Five Nights at Freddy’s has been a series of paranoid point-and-clicks about fending off animatronic animals as the night security guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. Don’t let the number fool you, though: the first game released just last year, and creator Scott Cawthon has garnered goodwill by finishing polished new episodes in quick succession since.
The latest, reputed to be the last, has crept up on us like one of the restaurant’s anthropomorphic monsters. First it was expected on Halloween. Then when we looked back, August 8th. Now the lights have gone, and it’s already here.
“Ok, so as many of you already know, I’m bad with release dates,” said Cawthon in a Steam update. “The game is finished.”
The developer was working to fix an issue with the game’s full-screen option yesterday, but planned to have it sorted by now.
The cutesy killers of previous Freddy’s games have escaped the joint in this episode. And you’re no longer a guard, but a small child defending their house with just a flashlight.
“It will scare away things that may be creeping at the far end of the hallways, but be careful, and listen,” reads the Steam description. “If something has crept too close, then shining lights in its eyes will be your end.”
The animals are somewhat reminscent of Doctor Who’s Weeping Angels – harmless when observed, but fatal once you turn your back. The rest of the series limited electricity so that you sometimes felt quite helpless; expect similar here.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 is £5.59 / $7.99 on Steam. Fancy a spot of helplessness this weekend?