Like Being Scared?

Five Nights at Freddy's: Are We Scared Yet?

Talk about exceeding expectations, the whoops of delight I heard captured my interest, what could make my child so excited and happy; a sequel to a computer game? Not quite. Not a sequel as it turns out. The reaction of loved ones drew me in. So much so that I have had to investigate and allow my curiosity as a hypnotist and behavioural expert to surface, or maybe I just wanted to join in the fun.

Why do we like to be scared?   What makes an animated children's character scary when it is not animated?  A lifeless doll, staring at us, with soul-less, empty eyes.

I think there’s much also to be said about the power of relief.  Being tensed up for long, intermittent periods and then knowing you are safe, or that you have triumphed over evil, or whatever, floods the mind and body with the natural chemical high of relief.  

Talk about exceeding expectations, the whoops of delight I heard captured my interest, what could make my child so excited and happy;  a sequel to a computer game?  Not quite.  Not a sequel as it turns out. 

Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 lead developer Scott Cawthon released this full game version several months early to the delight of fans everywhere, including my own household. 

The reaction of loved ones drew me in.  So much so that I have had to investigate and allow my curiosity as a hypnotist and behavioural expert to surface, or maybe I just wanted to join in the fun.

I was seeing grown mature(!) adults in reverie about the release of this new version and, watching their reactions, I just had to find out what all the fuss was about.

Generally speaking, you are a night watchman at a pizza place which has had its day.  It’s one of those children’s entertainment kind of places that give adults a break as huge characters come around and interact with the kids.  Well, these now unused characters become strangely animated at night and want to interact with you!

I think this is scary and hugely entertaining, maybe for the similar reasons that clowns and ventriloquist’s dummies have become scary in modern times.  Something about stuff that is supposed to be friendly and childlike, going horribly wrong, engages with our distrust and fear.  I remember the first time  I saw a toddler in a supermarket with a baby doll.  I mean a doll that looked exactly like a baby.  In my day (ahem!) dolls looked like dolls, you know, small versions of perfectly proportioned toddlers.  When I saw this floppy, bald, likelike doll being hugged lovingly one minute and swung around by the ankles the next, imagine my horror.

Anyway, you just have to firstly get into this Freddy thing and play the first version. You have to, that’s it.  Then the rest of this article will make sense.

With this version, several anomalies quickly made us draw the conclusion that this was furthering the intrigue of the first offering with insights and snippets of info that cleverly weaved the story into a sinister tale.   As a parent of course I was concerned at the reports of how scary this game was, beginning with the first one, though there is no blood and gore, no gratuitous graphics; moreover the horror is implied rather than thrown in your face.   Though in your face, this game is, with the jump-scares!

I am quickly learning to get over any preconceived ideas or imposed restrictions on gaming activities until I have actually watched these.  The first game was a cult hit, and the ‘sequel’ was only announced about a month ago.

There is in fact, in this version, a grand total of seven nights, the Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 delivers a interesting backstory as you uncover as you progress.

With now a bit of added stress, such as a musical box in the prize room which you must keep wound up remotely or else you witness the escape of the ‘Puppet’.  This means that while you are actively checking down the hall and vents with the limited power of the flashlight you must also keep opening up the camera screen to wind up the box. You don’t then realise the threats that are walking directly up to you, clever distraction. With the first version there were doors which you opened and closed which bought you a little time, in this version there are  no doors!

A twist in this version is that the animatronics, friendly faced (so all the more sinister) characters designed to entertain youngsters which at night seem hell bent on squashing your face into an animatronics head filled with wires and such like that would instantly, or indeed slowly (who knows) kill you, can be fooled by you wearing an empty Fazbear headpiece.   Trouble is, though you are then accepted and not attacked by the characters, whilst you wear the headpiece you are not able to wind up the music box or flash the light at the old Foxy, which you need to do to survive, which leaves you in a dilemma of switching between mask, flashlight and the camera system.  Doing this too slowly will leave you vulnerable to jump-scare attacks by the animatronics and, well, dead.

I know this is not making much sense to the uninitiated, though all the more reason to check out the first version plus this one. 

There’s a lot to be said about the ability to create a suspenseful atmosphere and I find this kill definitely lacking in your typical shoot them up kind of game.

This game is not for the faint of heart, but the rewards of  spending a week working the Freddy Fazbear’s night shift, especially when it comes at such a low price point, are ultimately rewarding. 

What makes us scared, why would we want to be?  Is it that we like to triumph over disaster?  If you want to play this you must be prepared to die and die and die again!  It is addictive I think because of one’s innate survival instinct.  You can try and leave it alone and think it is impossible to survive your job as a night watchman and then you hear or watch someone else play and the triumphant satisfaction that only comes after numerous failures, which engages with your curiosity and competitive instinct and of course your need to prove that you are more skilled than a ten year old. Have fun.