FNAF: Quality Breach

 Bugs always come back

So I'm a tiny bit of a fan of Five Nights at Freddy's franchise, to the degree where I think the original idea was solid, the community it holds captive can be fun and the totally twisted way that 'storytelling' is handled in the series (like Dark Souls but put together by someone who doesn't even know the full picture himself and is stringing along ideas as he goes) is entertaining to shift through. That's why I always have a positive slant towards this series and have kept up with the comings and goings of Security Breach with interest. When it first launched I had a very hopeful blog to write about it, commending the series for crossing the proverbial gap into mainstream appeal and putting out a game visually on par with other big name horror titles. I had just seen the bare basics, but I hoped the game would live up to it's promise and at least provide an experience that was suitably 'Five Nights'. So that's not asking for the scariest jumpscares in the world, but just a little bit of that iconic helpless creep factor. And the results? Umm... yeah the game is a tiny bit of a mess unfortunately, and I want to get into it.

First of all I should address the clear issue here; this was a game that really needed more time in the oven. Steel Wool Studios had some priors going into Security Breach, so it's not as though they're a group of amateurs attacking this project they didn't know how to make, more as if they maybe bit off a bigger concept then they could chew. Scott Cawthon bought the team some time by putting together his own little beat-em-up game whilst the main game was delayed, (I think it was delayed twice, unless my memory fails me.) but with this final game it's looking like they may have needed another whole year on top of that. The game is buggy, the grasp on the world space is loose, the story slips away from the tellers and only the canonical ending of the game is animated, the others feature unvoiced comic-book strips. (Maybe that was intentional in order to highlight the canonicity of the apparent 'true ending', but when combined with everything else it just makes the game look unfinished.) Spoilers will follow, by the by. So look out for that.

First there are the bugs, oh the bugs! This is the first time the FNAF series has given it's players a fully free-roam area to explore and that first-time-nervousness is all over this series' face. Pilot mech suit Freddy was glitching into restricted-to-the-player areas at launch and screwing with basic progression, the PS5 was dropping frames whenever not on performance mode, some old triggers left on the map totally broke narrative cohesion and sequencing, and there was a time where if you pressed the space-key whilst entering Glamrock Freddy, the entire world would unload in an instant and you'd have to hang around in a black void of nothingness whilst the game slowly put itself back together, loading in each asset one-by-one. And that isn't even touching on the crashes and freezing that has plagued this game all over the place. Whilst it's clear that the actual content of the game wasn't finished, it's becoming more and more apparent that the team couldn't even squeeze in the time to finish quality assurances satisfactorily. This project must have really come to the absolute wire for them.

Speaking of 'unfinished', the game really doesn't really feel like it's fits into the whole 'open world model' very well. Security Breach takes place in a Freddy themed mall with diners, stores, a young children's play area, a cinema and more attraction spots then you can shake a stick at. For a franchise that has always featured singular restaurants in past entries, this whole operation seemed on a whole other league, with a jump from depicting an operation featuring maybe a dozen employees to crafting one that must demand hundreds. But it's all just so barren. The actual design behind the world and it's rendering is stellar, and I adore seeing all the different locations and fantasising over how cool it would have been if all of these areas had a chance to actually factor into the gameplay loop, but we're in the current reality where that hasn't been the case and most of this game is just scene dressing. The game's narrative takes you on a couple of routes through the backrooms of the facility, and then offers a little freedom to explore the three key attractions, but there's so much unused space inbetween these sections! The cinema has nothing worthwhile attached to it, most of the diners are totally empty and there's an entire faux-mesa in which it doesn't feel like the enemy animatronics can even spawn in. So why is the area so darn large then?

The narrative, originally proposed to show the story of this new threat for the franchise, Vanny, absolutely drops it's star villain for the vast majority of the story. (And for the 'true' end) The community are joking now about how little she factors into the events of the game, and the fact that, if you get the true ending, she doesn't even show up for the finale. It seems like a big missing story link. In fact, there's a lot of the story that seems to feel like it goes nowhere and achieves little, beyond introducing a couple of new characters to the lore. Don't get me started on how the true ending brings bloody Spring Trap back for the third time only to get burnt to death. Oh, you burned him? The guy who's catchphrase is "I always come back"?, and whom was slain through burning all those times before? Something tells me this time ain't going to be so permanent. So then, what exactly was progressed in the wider narrative by the events of the true ending? More of a story complaint there, but I think it stands.

