Bubba’s Diner Review
For my second ever FNAF fan game review, I decided to choose a game that I would consider a true classic amongst the FNAF fan game community. A game that was definitely a hidden gem back in its day, making itself stand out amongst the many uninspired FNAF fan game clones at the time. A game that would eventually gain popularity amongst the community: Bubba’s Diner. Bubba’s Diner was created by FreakyGames and released all the way back in 2018. FreakyGames said they felt inspired to make Bubba’s Diner after seeing Five Nights at Candy’s back in 2015. After the game's release, FreakyGames would go silent until a couple years ago, when they made a post thanking everyone. Bubba’s Diner will always be considered a classic FNAF fan game in my eyes, and hopefully yours as well.
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The story of Bubba’s Diner was a little confusing to me, so I had to consult the wiki for help. From a very basic understanding of the story, you’re a handyman that got hired to assist Bubba’s Diner with various tasks late into the night. From a more detailed look at the story now, you play as a man named Edward Clark, the previous owner of the restaurant Bubba’s Diner whose reason for returning as an undercover handyman is quite mysterious. Edward either chose to quit, or was fired directly after an incident had happened, where a man presumed to be named Phillips was found dead inside one of the older springlock model suits for Bubba. The location was then sold to someone named Markel Britszberg. Upon your return as the nightguard/handyman of the location, Edward is tasked with printing promotional ads, unclogging a toilet, and completing various tasks in each of the party rooms. The animatronics are attracted to any sounds Edward makes due to their programming.
As the game progresses, you begin to uncover more and more about the story in a way that allows you to put the pieces together on your own. It’s mostly revealed in post night cutscenes involving a newspaper clipping. The game’s lore seems to hint at the idea that Edward’s reason for returning as an undercover handyman/nightguard was to rid the place of any evidence of his own involvement in Phillips’s death, only to realize by night four that Phillips has possessed the “Bubtrap” animatronic in the basement. It is then believed that after Edwards realized Phillips was alive and furious at him, he would then return to the location for the fifth night to eliminate Phillips at the end of the game.
The game used to have two endings, and I unfortunately wasn’t lucky enough to experience both when I played the game. I will not spoil either of the endings to such an interesting story, as I feel I have already revealed enough, if not too much of the story already in this review. Throughout the post night cutscenes of the game, an unnamed investigator is revealed to be attempting to connect the pieces of the mystery together where they eventually unveil the truth behind Bubba’s Diner in the end.
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As much as I would like to tell you that Bubba’s Diner has unique presentation, I can’t deny that it’s quite bland at times and really doesn’t try too hard to stand out in that department. To start off, the menu screen is a bit lackluster with the game's title, extras, and options being in the style of classic bright red neon signage typically associated with diner establishments of the time. The menu also includes a close up of the monitors seen during the office gameplay with two cups on the desk in front of them as the background. Compared to other fan games that typically have the animatronics or something interesting and/or unique to the game added to the menu screen, Bubba’s menu screen feels underwhelming. The loading screens are also kind of dull with it simply showing a location in the diner with what I’d deem as unnecessary tips at the bottom of the screen.
Bubba’s Diner has animatronic designs that do match very well with the game’s setting. They’re simplistic designs but effective at being uncanny. Bubba and his friends get close enough in this game at various moments for you to really notice how eerie they can be. Those moments are a little less scary when you realize that during multiple gameplay segments classical music is played. Where a lot of the game falls flat for me is its audio design. Everything from the voice acting to the ambient sounds is just alright to me. There’s nothing much to say about it really other than the fact that it does fit well with the game’s atmosphere quite well.
Atmosphere is always a big part of not just FNAF fan games, but horror games in general. Bubba’s is the type of game that creates a decent atmosphere for itself. It’s very retro and evokes a somewhat nostalgic feeling. Even if I don’t care for the audio that much, I do have to admit that it mixes well with the rest of the elements to create an eerie feeling while you’re playing the game. Even the story adds to it quite well. It’s well themed to an old diner, dark, and yet bland looking at the same time, however I feel like the blandness works in its favor. It has a FNAF 1 and “baby’s first FNAF fan game” style to everything which does make sense when you consider how long ago this game was actually released.
