The finale of the Five Nights At Candy's Series reviews by me. Well, right now. I plan on doing Fnac Fur and Candy's 4 when they come out (2025 will be it, trust me guys. Trust me). It is a little sad to see this series go but I am excited to review the third game in the series, some people would arguably consider it the best in the series.

Now unlike Fnac 2, I actually did know Fnac 3 was coming. This is because I beat all max modes and got the secret minigame from them, which then included the Fnac 3 teaser, with this I was hyped. This was really cool, at the time, I really liked Fnac 2 and thought it was the best fangame I've played since TRTF 3... my standards were low as a kid and they are still low now. But Fnac 3 was on my mind at the time and this games build up really got me back into Fnaf as a whole, as if SL didn't bring me back already. I was back to being obsessed, talking about theories, playing fangames, talking with friends on forums, it was crazy. And when that first teaser dropped, I knew we were in for something.

This goes fucking hard and for when Fnac 3 comes to Steam, I want this to be the thumbnail for the game. Monster Rat looks menacing, the origami cat that appears in Fnac 1 shows up, and the tagline goes hard as hell. This was a peak teaser and when the second teaser dropped, I already knew what was going to happen in the game.

This teaser made me think that this was going to be a Fnaf 4 styled game, which at the time I was nervous about, but since we were hiding under the bed, I had a feeling that this was going to be a central mechanic, at least, I thought we were hiding under the bed.

Brightening up this teaser you can see Monster Rat in the doorway and boy was he creepy. This meant that we hopefully wouldn't be running up to any doorways in the game... hopefully.

And this was just The Cat. This interested me as it seems we would only be going up against two characters, which was a bit of a downgrade but I couldn't complain. The Monster designs interested me and I couldn't wait to see more.

The game dropped the next year in 2017 and I played it and it was... good. Yeah, just good. Not spectacular or anything, just... good. Like, it's nowhere near a bad game like Candy's 2 where it was almost a chore to get through, this game was good but that doesn't mean it doesn't have it's problems. Overall though, child me was happy with the game and I would then completely forget about it when Pizzeria Simulator came out that year alongside some other fangame I was hyped for that I can't remember off the top of my head right now. Anyway, coming back to this game and playing it again, while it is good, it does suffer from problems that only a steam release as this game is apart of the Fazbear Fanverse initiative which means these games are just as official as Fnaf 3 and Help Wanted (which will be the next review!!!) can fix. Please Emil, I need more Fnac in my life I love this series.

Anyway, without further ado, let's get on to the gameplay!!!

Gameplay:

We don't have a cool office or boring hallway this time, we now have a reference filled bedroom.

Supposedly there is an image somewhere in the Fanverse Server where you can see a new version of the bedroom that is absolved of references. But for now, we're stuck with Dawko Puppet, Popgoes Plush, Fluttershy from My Little Pony, and DOUG AND RACHEL!!! HI DOUG AND RACHEL! HI GUYS I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. HUGS AND KISSES!

Sorry, I don't know what came over me, anyway. This bedroom here has three entrances and you, the player, have a flashlight. You can shine the light at the three entrances by moving your mouse towards them to delay the Monsters entry. Two out of the three Monsters use the entries (I will talk about the Shadow in a minute, he's a recolor anyway). You can also look under your bed, which I'm sure has more references.

Not really actually.

You also have a tape recorder.

This tape recorder allows the nights to go by slightly faster than normal, I say slightly because if I'm being honest, the nights are still a chore and a half to deal with. The music is nice though.

"BUT WHAT ABOUT THE THREATS?!" I hear you asking, well, in tradition with Fnac. The models are peak as hell.

Monster Rat/Shadow Rat:

Yeah, we have two versions of Monster Rat. Shadow Rat is reserved for a different area and a post game challenge. The Rat will patrol through your room to one of the three entrances. You can shine the light at the entrances to stall his attack. Once he gets in, you will be thrust into a small minigame where you have to hover your mouse/light over his eyes to get him to go under your bed. Once under your bed, check the side he's on or guess the side and go to the other side of your bed to lure him out. Once he's lured out, shine the light in his face to send him backing out of your room. He can only go to the left or right sides when under the bed. Shadow Rat is basically the same but is slightly faster and has a very bullshit bed phase where you basically have to be close by to deal with him and you have to be quick. Shadow Rat is not as bad as another character on this list however...

Monster Cat:

This guy does have a Shadow form with a full body appearance, though he doesn't appear in Shadow Night. Not to say he is scrapped from the game however. Anyway, Monster Cat appears on the sides of your bed, not under, on the sides of your bed and will slowly try to make his way to you. The best way to deal with him is to shine your light at him to make him go back till he's gone completely. You will hear a noise for when he is closest as well as breathing to indicate he is about to kill you.

Now, you only have these two threats and the game goes on for five nights... this game is ridiculously easy. Monster Rat doesn't get aggressive until you've stalled him enough times and if you move back and forth continuously while making sure you play the tape and rewind when needed, the only time you will get Monster Rat in is when it's mandatory. A fun fact about this game, Monster Cat was actually meant to act like Monster Rat, he would duck around the light, get stalled with doorway's, and more. It was scrapped but I wonder how things would have gone if Monster Cat acted like Monster Rat.

