Sister Location

''Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location'' (alternatively known as ''Five Nights at Freddy's 5'') is a point-and-click survival horror video game created by Scott Cawthon. It is the fifth main installment of the ''Five Nights at Freddy's'' series and the sixth game overall. Originally released on October 7, 2016 on Steam and Game Jolt, a mobile port was released for Android on December 22, 2016 and for iOS on January 3, 2017. Ports have also been released for Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.

The game differs in several ways from previous ''Five Nights at Freddy's'' installments. Rather than being confined to a single room, the player is able to move between rooms, each with its own different objective they must carry out. Throughout the game, the player interacts with a new cast of animatronic characters, central to which is a child-like animatronic named Circus Baby.

''Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location'' received generally positive reviews, with particular praise for its plot and voice performances, although they criticized some aspects of its gameplay. A sequel, ''Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator'', was released on December 4, 2017.

Gameplay

The bulk of the gameplay in ''Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location'' does away with the survival aspect of previous games. Instead of remaining in one place and preventing the animatronic antagonists from attacking, the player must move from room to room in order to fulfill a series of narrative objectives that change during each of the five nights.

The occasional post-death minigames return from ''Five Nights at Freddy's 2''; when a game ends, the player may be given a chance to play an 8-bit mini-game. In ''Sister Location'', Circus Baby must give cupcakes to children and then bring an ice cream cone to a little girl, ending in the girl's death. Completing this minigame grants access to the Night 5 secret level; a near-recreation of the gameplay in the original ''Five Nights at Freddy's'', bringing back survival gameplay.

Completing all five nights unlocks extra features: pictures and blueprints of the game's animatronics, their making-of, a map of the facility, and menu access to Circus Baby's cupcake minigame. As of the December 1, 2016 update, clearing all nights also unlocks the non-canon Custom Night mode, which is set in a modified version of the Night 5 secret room. The player can choose from several modes and difficulty settings, facing new animatronics, and must conserve both power and oxygen supplies in order to survive. Completing these modes allows the player to view a series of cutscenes that have been declared as part of the series canon; all except the last scene are in 8-bit resolution.

An achievement system exists in the form of four stars, obtained by unlocking both of the game's endings, completing the Circus Baby mini-game, and completing the hardest difficulty on each custom night preset. Completing each custom night preset on each mode grants its own star in the specific custom night mode.

Like in all ''Five Nights at Freddy's'' games, failure to defend oneself from the hostile animatronic characters will result in a jumpscare.

Plot

The game begins with an interviewer questioning William Afton, the creator of the game's animatronic characters and the purple figure depicted in the previous installments' minigames, on certain design choices he has made when building the animatronics. Afton lists several features of Circus Baby, such as her ability to make ice cream, inflate balloons at her fingertips, and take song requests and dance to them. The interviewer is unsatisfied with this answer, as the features Afton mentioned were not what he was referring to.

Sometime later, Afton's son Michael is a new employee of Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental, an underground facility and sister location to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, featuring animatronics that are rented out to children's birthday parties. These include new circus-themed variations of the original animatronics: Funtime Freddy, Bon-Bon, and Funtime Foxy, as well as several new characters such as Ballora, the Bidybabs, the Minireenas, and Circus Baby. These animatronics originated from Circus Baby's Pizza World, which was made in response to the popularity of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, but had been shut down shortly before it was supposed to open due to "gas leaks". As his first night starts, the assistant A.I. HandUnit assigns Michael his daily tasks. On Night 2, the power goes out, and Michael must hide from the Bidybabs in order to reset the facility's circuit breakers. Circus Baby, who turns out to be sentient, warns Michael to ignore the instructions given by HandUnit to avoid being killed by Ballora, then gives Michael her own instructions.

In between nights, dialogue shows Afton's daughter begging her father to allow her to play with Circus Baby, which was initially created for her, but she was later denied access to it by Afton for unknown reasons. In a post-death minigame, the daughter manages to approach Circus Baby, but it extends a claw from its stomach and pulls her inside, implying that the animatronic is now possessed by the girl's soul.

On Night 3, Michael repairs Funtime Freddy, however, he is ambushed by Funtime Foxy on the way back. He awakens the following night – Night 4 – in an animatronic suit, having been kidnapped by Circus Baby and placed in the Scooping Room, which removes the endoskeletons of the animatronics. After witnessing Ballora's endoskeleton being taken out by the Scooper, Michael is left to survive the night against the Minireenas before freeing himself. On Night 5, two technicians are found hanged, and Michael is instructed by Circus Baby to destroy her emptied body by sending her to the Scooping Room while evading an unknown animatronic following him.

