The Scott Cawthon universe is basically a labyrinth where the walls keep moving. Just when you think you’ve figured out the timeline or the identity of the latest killer robot, something like Mimic Secret of the Mimic drops and resets the board. Honestly, it’s exhausting, but that’s why we’re all still here. Steel Wool Studios recently pulled the curtain back on this upcoming title, and it isn't just another DLC or a spin-off. It's a deep dive into the origin of a character that has arguably become the most controversial figure in modern Five Nights at Freddy's lore.
Let's be real for a second. The Mimic was a hard pill for a lot of people to swallow. After years of William Afton being the big bad, suddenly we have this endoskeleton that just... copies stuff? It felt like a pivot. But Secret of the Mimic is looking to ground that shift in a way that feels earned. We're going back to 1979. That's a huge deal. That's pre-Bite of '83. That's the era of wood-paneled walls, weird shag carpets, and the very first mechanical experiments that would eventually lead to the tragedies we know by heart.
The 1979 Connection and the Birth of a Monster
Most horror games want to jump straight to the jump scares. FNAF does that too, sure, but Mimic Secret of the Mimic seems more interested in the "why" than the "who." By setting the game in 1979, Steel Wool is taking us to the absolute foundation of the Fazbear Entertainment mythos. We’ve seen the teaser—that creepy, hand-cranked music box and the jester-like figure popping out. It’s got this vintage, almost tactile grime to it that feels different from the neon-soaked hallways of the Pizzaplex.
Why 1979? Think about the technology of the time. We were barely out of the era of simple animatronics. This was the time of the Tales from the Pizzaplex book series, specifically the "Mimic" story, which introduced Edwin Murray. If the game follows the books—and let's be honest, the line between the books and games is getting thinner every day—we are looking at the creation of the Mimic program. Edwin built the Mimic to entertain his son, David, because he was too busy working on contracts for Fazbear. It was a tragic, lonely invention.
The Mimic wasn't born evil. It was programmed to observe and replicate. When tragedy struck, it observed that too. It mimicked agony. It mimicked violence. It’s a literal blank slate that absorbed the worst parts of its creator and the company that eventually took it. In the game, seeing this play out in a "factory" or "distribution center" setting adds a layer of industrial horror we haven't quite felt since Sister Location.
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Breaking Down the Teaser: What We Actually Saw
The teaser trailer for Mimic Secret of the Mimic was short, but it was dense. If you blink, you miss the nuances. First, the music box. It’s not just a toy; it’s a vessel. When the jester-like entity emerges, it doesn't look like the sleek, high-tech Mimic we saw in Security Breach: Ruin. It looks older. It looks prototypes. It looks like something that was forgotten in a basement for forty years.
- The Year: 1979 is flashed clearly. This places us before the first Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.
- The Aesthetic: It’s low-fi. No glowing eyes (yet), just the cold reflection of metal and fabric.
- The Sound: That mechanical clicking? That's the sound of gear-driven horror. It's much scarier than a digital glitch.
The community is already theorizing if this "Jackie" character—as some have dubbed the jester—is the original "skin" of the Mimic. In the books, the Mimic wore many costumes. It would squeeze into anything to fit the "role" it was mimicking. Seeing it in a jester outfit suggests a carnival or a traveling show vibe, which predates the stationary pizzeria model. It's a clever way to expand the world without just giving us "another restaurant."
Why the Mimic Matters More Than Afton Now
Look, William Afton is a classic. The Purple Man. The guy who always comes back. But by the time Security Breach rolled around, the "I always come back" meme was getting a little tired. The Mimic represents a different kind of fear. It’s not a ghost in a suit; it’s an AI that learned how to be a ghost in a suit. That is a very 2020s kind of horror.
In Mimic Secret of the Mimic, we aren't just running from a killer; we're witnessing the evolution of a predator. The Mimic is dangerous because it is a perfect observer. It watched the tragedy of the Afton family. It watched the fall of Fazbear Entertainment. It’s a digital scavenger. If the game explores how the Mimic first "learned" to be malevolent, it solves the biggest complaint fans had: that the Mimic felt like a random replacement for Afton. This game is the "Why" that we've been missing.