Anyway, if you do everything right, you basically won't die. Now, when it comes to the Final Night... hoo boy.

Monster Vinnie:

The final boss of the game, he's the hardest challenge you will face, harder than Monster Rat. This guy cheats, he cheats. Rather than just dodging the light in three directiosn like Monster Rat, he can do to almost sixteen different directions with his head moving in a more circular motion. He can even go around the room, not just stay in one spot. Now this boss fight is actually really good... but it's way too demanding. There are some deaths where you do feel like it's your fault, but there are deaths where you could play it perfectly and make only a few mistakes and that can cost you. You basically need to track wherever Vinnie goes. If he goes around in a circle back to the same spot, quickly follow him with your mouse. If he moves to another side of the room, go to that side. There are deaths where I felt like I was doing everything right and I still died for no reason. He can't mess with the tape like Monster Rat can but I think that is because you will never get a chance too because he takes too long during his phase.

All this being said, his design is kick fucking ass and I'll take no complaints. I especially love him leaving the room and he's like dragged away on Puppet strings.

He's so cool. Anyway, Vinnie should have been nerfed and the main nights should have been buffed. The main nights are easy and the Final Night with Vinnie is pretty difficult. But we aren't exactly done with the gameplay section.

Introducing... The Dreamscape!

Yes, this delightful little area of the game is basically a way for you to get lore and secrets. However, there is some elements of gameplay here that I would like to bring up. This is where Shadow Rat and Shadow Cat are fully introduced and this is where you get your tape player for the first night as well. So here's what you have to do.

Shadow Rat will be in the darkness, get spotted by him and he will chase you. Depending on if you are running or walking, that will depend the speed on how fast he chases you. You can run even in the darkness, but that attracts Shadow Rat faster.

Here's a brightened picture of him.

Shadow Cat is based on how long you spend in the darkness for a certain period of time, stay in the darkness for the timer above you to reach zero and you are jumpscared and have to start your quest all over. You can go into the Dreamscape each night to talk to toys and do a little sidequest that leads to extra minigames (one that makes Five Laps play great) and to get other arcade minigames that lead to lore.

The minigames include Fishing With Candy, Cindy's Garden, and Candy's Adventure, all with very simple premises. Fishing with Candy means collect the fish, Cindy's Garden you bonk some moles on the head to make sure they don't take your flowers. Candy's Adventure is about Candy going on a quest to defeat the evil Boss Dog. Candy's Adventure is a platformer that requires you to go around collecting power ups and defeating enemies with your scratch attack. If you die once, it's game over and back to the beginning. There are secrets to these games that unlock a secret ending involving the lollipop. How do you find these secrets? I'm too lazy to write all of them down. Here's the best way to sum it up though, I stole this meme from a user named whitebun, go check them out, they're awesome.

Yeah, best way I can describe it.

You go up to each toy in the dreamscape and then you listen to their dialogue and when they say "If you have anything to say, say it now". Saying where is he prompts some dialogue where you learn of a secret in one of the games. These include going above the entrance of the cave with every coin in Candy's Adventure, collecting a certain set of fish, smacking a certain number of holes in Cindy's Garden, or beating the Final Night again. These will take you to less than stellar minigames, like the first one being the worst thing ever created. People say Five Laps is bad? No sir, we had worse back when we had Candy's 3. The minigames are not fun to play and bring to life a character named Lollipop.

He's a fun design though, I will say that.

He teases a game that never got created called Project Opia, at least I don't think anything about it was created. Who knows, maybe when Candy's 4 drops we will finally get Project Opia. That would be the twist of the century. Either way, Candy's 3 has pretty shit post game quest to an already honestly great game. Sure, it has it's flaws but this isn't a bad game.

Jumpscares:

The jumpscares of this game are pretty good.

Monster Rat has multiple jumpscares, Monster Cat and Vinnie only have one but they aren't bad jumpscares. There are no gifs because Gamejolt just hates me but they are not just shaking heads like in Fnac 2. The only one I will say is that Vinnie's jumpscare kinda sucks but other than that, the others have fluid movement and the jumpscare scream is better than the last game. And even though I don't like Monster Vinnie's jumpscare, it still isn't a bad jumpscare.

Shadow Rat's jumpscare is also the best one and I will not take many complaints. The Shadow Challenge jumpscare, not the Dreamscape one.

Story:

The finale of the Candy's series has an honestly banger story, or well, until we get Fnac 4. Even then, that talks about Rowboatics Corp themselves and not Mary Schmidt's story. Anyway, the story of this game is peak so I'm going to waffle about it.