If Michael brings Circus Baby's body to the Scooping Room, Circus Baby's voice reveals herself to be Ennard, the animatronic following him. An amalgamation of parts from the facility's animatronics, Ennard traps Michael in the room and uses the Scooper to eviscerate and kill him; Ennard then disguises itself in Michael's body to escape the facility. If the "Custom Night" is completed on the hardest difficulty, an 8-bit cutscene shows Ennard abandoning Michael's decomposing body after some time and fleeing into the sewers. Circus Baby says "You won't die" repeatedly, prompting Michael to miraculously revive and stand up. Now hiding in the shadows due to his disfigured appearance, Michael talks to his father about his time in the facility and finding and freeing "her". He ponders his own survival from being mutilated and used by Ennard, before declaring that he will find his father. In the burned remains of Fazbear's Fright, Springtrap, which contains Afton's body, emerges among the ruins.

Alternatively, Michael can disobey Circus Baby and retrieve a keycard, whereupon he enters a private room where he has to fend off Ennard until 6:00 a.m. An easter egg accessible in this area shows camera footage of the house featured in ''Five Nights at Freddy's 4'', implying that the house belonged to the Afton family and that the boy depicted in its minigames was Afton's son and Michael's younger brother. After finally completing his shift, Michael rests at home where Ennard has followed him. The game refers to this ending as the "Fake Ending".

Development

In April 2016, Cawthon released a teaser image of the game on his website, entitled ''Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location'', featuring a clown-like animatronic, revealed to be named "Circus Baby". Several teaser images followed, revealing different characters and hints at their origins.

The trailer for the game was released on Cawthon's official YouTube page featuring new animatronics and a new location. The release date was later confirmed to be October 7, 2016.

In August, a teaser image was posted on Cawthon's website with the words "Cancelled. Due to Leaks." This was initially taken to indicate that the game itself had been canceled, due to one of the game's animatronics' voices being leaked, namely Ballora's. However, it was quickly revealed to be a part of the storyline, as a fictional news article was found when the image was brightened, discussing how the in-game location had been closed due to "gas" leaks.

On October 4, 2016, Cawthon posted on the Steam Community forums, stating that the game has a very dark storyline and that it might not be kid-friendly. For this, he said that he might work on the game for several more months, to make the game and its story more suitable for younger players, which, however, turned out to be a hoax, when he released the "mature" version on October 6, 2016. The official game was then released on Steam the following day.

On October 17, 2016, Cawthon announced on his website and the game's Steam page that a non-canon Custom Night will be added to the game in December, and that an update for it will be released prior to its original version. It was released on December 1, 2016.

On December 22, 2016, a mobile port for Android devices was released on the Google Play Store. On January 3, 2017, a mobile port for iOS devices was released on the App Store. On June 18, 2020, a Nintendo Switch port was released on the Nintendo eShop. On July 10, 2020, an Xbox One port was released. On July 21, 2020, a PlayStation 4 port was released.

Reception

''Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location'' received "mixed or average" reviews from critics according to review aggregator Metacritic, assigning a score of 62 out of 100. ''Destructoid'' rated the game 6/10, while ''GameCrate'' rated it 7.50/10. Rob Rich of Gamezebo gave the mobile version a decent review, giving the game 3 out of 5 stars, saying, "I don't necessarily think Sister Location is the worst mobile iteration of the FNaF series, but it's certainly not the best despite the overall improved visuals." Shelby Watson of '' The All State'' gave the game a positive review, citing it to be comparable to the first game's quality, but unlike the first game, never allowing the player to operate the mechanics on muscle memory alone. She writes, "... ch night is so different, it is impossible to get comfortable with the mechanics enough that it feels like second nature. The game changes so much, you are forced to adapt and are always on the edge of your seat, waiting for what is to come." ''TechRaptor'' rated the game 9/10, calling it "genuinely terrifying" with "great storytelling" and praised the voice acting.

References

External links

{{Five Nights at Freddy's

2016 video games
Android (operating system) games
Clickteam Fusion games
Sister Location
Horror video games
Indie video games
Interquel video games
Nintendo Switch games
IOS games
PlayStation 4 games
Point-and-click adventure games
Single-player video games
Video games about robots
Video games developed in the United States
Video games with alternate endings
Windows games
Works about missing people
Xbox One games