Five Nights At Freddy’s: Security Breach is out now

You know what Christmas was missing? The unmatched fear of being chased by terrifying killer robots through a shopping mall. Five Nights At Freddy’s: Security Breach launched last night, inviting players to fend off a whole new crew of animatronics. This is the eighth mainline game in the long-running pizzeria-based horror series (I know, there are loads of spin-offs too), and for the first time it will let players properly roam free, rather than be tied to a desk monitoring cameras.

(And yes I know that Sister Location and FNAF VR don’t lock you into the camera thing, but they still didn’t let you just run around all willy-nilly.)

Security Breach is a first-person survival horror where you play as a kid named Gregory. He’s stuck inside a Pizzaplex (lol) and needs to survive until morning while uncovering the truth about the freaky animatronics who’re programmed to hunt down intruders.

Interestingly, he’ll be helped by Freddy himself, who’s been a main deathbot in most of the other games. Then again, in most of the other games we’ve played as adult characters (as night security, mostly). There’s a suggestion in old FNAF lore that the bots are possessed by the souls of dead children (cheery stuff), so perhaps Freddy is protecting this young boy so he doesn’t end up a murder machine too.

We’ll still see hints of the old school FNAF games, as Gregory is able to access security cameras in the building to plan escape routes. This very much seems like the sort of horror game where you can’t fight the monsters, you need to run and hide, and developers Steel Wool Studios say there are spots to sneak into to let danger pass.

Five Nights At Freddy’s: Security Breach is out now on Steam priced at £34/€40/$40. It’s also out on PS4 and PS5. Find out more on the developers’ website.

I’ve been super excited for this one, mostly because me and my pals always make each other play various FNAF games around Halloween. They’re coming over for D&D this weekend, so I may have to insist on a little scare sesh to break up the adventuring. I’m intrigued to see what Security Breach is like considering how different it is from the rest of the series.

It’s worth noting that the series’ creator Scott Cawthon retired this year to focus his attention on his family. He announced this shortly after fans discovered he had donated large amounts of money to politicians who’ve repeatedly opposed rights for LGBTQ+ folks. Right now, it’s unclear who’ll be taking the lead on future FNAF games after Security Breach.