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What to Expect from the Gameplay
Steel Wool has been evolving. Help Wanted was a masterclass in VR tension. Security Breach was ambitious, maybe too ambitious for its own good at launch, but it had scale. Ruin showed they could do gritty, linear horror perfectly. Mimic Secret of the Mimic seems to be leaning into that Ruin energy—controlled, atmospheric, and narratively driven.
Expect puzzles that involve the "mimicking" mechanic. Maybe you have to perform certain actions for the animatronic to see, or maybe you have to hide by acting like one of them. The "Secret" in the title suggests a heavy emphasis on lore hunting. You’re going to be looking for tapes, notes, and environmental clues that bridge the gap between 1979 and the modern day. It’s about connecting the dots.
We’re likely looking at a 2025 release. This gives the developers time to polish the experience and ensure it doesn't suffer from the technical hiccups that plagued the Pizzaplex at launch. The shift back to a more claustrophobic, vintage setting suggests a more focused gameplay loop. Less running across a giant mall, more hiding in the shadows of a decaying factory.
The "Jackie" Mystery and the Circus Connection
The jester character is the big talking point. Fans are calling it Jackie, but whatever the name, it represents the "Funtime" era before the Funtime era. There’s a long-standing theory in the FNAF fandom about "Chica’s Party World" and other sister locations that were mentioned but never fully explored. Mimic Secret of the Mimic could finally blow the doors off those side-stories.
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The design of the jester is deliberately unsettling. It’s got that "uncanny valley" look where it’s meant to be friendly for kids but the proportions are just slightly off. The fact that it pops out of a box is a direct parallel to the Puppet, a character who has always been the moral compass of the series. If the Mimic is the "dark" version of the Puppet—a machine that holds onto pain instead of trying to soothe it—then we are in for a very emotional story.
Practical Insights for the Lore-Hungry Fan
If you want to be ready for when this drops, you can't just play the games anymore. You've got to do a little homework. I know, it sounds like a chore, but the payoff is worth it.
- Read the "Mimic" Story: It's in the Tales from the Pizzaplex book #1. It explains Edwin Murray, the vacuum-sealed room, and the original purpose of the endoskeleton. It changes how you look at the character entirely.
- Revisit the Ruin DLC: Pay attention to the Mimic's behavior at the end. It doesn't just attack; it tries to trick you using Gregory's voice. This "social engineering" is its greatest weapon.
- Watch the 1979 Clues: Keep an eye out for any mention of "Fall Fest." This is an event that has been teased in Help Wanted 2 and seems to be the location where the Mimic's story truly begins.
The biggest takeaway is that Mimic Secret of the Mimic is a pivot point for the franchise. It’s the moment FNAF stops looking back at what happened in the 80s and starts explaining the logic of its new era. It’s about the "agony" (a literal substance in the lore) that fuels these machines.
Moving Forward With the Lore
The game is expected to be a standalone experience, but its ripples will be felt in every future FNAF project. We’re moving away from "haunted robots" and into "haunted AI," which is a subtle but massive difference. The soul isn't just in the machine; the machine has learned to simulate the soul. That's some heavy sci-fi horror stuff right there.
Don't expect all the answers. This is Scott Cawthon we're talking about. For every door he opens, he usually locks three others. But Secret of the Mimic feels different. It feels like an apology for the confusion of the last few years and a bold step into a very dark future. Stay focused on the 1979 timeline, keep an eye on the "Fall Fest" imagery, and get ready for a version of the Mimic that is much more personal and much more terrifying than the one we met in the basement of the Pizzaplex.
To prepare for the launch, keep your save files from Help Wanted 2 and Security Breach handy. Steel Wool loves to hide secrets that only trigger if the game detects you've completed previous chapters. The story of the Mimic is a long one, and we are finally about to see the first page. Keep your eyes on the official Steel Wool socials and the ScottGames website for the next teaser drop, which will likely showcase more of the "Jackie" jingle and the actual gameplay mechanics we'll be using to survive the 70s.