The original game quickly became a classic, one that continues to be loved and cherished by the community it created.

Five Nights At Freddy’s puts players through five nights of being a night guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria. Different animatronics come to life each night, adding a new layer of difficulty and new patterns for players to learn as each night progresses.

1 Five Nights At Freddy’s: Security Breach

Steam Rating: 9/10 (54,514 Reviews)

• Release Date: 16 December 2021
• Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
• Developers: Scott Cawthon, Steel Wool Games
• Genres: Survival Horror

Five Nights At Freddy’s: Security Breach has an extremely mixed reception among critics and fans. Although the game is attributed to courting many new fans to the series because of its popularity online and the first AAA game in the series, Five Nights At Freddy’s: Security Breach is the most glitchy game in the franchise. Upon release, many features in the game did not work as they were supposed to, or can become easily confused if certain events are triggered earlier than the game expects them to be. Despite its low ratings, the high ambition and design of Security Breach make it a great game for those not interested in point-and-click adventures.

In addition to this, the AI of the animatronics (including Freddy) was extremely bugged, making players potentially lose hours of progress due to an animatronic glitching out. All that said, the graphics of the game are nothing to scoff at, nor is the gameplay. Fans have wanted an open-roam Five Nights At Freddy’s game since the very beginning, and Five Nights At Freddy’s: Security Breach delivers that stealth and anticipation that fans wanted with this modern style of gameplay, attributed to the fact that a development team was given the rains.