Coming off the heels of Fnaf 1, I honestly wasn't expecting the game to get a sequel. I thought it would be a one hit wonder and that would be it. It was the talk of the school back during my nine year old days when we would discuss what would be a hypothetical Fnaf 2. Some of my friends suggested that it would take place in the seventies and would talk about the origins of the company, some people thought it would be in 87 and talk about how Foxy committed the bite of 87, I was the silly one who thought that it would be a sequel and would look to the 2000's. Needless to say that my entire friend group lost their shit when we saw the first teaser for the new Fnaf game.

I remember the person looking at this for the first time and he literally spat out his drink. We got in trouble but we all thought it was worth it seeing this. Five Nights At Freddy's 2 was confirmed to us, and we were all loosing our minds. We checked back frequently at the site to see what was happening. Fnaf 2's teasers aren't exactly my favorite, I'll talk about my favorite's another time. But I do have a lot of nostalgia for these teasers.

(Withered Foxy not being here is weird why is Classic Foxy there he doesn't even show up in 2)

While I don't have a brightened version of the last teaser, when we did brighten it, me and my friends were going crazy. We were wondering what the hell that was, who made it, and what it's purpose was. We were excited for 2015...

And then the game came out in November the same year the first game came out lol.

Five Nights At Freddy's 2 released on November 10th of 2014. Me and my friends were jumping for joy and I begged my mom to buy it for me. She did and I was forever grateful. I remember staying up late at night on the family computer playing that game, trying to master the mask for the Withereds and when I did, I was the most popular kid in the friends group because of that. I have more fond memories with 2 than I did with 1 but of course, that changed over the years.

I'm sure everyone knows the general verdict of Fnaf 2, all the characters have the same mechanic, the other cameras might as well be non-existent, the Toys suck in terms of design, and so on and so forth. But are these complaints true?

... Yes, yes they are lol.

As like the last review of Fnaf 1, I will be going over the gameplay, the jumpscares, the ambiance and atmosphere, the story, and now, the designs of the characters. I should have gone over the Fnaf 1 designs but oh well, Fnaf 2 designs will be talked about. So, let's jump straight into it, shall we?

The Gameplay:

Unlike Fnaf 1, Fnaf 2's establishment is a lot bigger in comparison, having air vents, a large hallway, four party rooms, and a larger set of animatronics than the last game. This game has a total of eleven, count them, ELEVEN CHARACTERS compared to the four characters from the previous entry, five if you count Golden Freddy. And now... you have no doors to close.

Quite spacious isn't it?

"BUT JACOB!" I hear you ask in fear. "HOW DO I PROTECT MYSELF FROM THE POSSESSED TOY ANIMATRONICS?!"
First of all, that's Mr. Dr. Professor Jacob to you. Second of all, I'm glad you asked dear friend. Let's go over the mechanics of all the characters!

Starting off with the newer cast: Toy Freddy!

Toy Freddy starts off at the main stage and will go to the game area before going outside your office hallway, in which he'll have two stages. One far down the hallway, and one close to the entrance to your office. Once he enters, put on your mask until he leaves.

Toy Bonnie:

Toy Bonnie starts at the main stage and will then move to Party Room 3, he will then move to Party Room 4 and then Party Room 2, going into the right air vent that leads to your office, once you see him in the vent blindspot right outside your office, put on the mask until he leaves. He can be a real bitch in 10/20, ask Dawko (old joke I know).

Toy Chica:

Toy Chica is similar to Toy Bonnie. Starts off at the main stage and goes to the main hall. She can then be outside your office but she can sometimes go to Party Room 4. She then goes to Party Room 1 and enters your left air vent, put on the mask when you see her in the blindspot right outside your office.

The Mangle:

The Mangle is similar to the other Toys, she can go to the Game Area, then the main hall, then to your office hallway, then to Party Room 1 or 2 and will go into the right air vent (she can't go into the left for some reason). When you hear her in your office (she has a loud garbled audio that you cannot miss even if you tried) put on the mask until she leaves.

Are you-Are you seeing a pattern here?

Balloon Boy:

Balloon Boy starts off at the game area and you can hear when he moves when he says "Hi" or "Hello" or when he laughs at you. He will then go into the vent and that's when you can see him again. He is not visible on any of the other cameras. Put on the mask when you see him in the left air vent until he leaves. If he gets in, he steals your flashlight. Some of you hate this guy for no reason by the way, just be good at the game.

And if you haven't guessed, this is the pattern. Every character outside of two requires you to use the mask. "BUT WAIT!" I hear you ask, "What about the Withered animatronics?"

