Five Nights at Freddy's 2

By: Robert Murphy

As if the animatronic nightmare that was set forth in the first Five Nights at Freddy's wasn't enough, now the developer has released a sequel of the terrifying indie horror game onto us all. Five Nights at Freddy's 2 sounds like it would be a much more easier affair on your heart as now you have your own flash light and a Freddie mask to avoid some of the dangers but wait.....what the heck? Where are my safety doors, the little net under the trapeze wire that made me feel safe and happy. Those are gone and now you sit looking down a large hallway as doom approaches you and the doors to the left and right of you have been replaced with ventilation shafts into which the characters like to crawl through to tear your face off. The danger is now even more adrenaline provoking and Freddie and his new friends are out to get you like never before. 

Your questionable career choices seem to follow you into the sequel for Five Nights, even though the pay is a few dollars less too. A newly renovated pizza emporium awaits you here and Freddie and his pals have all been decommissioned and left half destroyed creations of terror and replaced by newer and sleeker models of their predecessors. This does not make the new Freddie and his friends any less terrifying though, technology may have made them look better but they're prettier painted faces of joy still inspired me to crap myself just as much. However, new robots also have come to this Chuck E. Cheese style nightmare, a balloon dispensing child and puppet themed creation and both bring new challenges to the game with them. The aptly named Balloon Boy doesn't really attack you in the way the other robots do, no this grinning, smiling and laughing pain in the butt will instead block the main hallway on you and not allow you to shine your flash light on his friends. This is a huge problem and makes me despise Balloon Boy more than any other as he laughs at the fact that you will soon meet your end. As for The Marionette, he is an enemy that sits in slumber in the new kiddie room for toddlers and will leave you alone as long as you keep him lulled to sleep with a music box. The box needs to be wound up every so often to avoid him from lunging out of the dark hallway right at your face, which is not easy considering everything else you have to deal with. 

Now with all the new features and enemies you might expect things to be more terrifying with it's jumpscares and you'd be right! The animatronics are now in your face in a very real way, before you never saw too much of your furry friends until they were knocking outside your door. Now though you see everything!! You shine your light down on your enemies as they come towards you, creating polarizing images of them as they slowly make there way towards you, disassembled arms stretched out and jaws wide open. What I learned though, your mask is your best friend and best line of defense you can have against all that you will face. Flipping it on at just the right time is crucial when Chica or Bonnie, really any of the nightmare gang get into your room. This fools the robots into thinking your one of their brethren, saving you from a gruesome death and allowing you to make it through another night. It however doesn't prevent you from getting scarred to death as you peer out through the eye holes at your enemies and deeply breathe in and out until they disappear like they were never even there. Why is nobody doing something to help me here?

That question brings up the fact that our friendly disembodied voice has return on your speaker phone to give you advice on surviving the five nights or week if you're feeling brave. Bravery is what is needed more than ever too as things are insanely more difficult this time around. Just like before, as the nights go on the difficulty is increased and that is to be expected but now the difficulty gets amped up quite fast, I spent hours just trying to get through night three as I switched from winding up the music box, shining my flashlight on incoming baddies and hiding for my life. The whole thing requires reflexes of steel and the gumpshun to keep trying and trying until you get through, a challenge fans I'm sure will take but new comers may find daunting. There are also some curiosities that come up in the story aspects to the game, there are still only theories as to what is happening in Five Nights like who are buddy on the phone is and why is he here in this game again. Also, there are some cut scenes between nights on the job that show you inside of a suit yourself or someone in a suit and you are looked on by Freddie and his friends, what did this mean? There are still many unanswered questions that I hope to be answered in some way but for now it's a confusing pile of information. 

Five Nights at Freddy's 2 serves as a great new challenge for returning fans of the game. The added features and dangers such as that cursed Balloon Boy, the lack of automatic doors and many more ways for you to be grabbed continues the fun and fear that you would expect for the game and makes it even better. However, the punishing level of difficulty will likely leave newcomers as well as some seasoned players to feel a drained after playing the much harder nights ahead of you and make you also think twice before trying the sixth or seventh night. This aside and my thoughts on the story elements, I still loved the sequel to Five Nights at Freddy's and wonder if there could be more in store or even more that I might have missed in this game. One way to find out, masks on everyone. 

Good:

- Still an insanely terrifying experience, if not more terrifying than before

- The new added challenges and features such as the mask and music box were all great aspects that added to the fun

- There could very well be more secrets to find in the gameplay, there always are and if you're brave enough to look, good for you

Bad:

- The difficulty level this time around can be jarring 

- Personally, I'd like some more details but I know it's hard to add into such a straight forward game to tell something of a story

Scully Rating: 9.0 out of 10