Five Nights at Freddy's 2

About Five Nights at Freddy's 2

Five Nights at Freddy's 2 is Scott Cawthon's follow-up to his breakout horror game, released on Steam on 10 November 2014, only months after the first. Its store page sells the new Freddy Fazbear's Pizza as kid-friendly and safe, with new animatronics updated with facial recognition and tied into local criminal databases. You take the night shift as the security guard. The previous guard, the store page notes, complained that the characters kept trying to get into the office and was moved to days.

The formula is the same as before, but harder. You sit in the office and watch the restaurant through a grid of cameras while the animatronics, the shiny new toy versions of Freddy, Bonnie, Chica and Foxy and their battered old counterparts, move through party rooms, halls and air vents. Two new characters join them: the Puppet and Balloon Boy. There are no doors this time and the cameras never run out of power. Instead you have a flashlight with a limited battery to check the hall and the vents, an empty Freddy Fazbear head you can put on when something gets into the office and a music box on one camera that has to be wound from afar to keep the Puppet away.

The tools do not all work on everyone. The mask fools most of the animatronics but not Foxy, who has to be driven back with the flashlight down the hall, nor the Puppet. You cannot look at the cameras with the mask on, so every second spent hiding is a second the music box runs down. Balloon Boy does not attack; he switches off your light.

Each night runs from 12 AM to 6 AM in a few real minutes, and each is harder than the last. Phone calls hint at the restaurant's past, and after a game over a short Atari-style minigame sometimes appears, giving more of the story. Past the five main nights there is a sixth night and a seventh custom night.

Critics were split: Metacritic lists it at 62 on PC, while players on Steam rate it far higher. It suits players who like short, tense bursts of strategy and jumpscares, and fans of the series' lore. The Steam version is in English only; Clickteam publishes the remastered versions on PlayStation 4, Xbox, Switch, iPhone and Android, released on consoles on 29 November 2019, with on-screen text in eleven languages and English voices.

How to play Five Nights at Freddy's 2

1. Each night, survive from 12 AM to 6 AM in the security office.
2. Open the camera monitor to see where the animatronics are, and keep the music box on its camera wound.
3. Shine the flashlight down the hall and into the vents to check them, watching the battery.
4. Put on the empty Freddy head quickly when an animatronic gets into the office, and take it off once it leaves.

Tips

• Wind the music box every time you open the cameras; letting it run down is the fastest way to lose.
• Flash the hallway in short bursts to save the battery.
• Put the mask on as soon as you lower the monitor if something is in the office.
• The mask does nothing against Foxy: when he is in the hall, flash the light at him until he leaves.

Questions