And then there's the 'fear factor' of the franchise. Now Five Nights at Freddy's has never been a terrifying series, save for maybe it's very first entry when no one had any idea what was going on and sometimes you'd be faced with sudden fourth-wall-shattering events like a random golden animatronic that would show up and crash your game to desktop. This series' concept on fear was mostly just jumpscare scenes powered by the fear of the unknown. Security Breach seems to have delineated that even further to the point where even the jumpscares are easily foreseeable and lack serious impact, just by the simple design switch-up of turning the gameplay into a hide-and-seek affair. The only shock comes from that damn map-bot who feels the need to grab your head and shake you whenever he gets a hold of you. The only scary thing from this entire experience are those robots, the actually cool Music man showdown scene, those Weeping Angel exoskeletons in the basement and the sheer terror of trying to do the finale of the game without any save points. Speaking of-

What kind of crazy, nonsense idea was it to have the finales of the game locked behind extended challenges without the checkpoint system? Since when did this series turn into an Ironman challenge? The last thing anyone wants is to spend thirty minutes backtracking this way and that because they stumbled into a jumpscare spot by accident (and sometimes with little warning); unless you've specifically signed up for it beforehand, no one is inherently on board with wasted playtime. It almost seems as though the team were aware of this staggeringly abrupt design shift and how annoying it was, too, because there is still a bug to totally reset the saving after the endgame has been activated, and it's super easy to perform. Almost as though it was spotted and left in as a backdoor way to make the final moments of the game not so tedious. I understand the idea that 'consequence equals tension', but there are points to which consequence bleeds into more frustration than fun too; a little balance would have been welcome.

And thus are the most glaring issues with FNAF Security Breach, despite being a very pretty and ambitious title for this franchise, it's lack of polish has given away to rust far too easily and often for anyone to easily coat over with hand waving. A few problems here or there would be forgivable, but this many and dripping from every corner, and the game becomes hard to recommend in it's current state. Steel Wool aren't giving up, they want to keep patching the game up, but some of the problems here are fundamental, and even version of this title that plays without a single bug is still going to suffer from an overwhelming feeling of "This world is far bigger than it needs to be", "Why do these certain bits of the design lead nowhere?", "What's the point of collectibles?" and "These mechanics don't feel like they're implemented right." Still, if this is the sort of scale that FNAF wants to build off in the future, then maybe the next game is going to be something very special indeed. (Provided, you know; it actually gets the chance to be finished.) 

Five Nights movie?

 He's not stuck in there with them...

I feel like everyday I'm asking 'have I mentioned this before' but given that I've literally been writing these blogs for over a year straight, you can forgive me if it feels like every thought I've ever had has somehow made it's way onto these Internet pages. Due to sheer volume of content, I cannot personally confirm for certain wherever or not that's the case  (too much material to go over) and thus I inquire; have I mentioned my interest in the Five Nights franchise yet? I feel like I must have, afterall there was recently a new game announcement at the PS5 reveal event that I covered, but I don't know if I adequately impressed on you how much this franchise both irks and inspires me. That may sound a little over-dramatic, but let me explain.

Five Nights at Freddy's represents the last hail-mary attempt for an artist, Scott Cawthon, to bring some success out of his work. He achieved it by taking a failed former venture and switching it's greatest failing into the selling point of his new game. That being the way in which the terrifyingly dead-looking humanoid animals work so much better in a horror setting than... whatever the heck his old game was. (I've never seen a single human who's actually played it.) And from that one new game came runaway success, fame, endless sequels, incomprehensive storytelling and a movie deal. This one indie dev managed to turn his entire life around pretty much by accident and I love how that's a story we can tell in the gaming industry. Scott himself seems like a decent enough guy too, so I don't feel gross talking about his good fortunes. But it's that movie deal which concerns me today.

You see, that is an incredible step up from nothing, for a game to become a phenomenon that a studio actually wants to make a movie of!(Albeit, several years after the crescendo of the game's hype) You could hardly dream of such a turn around. And what's more, the concept actually sort of works! We're talking about a story covering a haunted pizzeria wherein the animatronic hosts come to life at night and hunt down any who remain there. It's a story about an innocent location loved by children turned into a horrific nightmarish survival battleground; what a perfect premise for a horror movie! It's not like the oncoming Uncharted movie which proposes to literally turn a franchise born from a homage to a legendary film, back into a film. Or even the Metal Gear Solid movie which is going to bring a 2 hour time limit to a concept that revolves around Stealth and discussions that can go up to thirty minutes in themselves. (Both horrible ideas) If Five Nights takes only the concept and nothing else, there's plenty of room for a genuinely great horror experience to be born here. (If not exactly fresh)

Maybe that's why next month Screen Media is very much attempting to beat that movie to the punch with a shameless 'inspired by' take on the concept starring Nicholas Cage. Yes, that Nicholas Cage. (Is there any other?) To be fair, the actual Five Nights movie has been hit with so many false starts that I wouldn't be surprised if the thing never makes it to theatres, (Or streaming, whatever) especially as Scott Cawthon seems to jump back and forth about how much he wants these little bits of media to crossover with one another, so someone else swooping in to steal the idea feels appropriate. (Or rather 'inevitable', if not exactly 'appropriate') Because you know what they say; Power hates a vacuum and all that baloney. So without further ado let me introduce you all to shameless rip- I mean 'Willy's Wonderland'.

