Five Nights at Freddy's 4 is an indie survival horror video game developed and published by Scott Cawthon. It is the fourth installment of the Five Nights at Freddy's series. The game takes place in the bedroom of a child, where the player must avoid attack by nightmarish versions of the animatronics from the first game.
The game was announced in mid-2015 under the working title Five Nights at Freddy's: The Final Chapter. It was originally planned for release on October 31, 2015, however the game was pushed forward to August 8, then to July 23 when it was unexpectedly released on Steam. It was released for Android devices on July 25, 2015, and for iOS devices on August 3, 2015. A Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One port was released on November 29, 2019.
Upon release, the game received polarizing reviews from critics; praise centered on its unsettling atmosphere, while many were divided over the game's mechanics. Five Nights at Freddy's 4 is the only game in the entire Five Nights at Freddy’s series that features no spoken dialogue. The game was followed by Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location, released on October 7, 2016.
Plot[]
A series of minigames playable between nights tells the story of a young boy who is speculated to be the player character. In the first minigame, the boy is locked in his bedroom with plush toys, which he calls his "friends". One of the plushes, based on the animatronic "Fredbear", provides console for the boy as he is teased and tormented for his fear of a family restaurant near his home. In the subsequent four minigames, he is deliberately scared, abandoned at the restaurant, teased by his peers, and unwillingly locked in the restaurant’s parts and services room. Two easter eggs can be discovered during the minigames; one briefly shows the purple figure previously featured in the second and third games fitting someone into an animatronic suit, while the other shows a programme on a television screen dated 1983, presumably the year in which the minigames are set. Rumours are also mentioned of the animatronics of the restaurant coming to life at night.
In the sixth minigame, the boy is shown crying during his birthday party at the restaurant, and a group of bullies wearing animatronic masks terrorize him. Amused by his fear, they lift him to the real Fredbear’s mouth for a "kiss", stuffing his head into the animatronic's mouth. Fredbear suddenly forcefully closes his mouth, crushing the boy's head; this act horrifies the bullies, who could only stare in shock at their mistake. The seventh minigame shows the boy in a black room surrounded by his plush toys. One of them apologizes to the boy, while another promises he will be put “back together”. The plush toys fade out one by one, and the faint sound of a heart monitor flatlining can be heard, implying that the boy has died.
Throughout the game, if the screen is brightened, the child’s story is alluded to through objects beside the bed. When the player turns to the bed, looking to the left of the plush that lies on it, three objects appear at different points in time: a bottle of pills, an IV drip, and a vase of flowers.
If the player completes the "Nightmare" mode of the game, an image of a locked metal trunk is displayed; if the player wiggles the padlocks, text appears stating "Perhaps some things are best left forgotten, for now." Cawthon has remained cryptic about the meaning behind the trunk.