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As I mentioned just above in the presentation section, Bubba’s Diner gives off a “baby’s first FNAF fan game” both in style and in gameplay. The entire game does have easy to understand mechanics which is good, but this is definitely where the game suffers the most. After the first two nights, the game already begins to feel very very repetitive. As soon as you start the game you’re immediately thrown into the night and quickly realize that each night you’re able explore the diner. Sounds pretty fun, right? It’s cool until you realize that its only practical use gameplay wise is to unlock a separate ending that’s not even in the game anymore from my understanding.
Anyway, the phone guy tells you to head to the office for your first task, which is printing flyers for the diner. The printer is the loudest printer money could buy, which is a problem since just about every single animatronic in this game is attracted to noise. In order to keep them away, you must use an audio lure on each camera. It’s really simple office gameplay. All you have to do is make sure they don’t reach your door. As soon as that task is completed, you’re able to leave and move onto the next night. In between nights, there’s little parts that show the lore behind everything. Once night two starts, it’s pretty much the same as night one with the printer. The only difference is there's an extra task to unclog a toilet. You unclog the toilet just by clicking on the plunger and if you click too fast you create noise, which can attract Bubba. You’re able to look behind you while completing this task, which makes it a lot more intense since you can literally see him get closer to you. If he’s close, you have to wait for him to go away before making any more noise. The second you complete this task, you’re able to once again safely leave the building.
Once you reach night three, your tasks involve printing again, unclogging the toilet again, and doing a new task. Are you beginning to see a pattern yet? It’s quite repetitive, and nothing happens between those two specific games which makes it feel like unnecessary content. It starts to appear as filler almost or it could be a failed attempt at building tension. Anyway, the new task you’re given on night three is honestly even more simple than the rest. You’re tasked with testing “Mr. Giggles” in the party room by clicking on different voice commands on a paper. You’re on a timer but still have to let him finish each voiceline. I will say the animations in this section aren’t bad at all. After that has been completed you’ll be able to move onto the next night by leaving the building.
Night four starts off a little different with your first task being unclogging the toilet. The second task is also a new one, however all it involves is moving your mouse left to right and occasionally looking up after hearing the audio cue to flash “Smiley” before he takes your life. It’s very similar to the plunger game just with slightly more mechanics. The fact that this is the least boring of all the regular tasks to do in this game is honestly funny. Your third and final task of the night is to go to the basement for seemingly no reason other than being told to. Now this is where the game actually gets a little intense and honestly better. Once you enter the basement, you’re immediately thrown into a very dark area with a flashlight battery meter in the top corner of the screen and you’re able to look in four directions all around yourself. The audio is a heart beating while the character “Bubtrap” speaks to you from the darkness. As I mentioned before, the game gets a lot better here. As you sit in the dark, you must listen for Bubtrap’s footsteps so you can turn to him and flash your flash light at him. At some point during this “fight against Bubtrap,” you’re eventually just able to leave the building once again.
As night five begins, you’re only given two tasks. The first one is cleaning party room one where you’re supposed to flash your flashlight at Smiley again while you sweep. The second task and finale to the game is going to fix the breaker located in, of course, the basement. To spare you the details, I will not spoil the ending as I had previously mentioned earlier in this review. I encourage you to check it out yourself if you’re truly interested.
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In conclusion, I find Bubba’s Diner to be a fun FNAF fan game. It has interesting and unique lore with simplistic, yet retro visual presentation. Bubba’s major flaws were its mediocre sound design and very bare bones gameplay with no replayability. It really does feel like “baby’s first FNAF fan game” which I cannot stress enough. I have to admit, after returning to this game with somewhat higher expectations I was left a little disappointed, however the game does bring me back to a time where FNAF fan games with this amount of work put into it and this much quality were a lot more rare than they are nowadays. With that being said, I’ll rate Bubba’s Diner an unbiased 6/10.
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