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Five Nights at Freddy's 2 is a 2014 indie point-and-click survival horror video game developed by Scott Cawthon. It is the second installment in the series, following the original Five Nights at Freddy's. The game was released on Steam on November 11, 2014, earlier than its two planned dates of sometime in 2015 and December 25, 2014 respectively, with the latter due to issues with releasing the demo. The mobile port for Android was released on November 13, 2014. A version for Windows Phone, was published on December 05, together with the first Five Nights at Freddy's.

The player plays as security guard Jeremy Fitzgerald, instead of Mike Schmidt from the first game. It features six brand new enemy characters as well as redesigned versions of the original four enemy characters from the original game. Unlike the first game, there are no doors to close; instead, the player must put on a Freddy Fazbear mask to avoid being killed by most animatronics.

Gameplay

As in the first game, Five Nights at Freddy's, the player must survive a night shift at Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria, from 12 A.M. to 6 A.M. game time (usually 6-8 minutes), without being attacked by any of the animatronic enemy characters (10 in all) that wander from room to room. The player cannot leave the security office, but can track the animatronics' movements via a network of surveillance cameras placed throughout the building. The office has three entrances, a hallway and two side air vents; in a departure from the previous game, none of these can be sealed off to block enemies from entering. Each vent is equipped with a light that can be used to check for any characters that are about to crawl into the office.

The player character can put on a mask to ward off approaching animatronics, however this strategy will not work on all of the enemy characters. A flashlight is also available, used to check the hallway and darkened areas of the camera feeds, as well as to reset certain animatronics via strobing. Although the power supply for the cameras and vent lights is unlimited, the flashlight does have a finite battery life; if it runs out, the player becomes vulnerable to attack. In addition, a music box has been placed in one room and must be remotely wound up through the camera interface, to avoid being attacked by an additional enemy that appears should the music stop.

Unlike the first game, after the player is killed, there is a chance that rather than the Game Over screen one of four low-resolution minigames will appear, with instructions given at the start of each. These minigames provide insight into the backstory of the events that have given the restaurant its troubled reputation.

The game consists of five nights, increasing in difficulty. Completing all five unlocks an even more difficult sixth night, which in turn unlocks a "Custom Night" upon completion. In the Custom Night, the player can adjust the AI difficulty of the individual enemy characters or play one of 10 pre-set challenges.

Plot

The player character, who is later revealed to be named Jeremy Fitzgerald, has started working as a night watch security guard at the family restaurant Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. One of the other employees calls the player on a phone in the office to explain both gameplay and the story. The animatronics, which have special facial recognition software to protect the children from potential harm, were not programmed with a night mode, so when they do not hear any noise, their programming tells them that they are in the wrong room and they seek out the nearest source of noise to find people to entertain, which happens to be in the office. As in the previous game, the animatronics' programming also tells them that there should not be people in the restaurant after hours, so when they encounter the player character, they believe he is an animatronic endoskeleton without a costume and stuff him into a spare Freddy Fazbear suit, killing him in the process. The man on the phone also explains that this restaurant has an unlimited power source at night, unlike the previous location, but there are no doors blocking access to the office, requiring the player to use either a spare Freddy Fazbear mask to trick the animatronics into thinking he is not an endoskeleton. The player is also informed their flashlight will cause certain animatronics to reboot and leave the room. As more enemy characters appear as the player advances through the game, the man on the phone informs the player of the characters' presence, their movement patterns, and some background information on their presence in the sequel. For example, the man on the phone explains that the older animatronics are in the new restaurant, and have been retrofitted with the new technology, but as they did not work properly they are kept for spare parts.

On the game's fifth night, Jeremy is informed by the man on the phone that the restaurant has been put on lockdown due to an event that he will not describe, but is in place to make sure no employees, present or former, can come in or go out. He also mentions that the position of the restaurant's day shift security has a vacancy and Jeremy may be promoted to it, and that the owner of the older restaurant named "Fredbear's Family Diner" will be contacted for more information on the animatronics. On the sixth night, the man on the phone informs Jeremy that the restaurant has been closed for undescribed reasons, but he does mention that someone used a "spare yellow suit" for the animatronics and now none of them work properly. He also tells the player that he will be taking over as night shift security guard when the restaurant reopens. If Jeremy is successful in surviving the sixth night, he is promoted to day shift to cover a birthday party on the next day to make sure the animatronics do not cause any problems. A newspaper that is shown in the winning screen of the sixth night says that the restaurant will close down and the newer animatronics will be scrapped, but the older ones saved for when the restaurant reopens, hinting at the events of the first game. The year the game takes place is also revealed to be 1987, and the man on the phone is the same character as the previous game.

In the custom night level, Jeremy is replaced by a new player character named Fritz Smith due to Jeremy's promotion. If the player manages to win the custom night, they discover Fritz has been fired for "tampering with animatronics" and "odor".

Reception

Five Nights at Freddy's 2 received generally positive reviews from critics. Omri Petitte for PC Gamer gave Five Nights at Freddy's 2 a score of 70 out of 100, commenting that what he wanted in the sequel "was more mind games and more uncertainty. I wanted the plodding animatronic suits to find me and rip my face off in new and interesting ways. I wanted working legs. What I got was a horror game dipping heavily into deception and subtlety, a wonderfully cruel cocktail of supernatural mystery and jolts of panicked adrenaline. Enjoying the good parts, though, comes with a cost of a frustratingly steep difficulty."

References

1. "Five Nights at Freddy's 1 and 2 creep their way onto the Windows Phone Store". Windows Central.
2. Squires, Jim (September 23, 2014). "Five Nights at Freddy's 2 Coming in 2015". Gamezebo. Retrieved September 23, 2014.
3. Lionet, François (November 5, 2014). "Interview of the author of a top paid game in AppStore". Clickteam. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
4. Jeffrey Matulef (11 November 2014). "Five Nights at Freddy's 2 sneaks out on Steam". Eurogamer. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
5. "Five Nights at Freddy's 1 and 2 creep their way onto the Windows Phone Store". Windows Central.
6. Carlson, Alex (October 21, 2014). "Five Nights at Freddy's 2 Hits Steam Greenlight, Removes Doors". Hardcore Gamer LLC. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
7. Prieststman, Chris (October 24, 2014). "Five Nights At Freddy's 2 Let's You Wear A Freddy Mask". Siliconera. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
8. "Five Nights at Freddy's 2 for PC". GameRankings.com. Retrieved November 30, 2014.
9. "Five Nights at Freddy's 2 for iOS". GameRankings.com. Retrieved November 30, 2014.
10. ^ Petitte, Omri (November 24, 2014). "Five Nights at Freddy's 2 review". PC Gamer. Future plc. Retrieved November 30, 2014.

External links

• Official website
• Five Nights at Freddy's 2 on IndieDB

• Indie video games
• Psychological horror games
• Windows games
• Windows Phone games
• Android games
• IOS games
• 2014 video games
• Point-and-click adventure games
• Video games featuring anthropomorphic characters