Don’t Gimme ‘Five’ Fix Unfinished Game

“Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach” absolutely took over the Internet when it was finally released after over two years of anticipation. 

But exited the public eye just as quickly as it entered.  

The game is clearly unfinished, infuriating to play, and filled with bugs. 

Scott Cawthon, the game developer, has had a history with releasing projects early, with “Five Nights at Freddy’s 1-4” each coming out months before the initial release date. Did he feel the pressure of meeting deadlines after having pushed the release back twice? Yet, if Cawthon spent maybe another year on the game, it could have been so much better. 

The game’s format is drastically different from the past six installments.  

In “Security Breach,” you play as a child named Gregory who has snuck into the establishment after hours. You have to avoid the free roaming animatronics and the human security guard until the doors open at 6am.  Instead of the claustrophobic environment of being cramped in an office, you have to complete tasks in an absolutely giant mall.  And instead of the in-game “1-6am” only being at most ten minutes, you are playing for the full six hours.  

Cawthon and his team clearly bit off more than they could chew with this overambitious project.  It’s got the nostalgic charm of being a “Five Nights at Freddy’s” game, but it can’t compensate for the frustrating gameplay.  

Many gaming YouTubers have shown their frustration with the game, and no two watchable playthroughs online are the same—not because there are multiple endings, but because of the different array of bugs that were found in each of them.  

Cawthon has since stepped away from “Five Nights at Freddy’s.” It’s a little sad to know that this will forever be how his legacy ended.  He reformed the horror game genre, created lots of future English majors with his cryptic hidden messages, and made a whole generation have a Pavlovian response upon hearing “1987,” just to end his impact with the worst game in the franchise by far (aside from “FNAF World,” but we don’t talk about that one, “no, no, no”  

If you look at the game through rose-colored glasses, the gameplay can be fun and challenging, but the laughable amount of bugs and glitches will be sure to rip them off.  

All in all, I give “Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach” 4 Spartan Stars out of 10.