FNAF Games Ranked by Scariness

Hello everypony! I recently binged all the original FNAF games directed by Scott Cawthon. It has become one of my absolute favorite series, as you can see here

I am currently playing Help Wanted and plan on playing Security Breach and Help Wanted 2 when that's out. Since those are part of a new trilogy, I will not be covering them in any of my FNAF blogs as the story is not complete yet. We all know FNAF is known for its jumpscares and dreadful atmosphere. Would you believe that it did indeed deeply thrill and terrify me? So I want to go game-by-game here and break them down by least scary to most.

8. FNAF World

FNAF World is a criminally underrated game and is actually extremely important to the lore. That's a discussion for another time. Fact of the matter is, FNAF World is not a horror game. It is a classic style JRPG. That said, there are still unsettling elements here and there with how the glitch world is represented. Scott put so much work into fixing this game after a botched release only for it to get ignored. It's a great game, just not a scary one.

7. Ultimate Custom Night

Due to the fact that Ultimate Custom Night is customizable, it can be argued this can range from least to most scary. However, I think this is more of an arcade-y challenge game than a horror game. You already know exactly what you are getting into since you set it up yourself. It's more stressful than outright scary.Your mileage will vary.

6. Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location

Sister Location is the only FNAF game I disliked. The gameplay is bare bones and it feels more like an interactive movie. The "gameplay" for the most part is just games of red light/green light. That being said, Sister Location has some of the series's best story, visuals, and jumpscares. In fact, Scott said that Funtime Foxy's jumpscare is his favorite, and I can definitely see why. It's clear more effort was put into the visual design rather than the gameplay. The secret Night 5 challenge is the first time the series feels closer to the original since the original, but it isn't scary and is just stressful as it requires way too much precision to pull off. With this, I do have to commend the game for pulling off two of the scariest moments in the series, and both of which aren't even jumpscares. They are quiet reveals that escalate this game's story even further. I won't spoil it, in case you don't know. Just two things: Watch your technicians and stay away from mirrors.

5. Five Nights at Freddy's 2

FNAF2 is my 2nd least favorite, but it is one I am conflicted on. I think a lot of it is genius and a lot of it is misguided, but I see and respect Scott's vision with it.. The issue with FNAF2 is it has TOO much going on so you seldom get moments to be scared. There are 11 animatronics to look out for, the most in any mainline game. You have to constantly wind the music box. You have to instinctively put on the mask as quickly as you can. Finally, you gotta ward off Foxy with the flashlight. It will be terrifying and overwhelming, but you will quickly fall into a rhythm and then the game is easy. What carries this in the horror department are the sound design and the minigames, where we witness William Afton doing his nefarious deeds. The pixel art jumpscares are astonishingly effective and made scarier when you know the lore. In retrospect, the whole game has this tension due to us knowing what becomes of protagonist Jeremy Fitzgerald. This can be one of the scariest if you're bad at it.

4. Five Nights at Freddy's

The one that started it all. FNAF1 proves that sometimes less is more. This was a revolutionary and unique game with an unparalleld sense of atmosphere, carried by the haunting soundscape and uncanny prerendered textures. It's the most stripped down entry, which makes it work wonders for building tension and dread. The thrill of running out of power and hearing Freddy approach remains one of if not the scariest feeling in the entire series.

3. Five Nights at Freddy's 3

This is an unpopular opinion, but FNAF3 is easily my favorite entry in the series and I do believe it's one of the scariest. I see many dismiss this game as being easy and not scary. I understand a bit thinking this when it came out and we didn't know who Springtrap was, but now that we know, it is absolutely terrifying. The aesthetic of this game is my favorite in the series by a mile and it makes for an overtly scary experience. The analog sounds, the extremely harsh fuzz and static, and the way Springtepa hides in all of the screens makes this one of the most immersive games I ever played. There are also the Phantoms, and while they aren't as scary as the real thing, some of them (the Puppet in particuar) are genuinely horrifying and make the situation even more stressful and dreadful than it already was. If you lose track of Springtrap, it can easily send you in a panic. However, flipping through specific screens too many times will make Phantoms appear, on top of draining your video power. When you are stuck rebooting, all hell can break loose, and that's a tension that is near unmatched, except for the following games...

2. Five Nights at Freddy's 4

FNAF4 was made in response to people saying FNAF3 wasn't scary. In many ways, this is the most overtly scary game in the series by a landslide, and it made me genuinely not want to continue playing it. Every Nightmare design is incredible and their jumpscares even more so. The haunting and surreal soundscape and obscured shadows sell the horror so well. Forcing the player to listen to breathing makes for amazing tension, and when you see glimpses of them lurking in the shadows it makes for incredible and subtle imagery. However, arguably even scarier are the pixel minigames this time around, as we are seeing the perspective of the victim of the Bite of 83. It is a tragic and heart wrenching story, leading to one of the saddest conclusions to any game I've seen in my entire life. It takes a lot of talent to balance the over-the-top scary designs with the minimalistic approach to everything else, but the two somehow work together to create an absolutely one of a kind horror experience.

1. Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator

Yeah, I said it. I think this game is scarier than FNAF4. While it lacks the overtly horrifying style of FNAF4, FFPS is a truly one of a kind gaming experience and is easily one of the most immersive and groundbreaking works of art I ever played. Unfortunately, I do have to spoil a bit of it to explain why, assimung you are not unaware already. This game was marketed as a fun free spinoff, but in actuality it was FNAF6, the grand finale at the time. FFPS juggles every single aspect of the previous games and passes with flying colors. During the day, you play fun minigames in a very silly business tycoon game. However, as you play certain ones more and more, the darkness seeps out. In Fruity Maze, you actually witness William Afton kidnap one of the original children victims. In Midnight Motorist, you play as an abusive drunk father who comes home and discovers that his child was kidnapped by William Afton. In the Security Puppet game, you are the Puppet and are helpless to protect Charlie as she is mericilessly shanked by William Afton. Even the Candy Cadet game can get dark as he will begin to tell you morbid stories about grotesque absominations of nature that parallel William Afton's story, such as a story of a child finding orphaned kittens, his pet snake killing one, and the kid stiches it back together in order to fix it.

Then night comes and the real game begins. It is the most difficult and stressful of the mainline games. You have to perform tasks on a loud computer while managing your temperature, while agressive animatronics come at you from exposed vents on both sides of you. It can be hard to hear them with the noise of your PC and/or AC. Sometimes you hear them on both sides, in which case you panic, turn off everything, and can do nothing but look frantically and pray. Night 6 took me longer than any other night in this game, and all I could feel was absolute dread. Sometimes they even talk and taunt you. Hearing William Afton's lines will send chills down your spine. There are sometimes moments where you also have to salvage the animatronics, playing a series of loud tapes and having to look away to document. They have a chance of subtly shifting their position and if they get too close, you will die. On top of this, therei s a chance that a small sound will be made bythem in which case they will quickly kill you. This creates a situation where you have to frequently stop the tape and listen, but if you keep stopping the tape, it makes this game go on longer and thus gives them more oppourtunities to kill you. All in all, FFPS (AKA FNAF6) perfectly merged all aspects of other games together and createdwhat was easilythe most immrsive and overwhelming game in the series.