I recently reached out to developer, publisher, and overseer of nightmare factory Five Nights at Freddy’s Scott Cawthon to ask him the hard hitting game journalist questions (on account of me being a fancy game journalist). He obliged me, so here’s what he had to say. According to Scott there are still secrets to uncover in Freddy’s. So for all of you sleuthing and piecing the story together, keep at it – there’s more to find. I would be remiss, however, if I didn’t mention Howard Carter’s discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb also uncovered great secrets – and a curse! Maybe. Probably not. I mean, Carter died 17 years later. That’s a slow-working curse. But I digress.
I also asked Scott about characters and rooms that didn’t make the final cut. “Yes, but they’ll get their time to shine.” Are we to take this as a sign of things to come in the sequel? Or is there still some horror skittering in the shadows that we haven’t stumbled upon yet? Is there, perhaps, some secret room on the premises? Only time (and player snooping) will tell. When asked what his favorite horror game released this year is and what he’s most anticipating to come, Mr. Cawthon responded, “I don’t play horror games; I’m too chicken.” Which is good I guess. He doesn’t need any fresh ideas.
I pressed Scott to enlighten me on some objective truths to his game: how much of the story is up to the player’s interpretation and how much is canon? Unfortunately for us Scott had no comment. He did say, however, that he enjoyed reading all of the player theories and hypotheses. Mr. Cawthon has also revealed that he’ll be making a sequel to Five Nights at Freddy’s (Five Nights at Freddy’s Two: This Time It’s Personal?) and I had to ask: will we be revisiting Freddy’s old stomping grounds or will we find ourselves somewhere new? Will the gameplay mechanics change or remain the same? Again, no comment. I just have one request: no clowns.
Fortunately Mr. Cawthon did have one piece of advice for new players struggling with the difficulty and stress of Five Nights at Freddy’s, and that is simply to get some sleep… if you can.
Five Nights at Freddy’s is available where digital games can be downloaded for 4.99 USD. I reviewed Five Nights favourably, awarding it an eight out of ten for its unique, stressful, paranoia-inducing take on the horror genre (not because Freddy is holding me against my will. Honest.).