Scott Cawthon and Steel Wool Studios have a weird way of keeping us up at night, and it isn't just the jump scares. It's the waiting. If you're wondering about when is Secret of the Mimic coming out, the short answer is 2025. That’s the official window. No day, no month, just a year that feels both close and agonizingly far away.
Honestly, the reveal trailer from PAX West 2024 didn’t give us much to chew on besides a creepy music box and a very familiar, very terrifying jester-like figure. But we can look at how Steel Wool operates to get a better idea of the actual timeline. These guys don’t usually rush. They’ve learned their lesson from the Security Breach launch.
The 2025 Window and Why It Matters
Steel Wool Studios confirmed the 2025 release during the 10th-anniversary celebrations of the franchise. It makes sense. It’s a big year. We’ve got the second Five Nights at Freddy's movie hitting theaters in late 2025, specifically around December. Usually, the brand likes to stack its wins. Releasing a major game like Secret of the Mimic in the same year as a blockbuster sequel is a massive marketing move.
Think back to how Help Wanted or Ruin rolled out. They tend to prefer the latter half of the year. If I had to put money on it—and this is just based on development cycles—we’re looking at a Summer or Fall 2025 release. Why? Because it avoids getting buried by the movie hype in the winter while still keeping the momentum high.
It’s about the Mimic. That thing is a lore nightmare. We first really saw its influence in the Tales from the Pizzaplex books and then, more concretely, in the Ruin DLC. This game isn't just a spin-off; it's a prequel. It’s going back to the beginning. We’re talking 1979.
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What the 1979 Setting Tells Us About the Gameplay
The trailer showed a "Fazbear Fantasy" box. It looked old. Real old. By setting the game in 1979, Steel Wool is taking us to the era of the very first animatronics, potentially even before the original Freddy’s locations we know. This changes everything about the mechanics.
You aren't going to have high-tech Faz-Watches or security cameras with motion sensors. It's going to be low-fi. Analog horror. Imagine trying to hide from a proto-animatronic when your only piece of tech is a flickering flashlight or a manual crank door. It’s a return to form that fans have been begging for since the neon-soaked halls of the Pizzaplex felt a bit too "safe" for some.
The Mimic itself is a shapeshifter. Or rather, a program designed to copy what it sees. In 1979, what was it watching? Who was it imitating? This is where the horror gets psychological. You aren't just running from a robot; you're running from something that is learning your patterns in real-time.
Development Status and Steel Wool's Track Record
Steel Wool isn't a massive AAA studio with five thousand employees. They’re a dedicated team that cares about the granular details of the FNAF universe. After the technical hurdles of Security Breach, they’ve shifted toward more focused, polished experiences. Help Wanted 2 was a testament to that. It was tight, scary, and ran like a dream.
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When we ask when is Secret of the Mimic coming out, we have to account for the polish phase. As of early 2026, the buzz within the industry suggests the game is deep in playtesting. They aren't just building rooms; they're fine-tuning the AI of the Mimic. If the AI is as reactive as the lore suggests, that takes a lot of coding. A lot of "if-then" statements that need to not break the game.
- Expect a PlayStation 5 and PC launch first.
- VR support is almost a certainty given Steel Wool's history.
- The atmosphere is leaning heavily into "factory horror" rather than "pizzeria fun."
Ray McCaffrey, the Executive Producer at Steel Wool, has mentioned in interviews that they want to explore the "origins of evil." That's a heavy phrase. It implies that Secret of the Mimic is meant to ground the franchise back in its dark, gritty roots. No more bright lights. Just oil, metal, and bad memories.
Why the Delay in a Specific Date?
Shadow dropping is a FNAF tradition. Scott Cawthon famously loved to release games earlier than announced just to mess with people. But now that the franchise is a multi-million dollar corporate entity with movie tie-ins and merch lines, things are a bit more structured.
They won't give a date until they are 100% sure they won't have to move it. Nobody wants another "Day One Patch" situation that weighs 50 gigabytes. They want this to be the definitive horror experience of 2025.
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The Mimic's design in the teaser—that colorful, jester-like outfit—suggests a toy or a circus theme. It’s creepy in a way that feels very "early Fazbear." It’s less "advanced robot" and more "haunted doll." That shift in aesthetic requires a different kind of sound design and lighting. Everything has to feel dusty and forgotten.
Navigating the Lore Before Launch
If you want to be ready for when the game actually drops, you’ve got homework. You need to look at the "Mimic1" program mentioned in the books. It was created by a man named Edwin Murray to entertain his son, David. It went wrong. Very wrong.
The game will likely bridge the gap between Edwin’s workshop and the eventual rise of Fazbear Entertainment. We might finally see the transition from simple animatronics to the possessed vessels that defined the original trilogy. It’s a bridge. A dark, terrifying bridge.
- Re-play the Ruin DLC to see the Mimic’s current state.
- Read (or watch a summary of) The Mimic story from the Tales from the Pizzaplex series.
- Keep an eye on the Steel Wool Twitter/X account; they love dropping cryptic images on Fridays.
Basically, 2025 is the year of the Mimic. Whether it’s a Spring surprise or a Halloween treat, the game is coming. It’s going to be visceral, it’s going to be lore-heavy, and it’s probably going to make us all terrified of jack-in-the-boxes again. Get your flashlights ready.
Actionable Steps for Fans
To stay ahead of the release and ensure you're ready the second it drops, follow these steps:
- Monitor the Steam Page: Often, the "Planned Release Date" field on Steam will update from "2025" to a specific month before any official social media announcement.
- Check the ESRB Ratings: Games usually get rated 2-3 months before release. When you see an ESRB rating for Secret of the Mimic, the launch is imminent.
- Clear Your Storage: Given the detail in Help Wanted 2, expect a file size between 30GB and 50GB. Ensure your SSD has the overhead now to avoid the "delete-a-game" scramble on launch night.
- Archive Your Lore Theories: The FNAF community moves fast. Write down your current theories about 1979 and Edwin Murray now, so you can see how much Steel Wool subverts your expectations once the game is in your hands.