Quick Review: Five Nights at Freddy's 3

In hindsight, Scott Cawthon released so many entries for the FNAF series in such a short timespan in 2014/2015 that one can’t help but be impressed. It’s still a pretty famous series of horror games, with simple concepts covering a complex storyline unraveled in bits and pieces, provided you’re not such a scaredy cat as to give up at the first jump scare.

Must resist desire to boop the Freddy nose...
*honk*
Sorry, couldn't resist!

Even though I bought a bundle containing all of the FNAF games that had come out at that time (from the first to Sister Location), I am actually quite reticent to playing them. It’s not that I don’t like jump scares… well, I am not a huge fan of them, really, I prefer horror that settles in slowly, creeps into your mind with horrifying implications and freakish imagery. The jump scares in FNAF push me away, however the horror of the overarching storyline of this franchise more than makes up for it. It's fun to piece together the new details learned in each new game, to arrive to new and terrifying conclusions. But the gameplay itself feels bland to me. I know the point is to use the tools wisely in order to avoid jump scares. It doesn’t really do it for me.

Springtrap playing peek-a-boo with the camera.

Maybe I should talk about the game, though. Five Nights at Freddy's 3, released on March 2nd, 2015 takes place in the 2010s/2020s, a few decades after most of the action in the franchise. The old Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza has been reinvented as a “haunted house” type of attraction. They even found an old, decrepit animatronic to fill the shoes of the long-gone heroes of the Freddy lore. Don’t mind the mold in him, that’s normal, it’s a really old suit. Anyway, this place needs a night watchman too, right? Go in there, six hours a night, and keep this place safe! What’s the worst that could happen: Springtrap turning out to be just like the killer animatronics this place housed in the ‘80s? That’s just folk tales, man. K bye, good luck!

Oh yeah, by the by, can you also spend time repairing the
automated systems? This 2020 place has 1980
technology.

Among the gameplay mechanics to keep track of, there’s the usual panning shot of the room and looking at the place’s several cameras, but there’s also a new system of vents that the monster animatronic of the day can slip in to jumpscare you. In spite of this taking place in the 2010s or 2020s, the systems are all out of whack; you need to pull up a menu to reset the ventilation, the camera systems and/or the audio devices. Phantom versions of the known animatronics may appear and mess with your perception and tools, so there is more strategy than it seems at first.

Between nights, short 8bit scenes will reveal details about the history of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, and explain more about that mysterious Purple Man. The game itself is actually rather short, with only four main nights (and during the first one, nothing happens). To compensate, Springtrap is smarter and less predictable than animatronics of games past, which may make one believe there’s something weirder going on with him…

Well doesn't he just look jolly.

In short: Not terrible, but one of the more forgettable entries in the franchise. Some clever ideas here and there, but it feels lacking overall. It’s not quite as scary as other games, and to be honest, Springtrap looks silly coming in smiling like that; but knowing the level of detail Cawthon put into everything in FNAF, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a reason for it. Skippable, unless you play for the franchise’s story and want the valuable plot puzzle pieces that this entry hands out.

FNAF 3 is available on Steam for about 7.99$.