Scott Cawthon was about to quit. Seriously. Before the jump scares and the millions of dollars and the Hollywood movie, he was just a guy making Christian games that people mocked because the characters looked "animatronic" and creepy. Instead of pouting, he leaned into it. He made the most terrifying thing he could think of. It changed everything.
If you're trying to track all five nights at freddy's games in order, you're likely looking for a way to make sense of the chaos. Is it about the release dates? Or the timeline? Because let me tell you, those two things are definitely not the same. It's a mess. A beautiful, lore-heavy, terrifying mess.
The Viral Spark of the OG Five Nights at Freddy’s
August 2014. The world was different. Markiplier hadn't lost his mind yet. You’re a security guard named Mike Schmidt. You’re sitting in a cramped office. You have doors that consume power. Why do the doors need power to stay shut? Nobody knows. It’s a game mechanic that feels unfair, and that’s exactly why it works.
The first game established the "core loop" that every sequel would try to evolve or break. You watch the cameras. You check the lights. You pray that Bonnie isn't standing in the doorway with that blank, dead-eyed stare. It was simple. It was effective. It was cheap.
The lore was barely there back then. Just some newspaper clippings on the wall about "The Bite of '87" and five missing children. We didn't know about William Afton. We didn't know about Remnant. We just knew that Freddy Fazbear was coming for us if the power ran out. Honestly, that simplicity is what some fans miss the most.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2: The Prequel Nobody Expected
Then came the second one. People thought it was a sequel. It wasn't. Scott pulled a fast one on us.
FNaF 2 threw out the doors. Can you imagine? Taking away the only thing that made players feel safe. Instead, you got a Freddy Mask. You had to put it on and hope the animatronics thought you were one of them. It felt like holding your breath under water.
This game introduced the "Toys." They were shiny. They were plastic. They were supposedly safer, equipped with facial recognition software linked to criminal databases. But they were twitchy. And then there was The Puppet. That music box... if you forgot to wind it, you were dead. Period.
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The scale exploded here. We went from four or five enemies to eleven. It was stressful. It was chaotic. This is where the "Purple Guy" first appeared in those grainy, Atari-style death minigames. That’s when the community realized this wasn't just a jump-scare simulator; it was a murder mystery.
The Horror of the Finale? Five Nights at Freddy’s 3
By the time the third game rolled around, the hype was unsustainable. People were dissecting every single frame of every teaser. Scott moved the setting thirty years into the future to "Fazbear's Fright," a horror attraction based on the urban legends of the previous games.
Only one animatronic could actually kill you: Springtrap.
He was different. He wasn't a robot acting up; he was a corpse inside a suit. The atmosphere was green, sickly, and claustrophobic. You weren't managing power anymore; you were managing ventilation and audio lures. If the ventilation failed, you started hallucinating.
Springtrap’s movement was eerie. He didn't just teleport; he crawled through vents and peered around corners like a sentient predator. It felt personal. The "Good Ending" involved completing a series of bizarre, obscure puzzles in the minigames to give the spirits of the children peace. Most people thought this was the end.
We were wrong.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 4: Bringing the Nightmare Home
This one felt personal. No cameras. No office. Just a bedroom, a flashlight, and your own hearing. FNaF 4 is widely considered the scariest of the bunch because it forces you to turn your volume up to hear "breathing." Then, BAM. Nightmare Freddy screams in your ear. It’s a cheap trick, but man, it works every single time.
The "Nightmare" animatronics were over-the-top. Teeth everywhere. Claws. Torn fabric. It felt like a fever dream, which, as it turns out, it basically was. The "Bite of '83" happened here, confusing everyone who thought the first game's "Bite of '87" was the only incident.
The story started getting... weird. We moved away from haunted pizzerias and into child psychology and family trauma. The crying child, the brother in the Foxy mask—this was the Afton family drama beginning to take center stage. It was no longer about a job; it was about a legacy of pain.
Sister Location: Breaking the Formula Completely
If you’re looking at all five nights at freddy's games in order, the fifth entry, Sister Location, is the black sheep. It isn't a "sit and survive" game. It’s a guided narrative experience.
You’re underground in "Circus Baby’s Entertainment and Rental." Every night is a different task. One night you’re crawling through a gallery to avoid a blind ballerina named Ballora. The next, you’re performing maintenance on Funtime Freddy while he talks to his hand-puppet, Bon-Bon, in a voice that is genuinely unsettling.
The voice acting changed the game. Suddenly, the animatronics had personalities. Circus Baby, voiced by Heather Masters, was manipulative and soft-spoken. She didn't feel like a monster; she felt like a person with a plan.
The ending was gruesome. The "Scooping Room." The idea that an animatronic called Ennard could hollow out a human being and wear their skin as a disguise. It shifted the series from paranormal ghost story to sci-fi body horror. It was polarizing, but it kept the franchise alive when people were starting to get bored.
Why the Order Actually Matters for the Lore
You can't just play these games and expect a linear story. If we’re talking chronological timeline, it’s usually cited as 4, 2, 1, 3, and then Sister Location (though that one is debated).
The community, led by figures like MatPat from Game Theory, spent years arguing over these details. Was it a dream? Was it an experiment? The "Dream Theory" was huge for a while—the idea that the first four games were just the hallucinations of a dying child. Scott eventually debunked that, but it shows how much people cared.
The shift from the first game to the fifth represents a massive leap in indie game development. Scott went from a solo dev using pre-rendered 2D images to a creator building a sprawling universe that includes books, movies, and VR experiences.
Common Misconceptions About the Original Five
- FNaF 2 is a sequel: It’s actually a prequel. Look at the date on the paycheck at the end. It says 1987. The first game takes place in the 90s.
- Foxy is a "good guy": This was a weird internet rumor. People thought Foxy ran to the office to check on you. He doesn't. He wants to kill you.
- The story was planned from the start: It definitely wasn't. Scott has admitted he added things as he went, responding to what fans found interesting or confusing.
How to Approach the Franchise Today
If you’re a newcomer, don’t try to solve the lore on your first go. You’ll give yourself a headache.
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Start with the first game. Appreciate the silence. The feeling of being watched. Then move to the second and feel the spike in difficulty. By the time you hit Sister Location, you’ll appreciate how far the series has come.
The mechanics might feel dated to some, especially with the release of Security Breach and Help Wanted, but the atmosphere of the original five remains unmatched. There is a specific kind of dread in those static camera feeds that 3D roaming just can't replicate.
Actionable Steps for FNaF Completionists:
- Audio is Everything: Use high-quality headphones. In games 3 and 4 especially, spatial audio is the difference between a win and a heart attack.
- The "20/20/20/20" Challenge: If you think you’re an expert, try the custom nights. It requires frame-perfect inputs and a lot of luck.
- Read the "Fazbear Frights" Books: If the games leave you confused, the books often provide "parallels" that explain the logic behind things like Remnant and the Mimic.
- Watch the Markiplier Playthroughs: Even if you play them yourself, seeing the community's reaction in real-time during those years is part of the experience. It captures the zeitgeist of the 2010s horror boom.