Yes, there is a trailer and I recommend that you watch it. (I surmise that it'll be about as enjoyable as the movie itself. If not a little more.) Right away there's a big question that one will be struck with entering this premise, and that's how the heck anyone is supposed to believe in and immerse themselves in this story with Nicholas Cage in a starring role. Not to denigrate the man or his acting talent, but Cage is just such a force in every single movie he's ever been a part of, his presence simply overwrites any sort of tension that they'll attempt to set up. And the solution is thus; they seemed to have drained horror out of the DNA of the film (or at least 'sheer' horror; it looks like some slapstick horror might stick around) and they have instead deemed to make the film about Cage's character. Clever move, if simultaneously heavily questionable.

Even as we see the restaurant (Which actually seems to share more in common with Chuck E Cheese than Freddy Fazbear) and see the animatronics come to life, there's no question that ol' Nicky, playing the janitor, is the star of the show. Think about that, you have giant walking animatronics that come to life and try to kill you, yet the janitor is the one who steals the show. Props too, for the creative team to actually step away from the slightly more important 'security guard' roll which almost every protagonist in the original games occupied, just to highlight the absurdity of the position by making our hero a janitor instead. (Not 'ingenious' writing by any stretch of the imagination, but appreciative shrug worthy.) I'm honestly somewhat okay with this approach as is does set on a tone of slapstick over seriousness which may just differentiate it from the real Freddy movie which, as far as we know, is still taking itself seriously.

I did note that the trailer seemed curiously devoid of gore, which seems odd for a modern horror movie, and it feels like Cage hasn't got the chance to be as crazy as he wants to. And I am making that statement despite the fact the trailer shows him beating an Ostrich over the head with a broken broomstick. (Maybe I'm just having trouble shaking the memory of Mandy from my head. In that continuity he would have just gouged the thing.) Also, it must be said, Willy looks dumb. He's the orange weasel that we don't see a great deal of in the trailer, but that which we do see makes him just look like the least intimidating animatronic ever. I think it's the excess of fur in his design which makes him look cuddly, or maybe just the long neck. (Long necks don't work on scary monster designs, just ask the original Predator.) Freddy and his gang stand out due to their emotionless and unapproachable statuesque look, and I don't feel an inch of that for these guys. (But then I am biased.)

At the end of the day I cannot rail against the movie without granting it one applause; the movie is actually real. (As opposed to the official product which is feeling ever more like vapourware) Were this my project I would have certainly turned it into an unbashed bloodbath and sought out the most stomach turning death scenes imaginable, but it seems I'm in the minority because this movie looks practically PG. (Okay, there are some moments with gratuitous amounts of that incredibly black-looking blood that horror movies like so much, but that never hits the same, you know?) Maybe, against all odds, this might turn out as a half decent flick and prove my significant doubts completely wrong, but if it does; I think we already know it'll be because of the man, myth and legend on the posters.

FNAF Security Breach

He always comes back

Five Nights at Freddy's, how is it that I've never spoken about this franchise at length before? I mean I've mentioned it in passing but there's never been that one excuse to just sit down and go into exactly what it's all about for the blog. I suppose, that would dictate that I have to start from the beginning, but it almost seemed redundant to go into the history of one of the biggest indie success stories of all time. Then again I'm always astounded by the amount of people who've never even heard of FNAF, so maybe it makes sense for a little recap. This goes especially true since these games have ballooned to such a height wherein the latest game got itself an actual trailer in the PS5 showcase! I mean how cool is that for ol' Scott to rave about!? If I were him that'd be the kind of thing I'd never shut up about, getting his game out there in possibly the single most mainstream manner possible. I mean sure, it was arguably the most bait-ey and eye-rolling trailer of the entire conference, but at least it was there, you know? And though we've very little information to go on for the moment we've still a decently solid idea about what this game is, so let's get into it.

But first, a history. Scott Cawthon was a animator in the early 90's who started to get into indie game development in the late 2000's. He made a few games which were published through the Steam Greenlight program (wherein users play games and determine whether or not it should be continued in development or something, I forget the specifics) but not every title he put out made the cut. In fact one game, 'Chipper and Sons Lumber Co.' was ridiculed for it's lifeless-looking character design which made the beaver protagonists look like animatronics. As the legend goes, which I'm fairly certain is played up for effect, Scott was a little upset with this feedback, along with other issues in his life at that point, and so he promised himself he'd make one final game before putting game development behind him for good. But rather than just forget his past failures he decided he would leverage them, by taking that "They look like animatronics" and "These 'cute characters' look horrific" criticism and turning them into the point of his newest game. Thus was born, Five Nights at Freddy's.

