Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location

Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location
Steam storefront header
Developer(s)	Scott Cawthon
Publisher(s)	Scott Cawthon
Composer(s)	Leon Riskin
Series	Five Nights at Freddy's
Engine	Clickteam Fusion 2.5
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Android, iOS
Release	Microsoft Windows WW: 7 October 2016 Android WW: 22 December 2016 iOS WW: 3 January 2017
Genre(s)	Survival horror
Mode(s)	Single-player

Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location (often abbreviated to Sister Location or FNaF: SL, and otherwise known as Five Nights at Freddy’s 5) is a point-and-click survival horror video game created by Scott Cawthon. It is the fifth installment of the main series of the game franchise Five Nights at Freddy's. The game was released on 7 October 2016. A mobile port was released for Android devices on 22 December 2016, and for iOS devices on 3 January 2017.

Sister Location distances itself from several key gameplay and storytelling mechanics than the other games. Instead of featuring the ability to move between rooms, each with its own differing objective the player must carry out. Throughout the game, the player interacts with a new cast of animatronic characters, central to which is a benevolent animatronic named Circus Baby.

Plot

Before the core gameplay begins, a prologue cutscene is presented to the player, where an interviewer is questioning William Afton, supposedly the creator of the game's animatronic characters, on certain design choices he has made when building the animatronics. William lists several features of Circus Baby, such as her ability to make ice cream, inflate balloons at her fingertips, and take song requests and dance to them. The interviewer is unsatisfied with this answer, as the features William mentioned were not what he was referring to.

The player character, Michael Afton,^[1] is a new employee of Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental, featuring animatronics that are rented out to children's birthday parties; they were originally intended for use in a pizzeria called Circus Baby's Pizza World, but the pizzeria had been shut down shortly before it was supposed to open due to "gas leaks".^[2]

Gameplay

The bulk of the game play in Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location does away with the survival aspect of previous games. Instead of remaining in one place and preventing the animatronic antagonists from attacking, the player must move from room to room in order to fulfill a series of objectives that change during each of the five nights. For example, Night 2 requires the player to sneak across Ballora Gallery and reset a group of circuit breakers, while for Night 4, the player is placed inside a spring lock suit while having to fight off Minireenas.

As in Five Nights at Freddy's 2, when a game ends, the player may be given a chance to play an 8-bit minigame, in which Circus Baby must give cupcakes to children and then bring an ice cream cone to a little girl. Completing this minigame grants access to a secret level during Night 5, a near-recreation of the gameplay in the original Five Nights at Freddy's. Here, the player remains in a security office and must prevent a hybrid animatronic called "Ennard" from entering it by watching surveillance cameras and closing electric doors, all of which consume a limited power supply.

Clearing all five nights unlocks a gallery of extra features: pictures and blueprints of the game's animatronics, their making-of, a map of the facility, and automatic access to Circus Baby's cupcake minigame. As of the 1 December 2016 update, clearing all nights also unlocks the non-canon Custom Night mode, which is set in a modified version of the Night 5 secret room. The player can choose from several modes and difficulty settings, facing new animatronics, and must conserve both power and oxygen supplies in order to survive. Completing these modes allows the player to view a series of cutscenes that have been declared as part of the series canon; all except the last scene are in 8-bit resolution.

An achievement system exists in the form of four stars, obtained by unlocking both of the game's endings, completing the Circus Baby minigame, and completing the hardest difficulty on each custom night preset.

Like in all Five Nights at Freddy's games, failure to defend oneself from the hostile animatronic characters will result in a jumpscare, ending the game.

Development

In April 2016, Cawthon released a teaser image of the game on his website, entitled Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location, featuring a clown-like animatronic, revealed to be named "Circus Baby".^[3] Several teaser images followed, revealing different characters and hints at their origins.^[4]

The trailer for the game^[5] was released on Cawthon's official YouTube page featuring new animatronics and a new location. The release date was later confirmed to be 7 October 2016.^[4][6]

In August, a teaser image was posted on Cawthon's website with the words "Cancelled. Due to Leaks." This was initially taken to indicate that the game itself had been cancelled, due to one of the game's animatronics' voices being leaked, namely Ballora's. However, it was quickly revealed to be a part of the story line, as a fictional news article was found when the image was brightened, discussing how the in-game location had been closed due to "gas" leaks.^[7]

On 4 October 2016, Cawthon posted on the Steam Community forums, stating that the game has a very dark story line, and that it might not be kid-friendly. For this, he said that he might work on the game for several more months, to make the game and its story more suitable for younger players,^[8] which, however, turned out to be a hoax.^[9] The game was released on 7 October 2016.

On 17 October 2016, Cawthon announced on his website and the game's Steam page that a non-canon Custom Night will be added to the game in December, and that an update for it will be released prior to its original version.^[10][11] It was released on 1 December 2016.

On 22 December 2016, a mobile port for Android devices was released on the Google Play Store.

On 3 January 2017, a mobile port for iOS devices was released on the App Store.

Reception

Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Metacritic aggregated a score of 62 out of 100 for the game.^[12] Destructoid rated the game 6/10,^[13] while GameCrate rated it 7.50/10.^[14] Shelby Watson of The All State gave the game a positive review, citing it to be comparable to the first game's quality, but unlike the first game, never allowing the player to operate the mechanics on muscle memory alone. She writes, "...[E]ach night is so different, it is impossible to get comfortable with the mechanics enough that it feels like second nature. The game changes so much, you are forced to adapt and are always on the edge of your seat, waiting for what is to come."^[15]

References