Five Nights at Freddy's 2

 

I am well aware that this has become a successful series in a very short amount of time, and the rate at which the sequels have been released seems to be even faster than the annual release of the Saw movies during the 00's, so that makes it kind of exciting, as well as kind of sad.

For this year, I will deliberately focus on the first sequel instead, because I might get some kind of "burn out" from all of the animatronics that want to scare the hell out of me. I actually continued with this series for this month and not any time earlier, so here we go.

Five Nights at Freddy's 2 is a proper sequel with the same kind of gameplay to be found, except that new enemies have been introduced, that you are no longer able to close off doors and instead, you are able to hide with your Freddy Fazbear mask now. A flashlight and music box are also new features to keep "them" away.

Honestly, while I thought that the original was certainly effective, well done and original, at this point already, I can't help but wonder if I really want to embrace the constant jump scares or to be dissapointed by them and label them as cheap scares instead.

This is a discussion which has gone for decades in regards to building up suspense, making diversive cat scares and then coming with jump scares afterwards can certainly be good times, but the amount that these kind of games offer are well... mixed thoughts for me.

What I do agree on with everyone is that the Five Nights at Freddy's games are great to watch unfold while others play through them, making them excellent companions, and certainly the most famous Let's Plays such as PewDiePie and Markiplier make them even more famous, which is good for the developer.

Unfortunately there is a steep difficulty which goes up higher and faster than the original, making the jumpscares not only scarier, but eventually also more annoying, because gamers love to progress and beat video games in general, and this one won't let you do so easily.

By all means, Five Nights at Freddy's 2 is a good sequel, certainly very effective and scary at what it does, and yet, I can't help but feel cheated by the restrictive movement and survival options which is a principle which most likely won't go away, otherwise it would just be a regular horror game, making you able to escape and turn your back.

So congratulations Scott Cawthon, you have found a cash cow.

Rating: 7.5