Fnaf 1 Gameplay

The main Five Nights at Freddy's series consists of horror-themed video games in which the player usually takes on the role of a night-time employee at a location canonically connected to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, a fictional children's-oriented restaurant similar to Chuck E. Cheese's and ShowBiz Pizza.[18] The restaurant uses life-size animatronic characters that perform for children's parties. These animatronics wander in the restaurant at night, and the guard is instructed to keep watch on them, as the restaurant has had incidents of previous guards being attacked and killed by the characters. To progress through the games, the player must guard themself from the animatronics by using various tools to their advantage.[19] For the most part, however, the player must remain stationary in their defence. In the first game, the player can control the two security doors that connect their office to the adjacent hallways, and may close them to provide a barricade against any animatronics in the vicinity. Each night, the player has a limited power supply that depletes quicker when a tool is used; if the player exhausts the power supply, the doors permanently open, allowing any animatronic to breach the office.

Five Nights at Freddy's 2 provides different tools to work with. Protective doors are not present in the office, and the player must instead defend themselves with an empty Freddy Fazbear head, which fools most animatronics. The power usage is also removed, instead being replaced with a limited flashlight, which is used to ward off one animatronic. Lights may also be used to brighten darker areas of the pizzeria. The game introduces the music box, which must be kept wound to prevent an attack from a certain animatronic. 8-bit minigames make their inauguration, which the player can interact with randomly after death.[20]

Five Nights at Freddy's 3 replaces these tools with a monitor panel, where the player must keep certain systems from malfunctioning, so as not to hinder the player's ability to successfully complete the night. These malfunctions can be triggered randomly, or by hallucinations of past iterations of the animatronics. The ability to seal vents is also added, and must be used to prevent the sole tangible animatronic from entering the office. The player can also use an audio-based function as a means of defense, which triggers a childlike voice to play, luring the animatronic away from the player's office.[21] The 8-bit minigames return, and are activated via completing certain side-tasks, such as clicking on a poster or inputting a code into the wall. If the player fully completes all minigames, they unlock a secret ending.

In Five Nights at Freddy's 4, the gameplay is now in a bedroom, and the player is reintroduced to removed tools, specifically the doors and flashlight, albeit with slightly altered usage.[22] When the player moves up to a door, they can hold a button to close it, and it will re-open if the player moves away or releases the button. In this game, a new mechanic is added, where the player must listen for sounds of the animatronics breathing. This can determine whether to use the flashlight or close the doors. If the player hears breathing at the side doors, they should close the door and wait for the animatronics to walk away. However, if the player shuts the doors too early, the animatronics will jump scare the player when the door is opened. If there is no breathing, the player uses the flashlight to ward off the animatronics. If the player flashes the flashlight while an animatronic is in the doorway, the player will be jumpscared. The closet door is where Foxy resides, which the player wards off by holding the door shut on him. The flashlight can no longer run out of power, and can also be used to deter the "Freddles" that appear on the bed.

Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location once again keeps the doors, albeit for the secret ending.[23][24] The flashlight returns, but now loses all functionality, only being stuck permanently on when in certain rooms, and permanently off in others. An elevated control pad is introduced in the game, with the ability to light up rooms and/or shock the animatronics. Other mechanics include another control pad inside the "breaker room", controlling the power to the whole facility, and a flash beacon, which allows the player to see in the darkened "Funtime Auditorium" and avoid the sole animatronic in that room. Sister Location is also the only game where the player is able to move between rooms.[25]

Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator provides very different tycoon-style gameplay, where the player must spend in-game money to buy features for their pizzeria. A series of minigames can be played by testing attractions used in the establishment. Once a player has completed this portion of the game, they must sit in a room and complete tasks while fending off hostile animatronics they have "salvaged" previously. The gameplay of this portion shares many elements with Five Nights at Freddy's 3, such as the importance of ventilation and the ability to distract the animatronics using audio.

Each game requires the player to survive five nights, with each night increasing the difficulty.[26][27] There is an unlockable sixth night present in all games (excluding Sister Location), with further additional nights varying between games: the first two games feature a customizable seventh night which allows the player to customize the AI level of each animatronic.[28][29] A custom night DLC is also available for Sister Location.[30] The third game does not feature any night after the sixth, while the fourth game includes a seventh and eighth night, neither of which are customizable. The fifth game is currently the only game with only five nights, if the custom night DLC is not included.

The spin-off game, FNaF World, has the player explore a light-hearted RPG world battling for experience points. The player unlocks different areas as they continue on their adventure. Eventually, after completing certain tasks, the player wins one of eight different endings, all of which will unlock a trophy on the title screen once completed.[31] The game also received an update titled "Update 2" which introduced the animatronic characters in Five Nights at Freddy's 4's Halloween DLC and some characters from Cawthon's older games. The update also introduced another boss character which the player must defeat as well as minigames to unlock the aforementioned new characters.[32]

=== Common elements ===