The basic premise behind the games is... well, basic. You are the night security guard in a pizzeria for kids based on Chuck E. Cheese (RIP), meaning that it's aimed at kids and features a cast of animatronic mascots who operate during the day in order to delight the children and bring their restaurant experience to life, or something. (I never got the concept behind Chuck E. Cheese, it's all a mystery to me.) Now life as a night security guard should be pretty boring except for one thing, according to the voiceover the phonecall you get each morning (that provides your orientation because no one here believes in training days, I guess) the Animatronics themselves have a tendency to turn themselves on and wonder through the halls at night. (As you'd expect from ostensibly lifeless robots.) What's more, they have a 'failsafe' built into them that if they happen across anyone in this wander state they will assume they are an animatronic exoskeleton outside of it's suit and thus forcibly try to force that person into a animatronic suit. (Suits which absolutely do not have enough room for an adult human to fit into without loosing a lot of vital organs.) Huh, this lazy night job turned into a survival horror real quick...

So the basic gameplay loop which all the games have come back to for the most part (I see you, FNAF World, you RPG abomination upon man, you.) goes a bit like this, the player must observe the animatronics from the security office over the restaurant's cameras and close the door to their office whenever one comes too close. Although you can't just close all doors and ride it out because the building runs on old electronics and you'll quickly run out of power unless you ration it correctly. (Oh, and apparently the act of looking through the cameras drains the generator. These guys need a decent technician, I swear!) So this is a slowburn survival horror scenario defined by resource management and punctuated with jumpscares when you screw up. Throw in some curious mysteries, a threadbare storyline and a background about murdered children possessing the animatronics and hunting for victims, and you've got yourself a multi-million dollar franchise.

Fast forward through what feels like a decades worth of sequels, spin offs and whatever the hell FNAF World was meant to be, and we get to the game announced (officially) during the PS5 conference 'FNAF Security Breach'. Cue a creepy trailer taking us through possible the most extravagantly 80's location ever made by man, ending with a supremely ineffective jumpscare (seriously Scott, even your games have better jumps than that) and there's the most mainstream debut of the series right there. A niche title touted as a system seller, who'd a thunk it? Okay, to be fair I can name a least one person who legitimately jumped to this trailer, but amidst all of the other indepth announcements this one stood out as a supremely underexplored trailer. Only God of War Ragnarok was less informative but that was just a teaser.  Still, as I said, we're not entirely in the dark.

Just as the history of Hyrule was also the history of Calamity Ganon, the story of FNAF coincides with the life and times William Afton. Will is one of the co-creators of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria (the franchisation of Fazbear's Diner) and a lifelong child murderer. I don't know what his motivation is, I don't even know if Scott even bothered to think up a motivation, I just know that William has a history of killing kids and stuffing them in animatronic suits, even long after it became apparent to him that doing so was what led to these suits becoming possessed. (How many times does a guy gotta screw up to learn his lesson?) This time-jumping series has covered his long serial killer history as well as his successful robotics career, and the way that his entire family ended up becoming victims to him in some way or another. Now with Security Breach it seems the series may be stepping forward from him for the first time. (With heavy emphasis on 'may')

This 80's inspired- (you know I don't what this place is. A diner? A disco? What is going on?) was teased first during the run of FNAF's VR game, a game which introduced a new character killer going by the name of Vanny. (Who was a VR character that escaped to the real world through your body or something, I dunno; this franchise is freakin' odd) Vanny, as she is definitely called thanks to the merchandise of her already making it's way to shelves, is dressed in a bunny rabbit suit and will allegedly seek to start a cult in the name of the original killer. How that pans into what sounds like menacing a small child in an empty Fazbear location is beyond me, but there's your backstory.

Ultimately, I'll be honest, I'm not entirely sure what this game was doing in an event about the PS5. FNAF games are usually best at home on the PC and even then they don't have a reputation for being particular lookers or even being that well made in some early titles. Again, even the trailer was pretty ropey for this title, and I'd say this trailer stuck out next to FFXVI and other games that I've yet to talk about. Yet, I have to concede and say; at least Scott managed to get his indie title to the mainstage. (If it still counts as an Indie game at this point, I'm guessing not.) You can poke holes in the presentation, concept, writing, scripting and everything else of the games, but you can never take that away from them. Good for you, Scott, Good for you.