PREMISE

It has been 15 years since Fazbear Fantasy Land got shut down because of Lockjaw killing 6 Kids and the government banned everything animatronic related (instead of, y'know, changing the 2nd Amendment or something like that). Now, the ban has been finally lifted, and so Blake (once again the player character), Chun, Wilson, and John (new Phone Buddy, voiced by none other than Tyler himself) are trying one last time to revive the franchise.

How's this new location called? FreddyFazzyFuntime. Yes. Tyler sure knows how to name things, doesn't he?

The game, upon being opened for the first time, also delivers us a cutscene showing Fazbear Fantasy Land being demolished along with everything inside of it. It does look cool, I'll admit it, and Tyler deserves credit for improving regarding intro cutscenes.

GAMEPLAY

This game has 3 main mechanics for us to use and understand, 4 counting the camera sistem.

Speaking of the cameras, they aren't flipped up or down in this game. Instead, they are directly built into the wall on our right, along with the layout. Interesting.

Our (really depressing) office has an hallway in front of it, from wich our animatronic friends can come in to say hi and then brutalize us.

The other main mechanic that isn't related to fending off animatronics is the power. Yes, Tyler brought back the power system, in a similar way to TRTF 2, where you have to charge it up using a lever on the down right of the map layout. While on the bottom left, you can see how much power remains. Honestly? Without a 2nd charging mechanic to deal with, I like this.

The survival mechanics instead are:

1) The Smoke, activated by pulling a lever on the left of the wall. It will send away Lockjaw and Freddy when they arrive.

2) The Locker. Using the button below, you can hide inside it. It sends away Bonnie, Kitty FazCat, and original characters Sally and Koly.

Regarding the animatronic models, they look more cylindrical here. No issues with them this time. As always, I love Lockjaw.

2 easter egg characters are Golden Freddy (harmless, can appear in the office) and Purple Freddy (AKA Shadow Freddy, if he appears your game will crash by default).

This game's bugs are less bitchy than in TRTF 3 tho. Sometimes Sally's jumpscare doesn't load, saving our Life, and getting out of the Locker while Bonnie is looking at us will cause her to stay there and remain inactive. Great!

... But the save sistem bug is still present. Start a new game, lose all your progress. Continue from Night 5, lose all your achievements. Great.

LORE

Now, let's address the story. Oh boy.

So, this game takes place in 2030 (15 years After TRTF 3), therefore pushing the tech to the extreme once again. How can animatronics built in, idk, the late 80s still work in 2030? And why do they roam? They still try to kill us Goddamnit! Phone Buddies, find some engineers and restore the characters to their original glory.

Speaking of the animatronics... Where do they come from? They can't be the TRTF 3 ones, because those got demolished as seen in the intro cutscene. Well...

As supplementar material reveals, in 1987, they tried making a TV show called "Captain Franky and his Scurvy Crew", with the animatronics seen here being from that show. Even for TRTF standards, this comes out of nowhere, and I don't understand why Tyler couldn't simply retcon TRTF 3's ending, at least partially.

Also, if these aren't the same animatronics of TRTF 1-2-3, why are they trying to kill us? They shouldn't be possesed, and the Souls moved on in TRTF 3's "Happiest Day of My Life" minigame. Unless the Bad Ending is the canon one.

Apparently they are simply malfunctioning... But then, why haven't they been fixed, if their malfunctioning can lead to our death? Does Blake ever inform them? Or he simply pretends nothing's happening? And, how can simple "faulty wiring" make them so hellbent on murdering us?

Like the last game, TRTF 4 has phone calls fron Night 1 to 6, but it also has 4 tapes like the FNAF 3 ones (from Night 2 to 5), post night minigames (from Night 1 to 5), and post death minigames like TRTF 1-2 (basically Tyler himself venting about his life. Won't cover them).

In the 1st phone call, we are told about FreddyFazzyFuntime and explained the steam mechanism. On Night 2 John calls us and tells that, apparently, Frankburt's Pizza didn't have only 2 yellow suits (Fredbear/Golden Freddy and Spring Bonnie), but a 3d, hidden one that they are trying to find. Then he explains the Locker mechanic, and lets the 1st tape play.

I'll talk about the tapes separately, because trust me, they need their own section for what they put on the table.

On Night 3, we not only get more tapes, but we discover that apparently Frankburt's Pizza had a HIDDEN UNDERGROUND BUNKER.

Yes.

I think it should work like FNAF's saferooms, but still. Reminds me of the SL Fazbunker Theory. On Night 4, we are informed that the 3d yellow suit has been found, and it only needs some cleaning because of some red stains here and there (guess why there are red stains).

On Night 5 we receive our last tape, and are reminded of Kitty FazCat's gender (not joking, check the wiki: https://justanotherdayinfreddy.fandom.com/wiki/Phone_Buddies). On Night 6, we are told that FreddyFazzyFuntime is soon to open. On Night 7 (non Canon) the call is simply a mishmash of previous TRTF phone calls.

Now, onto the tapes. It's never said who's talking in them, but it's usually agreed to be Purple Guy, since Tyler utilized the same voice he used for him in TRTF 1-2.

In the 1st, Purple Guy greets us in our new career at GoldieParaDiner (Tyler's ability with names is truly unmatched), and explains to us that the 3d yellow suit they just received (despite having ordered just 2) is still being examined.