You play as a traumatized Mary Schmidt, who is not an adult and mother, but rather, a little girl! This takes place in the sixties and has a young Mary Schmidt, and it's all about getting over trauma, which is honestly really cool. You have your pal the Origami Cat to guide you, kinda like a Fredbear plush. He shows up in Fnac 1 as Easter Eggs so it's nice to come full circle. Mary's stuck in an endless loop of nightmares after a traumatic incident happens which she blocks out from her head. It's affecting her ability to draw and probably her life as well. Playing as Mary, you get to go through the nights fighting against Monster Rat and Monster Cat as well as remembering the days leading up to the incident. Yep, after night minigames are here. You mostly play as Mary in these minigames but you learn that your brother is gone off to camp and it's just you and your dad for the week. These minigames take place before The Rat laid the smackdown in the Fnac 2 minigame. Also yes, that was Mary's brother, luckily he's okay and also not Mike Schmidt. Stop asking.

The building itself. Each day, you get to play Hide and Seek with one of the actors, you can't win no matter what until the fifth day, where you witness an incident between the actors. The Rat's actor has been drinking and The Puppeteer (the one who controls a Vinnie Puppet, which means Vinnie predates The Puppet in the CPU wrap your head around that) gets a little aggressive, doing a grave mistake, pushing The Rat's actor into the table and paralyzing him, he would slowly die of blood loss. The actor for the Cat came in and tried to call the police, but The Puppeteer choked him.

You get glimpses of this happening in The Dreamscape as their are newspaper clippings on the ground. Funnily enough, The Puppeteer would later get a job where he would play a villain in a horror movie called "psychopath". Now before I continue, I will take a slight detour to talk about the Origami Cat a bit.

The Origami Cat does show up in the main game and you can actually knock it off the table. It is aware of this and tells you not to do it. If you continue to do this (it even hids under the bed at one point) you will get an ending where the Origami Cat talks to you about being the only memory of your mother you have left. So I guess at some point, Mary's Mom dies before she gets therapy, unless the woman who wears the exact same clothing as Mary in the Fnac 2 minigame is a retcon. Anyway, the Origami Cat becomes a Monster and has a fucking badass ending.

The speech is fucking raw go play this game yourself or look up a video, it's seriously great. Like Pizza Sim Henry speech levels of great imo. Okay back to the main game.

Beating Night 5 and going through the minigame causes an ending to appear where the case is reopened and Mary is going to testify against The Puppeteer for what he has done. In Night 6, Mary confronts Vinnie, a Monster Version of him at least. She beats him and is able to draw normally again, you also see the aftermath where she escapes the building, hugs her dad, and he says how sorry he is for leaving her in there. It's wholesome, oh and Mary recovered from her trauma!!!!!! Isn't that great?! What happened to The Puppeteer? I don't remember the source so this could be a lie, but iirc, he gets the fucking electric chair.

Yeah, gruesome isn't it?

This isn't the exact ending of the lore here though. By collecting the minigames in The Dreamscape, you unlock some lore after beating all the minigames 100%, getting a 9999 score or just making it to the ending in Candy's Adventure.

The first minigame is Mary Schmidt at Fnaf 2 where she sees The Puppet and it turns into Vinnie... was this just to explain why Vinnie shows up as The Puppet in Fnac 1? I-okay I guess, that's weird but we do get to see Fnaf and I fucking love Fnaf so whatever.

Minigame 2 just shows... Shadow Rat? I thought he was a figment of Mary's imagination in The Dreamscape. No, he's real. Shadow Rat and Shadow Candy are basically manifestations of The Rat and Cat. Basically, The Rat and The Cat are so fucking gay for each other that if one disappears, say The Rat, Shadow Rat will take it's place. Shadow Candy is in the place of Shadow Cat. Fucking insane what gays will do for each other, but you can't stop true love. Oh what was the minigame about? Candy and Cindy are made by the dead children that died in the factory, we already knew this with Fnac 1 and Fnac 2. NEXT!

This next minigame is a stealth mission, The Rat must kill the guard to blame New Candy for some reason, so you have to sneak past the characters to get to The Guard to kill him... that's it. The Lollipop stuff doesn't have lore outside of Lollipop is Mary's Toy and he showed up to tease the peak that is Fnac Fur, which I won't be reviewing until it comes out, which I will wait patiently for.

Overall, damn good story imo. Sure, the secret minigames are a bit stinkers, but I still like them for the story they tell.

Closing Thoughts:

I love the Five Nights At Candy's series. It's right up there next to Fnaf as one of my favorite Fnaf fangame series ever, and I'm so glad I'm finally getting to talk more about this series. These reviews mean a lot, I get to dog on Fnac But Better which I haven't dogged on Fnac 3 But Better yet but honestly, one look at the game and you will know why it sucks ass. Except Monstergami, the concept, THE CONCEPT, is super cool. Anyway, Fnac 3 is a great game. It has it's flaws but like Fnac 1, what game doesn't have flaws? Being perfect would mean that it has flaws, and that's basically what this series is.

Some games are more flawed than others, some aren't. But at the end of the day, even Fnac 2 is fun to play. Fnac is a great series and honestly, I'm glad I got to review these games. Now I get to wait patiently for Candy's 4 and Candy's Fur so I can play them and they can be so god damn peak.

What's next? Jumping right back into Fnaf with HELP WANTED BABY!

It's gonna be great, see you then!