Let me tell you something; the meteoric rise of Let's Play has been something else. I've been involved with this shit for nine years now, and watching it change from this weird niche little thing, to becoming the front for some sort of small but concentrated trolling effort against those deemed "inferior", to this. Its eventual "mainstream" rise. South Park did an episode on it, for Christ's sakes. It's a thing that has risen up. Horror games have risen right along with it, and there are folks who have made a good chunk of change and fame by combining the two. Point your webcam at yourself, record some footage, and play the scary game whilst reacting. Many games have gained notoriety via famous Let's Play types screeching their faces off over what terrors lurk within, and here we'll be looking at one: Scott Cawthon's Five Nights At Freddy's.
At its base level, Five Nights At Freddy's is relatively minimalist as far as gameplay goes. No sprawling narrative, no huge world, none of that. You're some asshole working security at a Chuck E Cheese expy during the night shift and you have to make sure the animatronics don't run rampant and do bad shit. Your controls in the game amount to pushing buttons, but that's all deliberate. A sense of control would dull the sheer shock and tension that this experience has to offer, and it's absolutely dripping with that. The animatronics almost work on Blink rules, where observing them with your security camera will keep them right where they are, unable to move. Unfortunately, observing outright isn't enough. You have very limited power supply for your 12-6 night shift, and conserving it is an absolute priority. Things get tougher in later nights, of course, and you have more systems to manage. Not just the cameras, but the doors and lights on either side of you must be managed should anything slip by your radar and attempt to get in. If they do, you lose, and loss in this game amounts to a jumpscare. That's important. The utter pants-shitting tension from playing Five Nights At Freddy's is by wanting to survive the night; to not lose and be jumpscared by a screeching animatronic nightmare. The serpent eats its own tail here, as the panic from watching your power dwindle as you frantically flip between camera feeds to track those bastard animatronics down causes the fear you are trying to avoid. Then there's Foxy. Dear sweet Foxy who can transcend the rules if he chooses. Flipping to a camera and actually seeing the Foxy animatronic running towards your station is a moment that will send you over the edge.
What of the Let's Play connection, then? Well, the answer is schadenfreude, in part. At least that's what I believe to be the case. Adding the smokescreen of a charismatic talking head in the corner creates a layer between you and the fear. The interactivity of flipping those switches causes a real panic and creates that wondrous tension, but you need not experience it yourself. Living vicariously through your chosen charismatic avatar is also valid. It's as valid as watching a horror film, after all. Just, these folks might be a bit more hammy with their fear. It mostly feels genuine, though. Mostly. I've done it. I've lived through Five Nights At Freddy's vicariously via our chosen charismatic avatar. Chill as he gets jumpscared yet again! Thrill as the power level runs out deep into 5 AM, waiting to see if 6 will hit before the animatronics come and claim him! Watch as the success of this game gives Scott Cawthon the funds to crank out many more of these minimalist experiences in record time. I swear the man's said he's been done with the series at least twice now. Like a Slasher Beast, his creation keeps coming back from the grave, ready to scare again. Five Nights At Freddy's is... effective. Let's give it that. Whether or not it needed a bunch of sequels to expand on its lore and add new mechanics is questionable, but I won't begrudge the original. It's become a horror game classic by virtue of its popularity, and I will admit it's fun to see chosen charismatic avatars panic and lose their cool as the power runs out and animatronics stalk them. It's a party, in a way. Reminds me of another party I was at once.
One that ended in TERROR!
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