I WILL GET TO THEM IN A MINUTE, I HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THE LAST OF THE NEW CHARACTERS: THE PUPPET!!!

They don't have a custom night icon but here, have a minigame sprite. Anyway, to stop The Puppet, get this, you can't let a music box wind down or you will die. SHOCKING RIGHT?!?

Yeah, let's just speedrun the rest of these characters.

Withered Freddy:

You put on the mask when he enters your office. The Withereds though, you need to be quick in order to deal with them. So be quick.

Withered Bonnie:

He will go through the left air vent, when he gets into the office, put on the mask. Something that I will mention is that the Withereds will forcefully put down your monitor so make sure you be quick on the draw with the mask if this happens.

Withered Chica:

Will go through the right vent, put on the mask quickly and she will leave.

Withered Foxy:

You have to flash the light on this guy. You do have a flashlight with limited battery, but flashing him one to six times and winding the box a little bit should deal with him. He can hid behind other characters which is something you need to watch out for. You can also flash the light on the cameras and you can flash at other characters while on the camera to stop them for a few seconds, but why anyone would do this is beyond me lmfao.

Withered Golden Freddy:

You aren't gonna believe this, but... you have to put on the mask for him when he randomly spawns in the office. He's no longer an Easter Egg though and can now be customized in the Custom Night.

Yeah, this game is truly lacking in mechanics. You are basically stuck winding a box all night until you have to put on the mask or flash the light. There's not a lot you can do when it comes to the cameras and the office. Just wind the box, flash the hall while checking the vents, and put on the mask when necessary. You do have a bit of leeway with the box as when it winds down all the way, you aren't dead until The Puppet comes out of the box, but that's about it when it comes to mechanics. I already mentioned flashing the light on the cameras and as of recently, that has become a viable strategy when beating 10/20, but I still don't do it because I find it a waste of time, also it's extremely difficult and time consuming to do and you have to have RNG on your side. Everyone's favorite, RNG.

Ambiance and Atmosphere:

Fnaf 2 has more panic than Fnaf 1 did. Fnaf 1 actually still scares me, Fnaf 2? Not so much when it comes to the atmosphere. This will probably be really short because I think everyone knows how the droning the weird alarm droning noise is. It's fine the first two nights, but then as the nights go on, it just keeps playing over and over again. It gets annoying as shit, especially in the custom night when everyone is after you and that is all you hear. Aside from that, the atmosphere of Fnaf 2 is panic, which I do like.

You have no doors, only a flashlight and a mask, and with how fast everyone comes at you, you feel the panic rise in your body as you try to do everything and fend of all of these characters with your light and mask, while also taking time to wind up the music box. It's pretty panicy and outside of that stupid ambiance, I like the atmosphere of 2.

Jumpscares:

The Jumpscares of 2 are alright, however, most of them are actually jumping at you this time around.

There's not a lot that actually shake their heads at you, most of them are just lunging at you in similar poses. I do like the jumpscare scream however, I was one of the people who thought they were saying freedom. It was my favorite theory back then. I find all of the jumpscares alright... except for Golden Freddy's jumpscare.

Like this shit is ASS, at least the others had animations to them, you just fly at me. Come on man, do better Golden Freddy.

Designs:

This is a fairly new section that I want to go over because I actually like the designs of Fnaf 2. I think the Toys are honestly severely underrated, I kinda lied up there when I said that it's true the Toys suck. I think they work really well.

I like the shiny features of the characters, Scott actually does things to make them creepy, like removing the eyes and beak of Chica, making Toy Bonnie's pupils dilate, and making Toy Freddy's eyes go black when all three are on the attack. And of course, there is The Mangle.

One of my favorite designs in general, I love how Mangle looks in a lot of the camera renders, not fully seeing her body and seeing how he crawls on the ceiling most of the time. They're super cool.

All of the designs here are cool, I could talk about the Withereds, but I would be gushing about them for hours about how Withered Freddy is underrated, Withered Bonnie is awesome, Withered Chica is scary, and how Withered Golden Freddy is overall cool. I really could be here for hours talking about why I like the designs of Fnaf 2 honestly. But it seems that my favorite segment is approaching now...

Story:

Fnaf 2's story expanded the original story of Fnaf 1. We know that there has been a grand reopening thanks to the newspaper and that the last location has been left to rot, with Fazbear Entertainment moving forward with a more kid friendly version, even phone guy going as far as to say that the old ones had a smell to them when he talks about them on Night 2. We even get to know that Foxy was his favorite, a little character of phone guy is always nice. There are also dream sequences that happen during the game where you are inside of Freddy, looking left and right on stage with Bonnie and Chica, this takes place during Fnaf 1 though, because the Fnaf 1 designs are there (still no Foxy).