Now, GoldieParaDiner's existence not only is TRTF 4's 2nd retcon, but, just like the animatronic TV show, it's a complete Ass Pull (an Ass Pull is when a new plot element is introduced out of nowhere in any story). And, since Frankburt's Pizza was open in 1958, GoldieParaDiner must have been open at least in the early 50s. TRTF's tech timeline isn't broken. It has been utterly nuked. How can Purple Guy still be alive? What does that man have, some immortality potion?

Anyways, in the 2nd tape, we are informed that the 3d suit is unsafe, and it will be stored in the bunker. The 3d tape tells us not only that someone must have touched it, but that it's a prototype springlock suit. And, in the 4th and last tape, Purple Guy (?) reveals that someone still has worn it, and died. As such, the suit (with the corpse still inside) will be left to rot inside the hidden bunker, where the Phone Buddies found it as it was said on Night 4.

Now, it's time to address the post night minigames.

In the Night 1 minigame, we play as none other than our old friend Purple Guy, and we walk around what's supposed to be a restaurant, probably GoldieParaDiner. After a while, we find a kid crying inside a room, and approach him. The child starts bleeding, the Purple Guy gets an evil smile, and a loud static plays. Yes, we have just commited an homicide. Any ideas where to hide the body?

The Night 2-3-4 minigames are the same, only that the child is a different one, inside a different room. Since we can explore GoldieParaDiner, we can see that's it's like Fazbear Fantasy Land in TRTF 3: Really empty. Apart from what appear to be some arcades (wich doesn't make sense) and animatronic parts scattered around, there's nothing. Who creates an empty building with unsafe suits, and calls it a restaurant? The CEO must be braindead like in TRTF 2.

Now, it's time to talk about the Night 5 minigame. Those who know TRTF are probably waiting for this, salivating at the screen. So, let's go.

We are the Purple Guy, yet again roaming around GoldieParaDiner. After walking and walking and walking we arrive in a room, where in the middle left there's an empty yellow suit near the wall, slumped on the ground. It wears a fedora, looks like a golden version of Lockjaw, and it's probably the 3d suit mentioned in the tapes. On the other side of the room we can see Green Guy from TRTF 3, laughing at BFP, who's crying and bleeding while being hooked to a wall. Jesus Christ it looks creepy.

After a while, Green Guy will start to walk away from BFP, but then he will slip on... Something white in the middle of the room (it's commonly referred to as soap, but the files label it as a piece of trash), then he somehow ends up inside the Golden Frankburt suit (despite the suits having to be worn), and he gets fucking springlocked, dying. All while Purple Guy simply watches this scene unfolding like a complete idiot.

Now, Green Guy slipping on trash (or soap) and ending inside Golden Frankburt has become one of the most infamous and laughed at parts of the entire TRTF series. Even in 2015, when TRTF was on everyone's mouths as a popular fangame series, this was widely mocked as stupid and absurd. It looks like something out of a parody.

Now, after having finally talked about this infamous cutscene, let's talk about Night 6's ending.

Once you reach the point where it should turn to 6:00 AM, the lights will start to flicker, Golden Lockjaw himself will appear on the left of the room, and attack us while screaming like a demon. The game will then apparently glitch, then static.

We're fucking dead.

Yes, Blake canonically doesn't survive his 6th shift. It's never said wether or not FreddyFazzyFuntime closes after this, but It's really likely. After killing Blake, Golden Lockjaw escapes the building.

Now, Golden Lockjaw himself can appear before Night 6 either as an hallucination when you go to pull down the steam lever (you send him away by pulling the lever), or in 3 rare screens that show him around some location. But, this is the first time he actually attacks us, and it really got me for how sudden it was.

There is an extras menù, titled "Nightmare Fuel". It lets you see the models and short descriptions for the animatronics. Notable things are:

1) BFP not only was mentally abused (Jesus Christ...), but also died in 1987 (retconning TRTF 2 taking place in 1975) by the hands of "The Mysterious Murderer" (Purple Guy) and an "Insane Jester" (Green Guy).

2) Golden Lockjaw's description seems a mishmash of letters, symbols, and numbers. However, taking only the letters, it states "BLOOD THIRSTY FOR CHILDREN". Yes, Tyler's edgelord phase was strong.

And... That's it. This is the end of TRTF 4.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

TRTF 4 wasn't supposed to exist. And yet it does. The steam and locker mechanics are something really original from Tyler, and the bugs aren't that horrible (most of the time). I definitely had fun playing this, despite the ridicoulos Night 5 minigame, and it really shows how Tyler had improved from TRTF 1.

Now, while another game was planned (the freeroam TRTF 5), it was sadly cancelled, altough you can play one of the many fan-recreations on Gamejolt. But, in Pre-Release 3 of TRTF 5, there was an hidden frame, that once decripted, showed the entire lore of the games.

It came from a document titled "LORE.txt", and it was scrapped at some point, and replaced with the official novel (altough it's referred to as an AU by these days), The Dreadful Truth. However, LORE.txt can be read on the official wiki.

And, both LORE.txt and The Dreadful Truth are going to be the subject of my next 2 reviews.

Untill then, see ya, and remember that...

Life is nothing, but a butterfly's dream.