The Puppet and Golden Freddy also appear in these dream sequences... and they were never followed up upon ever again. We only know they are dreams because of the files I believe.

Imagine a Freddy mask here or whatever.

With the dreams out of the way, we also have the inclusion of death minigames. I remember getting one of those for the first time and loosing my shit. I think everyone knows how the minigames go but let's talk about them.

In this one, you play as Freddy, or potentially Fredbear, someone I will get too soon. You play as the bear delivering cake to children while a child is locked outside. A voice spells out the words "SAVE HIM" during the minigame and a purple car drives up, where a man in purple steps out and kills the child, causing you to get jumpscared by The Puppet.

In this minigame, you play as Foxy going out to celebrate to five children. You do this three times, but on the third time, you find yourself with a purple man next to you. Then, when you go to see the children, they are all dead, with the minigame ending when Foxy jumpscares you.

In this minigame, you play as The Puppet, giving out gifts to four children at first. Similar to Take Cake, a voice here says "GIVE GIFTS" and then it switches to giving life, where you play as The Puppet stuffing the bodies of the children into the suits, or she's giving life to the children by putting the heads on. One of the two. A fifth child will spawn, but Golden Freddy will jumpscare you after that.

Save Them is the final minigame. It depicts you as Withered Freddy going around the location and finding dead children all around you. You can follow The Puppet around the location to it's box, or you can explore the location if you want. Going up to one of the children will cause the game to end. Golden Freddy can also appear, but going up to him does nothing. There is a voice in the minigame that says "SAVE THEM" and you have a chance of running into Purple Guy, where you will get the message "You can't".

It's clearly simple what's going on here, a timeline of these minigames goes: Take Cake murder - Foxy Go! Go! Go! Murders - Give Gifts Give Life - Save Them murders. Yes, the Toys are possessed, Toy Bonnie wouldn't have a rare screen for nothing (I do not care much for the rare screens).

Of course, I can't leave without talking about the actual main story of the game. You play as Jeremy Fitzgerald, you go through the main five nights while you listen to phone guy, who for some reason hasn't died yet. As you go on, you notice how the animatronics, the new ones, have been acting aggressive towards adults, especially the staff. This culminates on Nights 5 and 6. Night 5 is when the building goes on lockdown, no one is allowed in or out, especially previous employees. We also hear the first mention of Fredbear's Family Diner, a place that predates the actual Freddy's locations. Night 6 is when we hear that something bad had happened, someone used a yellow suit in the back and now none of them are acting right. You get your paychecks and you realize... the game takes place in 1987.

The game is a prequel, and the Toy animatronics are set to be scrapped after the events of Night 6. The company also plans to reopen on a smaller budget. Night 7 is custom night, and there is something different, you play as someone named Fritz Smith. It's not super important, but it is worth noting in my opinion. The story here, is much bigger than the original. Now with a second game in mind, Scott clearly set out to tell a bigger story based off the original first game, introducing characters like The Puppet and giving Golden Freddy more importance. Speaking of Golden Freddy, he actually appears to be more ghostly here, with his floating head in the hallway and the fact he disappears out of nowhere when you put the mask on. It's interesting to think about, that's for sure.

Closing Thoughts:

Five Nights At Freddy's 2 sure is bigger than the first game. It has a bigger story, it has a bigger set of characters, and it falls short with the gameplay. It's honestly a shame because I like the designs and story of Fnaf 2 a lot honestly, I think it's super interesting how Scott went about designing the Withereds and the Toys, with the Toys being severely under utilized sadly and not having much importance despite actually being possessed. The designs and story is great, but the gameplay and atmosphere just fall flat. It's not like the original where I have great fondness and can commend the more simple gameplay for it being the first in the series. Fnaf 1 still had you moving cameras and looking at them. Hell, if you didn't look at the cameras the entire time on Night 1, Foxy had a chance of killing you.

Despite all said, I like Fnaf 2, not for it's gameplay though, but for the story and designs alone. This probably won't be the first time I say something like this, cause the next game we have coming up is Fnaf 3, a game that I am honestly much more excited to talk about than this one.

Thank you all so much for reading this far! I had just as much fun making this review as I did with Fnaf 1's. I am super excited to get to the next game, Five Nights At Freddy's 3!

FUCK WRONG GAME-