Five Nights at Freddy's 2

Gameplay

As in the first game, Five Nights at Freddy's, the player must survive a night shift at Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria, from 12 A.M. to 6 A.M. game time (approximately seven minutes and six seconds), without being attacked by any of the animatronic enemy characters that wander from room to room. The player cannot leave the security office, but can track the animatronics' movements via a network of surveillance cameras placed throughout the building. The office has three entrances, a hallway and two side air vents; in a departure from the previous game, none of these can be sealed off to block enemies from entering. Each vent is equipped with a light that can be used to check for any characters that are about to crawl into the office. The player character can put on a mask to ward off approaching animatronics, however, this strategy will not work on certain characters, who must be repelled by other means. A flashlight is also available, used to check the hallway and darkened areas of the camera feeds, as well as to reset certain animatronics via strobing. Unlike the previous title, the power supply for the cameras and vent lights is unlimited, but the flashlight does not have an infinite battery life; if it runs out, the player becomes vulnerable to attack. In addition, a music box has been placed in one room and must be remotely wound up through the camera interface, to avoid being attacked by an additional animatronic that appears when the music stops. Failure to defend oneself from the animatronics will result in a jumpscare, ending the game.

Unlike the first game, after the player is killed, there is a chance that rather than the Game Over screen, one of four low-resolution mini-games will appear, with instructions given at the start of each. These mini-games contain insight into the lore of the game series.

Like the first game, the game consists of five nights, increasing in difficulty. Completing all five unlocks an even more difficult sixth night, which in turn unlocks a "Custom Night" upon completion. In the Custom Night, the player can adjust the AI difficulty of the individual enemy characters or play one of ten pre-set challenges.

Plot

The player character, whose name is later revealed to be Jeremy Fitzgerald, has started working as a night watch security guard at the improved Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. As he did in the previous game, a certain Freddy Fazbear's Pizza employee calls Jeremy on the phone in the office at the beginning of each night to explain both gameplay and parts of the backstory surrounding the restaurant. He explains that the "new" (at the time) animatronics, which have special facial recognition software to protect the children from potential harm, were not programmed with a proper night mode; when things go silent, their programming tells them that they are in the wrong room and they seek out the nearest source of noise to find people to entertain, which happens to be in the office.

As in the previous game, the animatronics' programming tells them that there should not be people in the restaurant after hours, so when they encounter Mike, they believe he is an animatronic endoskeleton without a costume and stuff him into a spare Freddy Fazbear suit, killing him in the process. The man on the phone explains that this restaurant has an unlimited power source at night, unlike the previous location, however there are no doors blocking access to the office, requiring the player to use a spare Freddy Fazbear mask to trick most animatronics into thinking he is not an endoskeleton. The player will be informed to keep a music box wound up to keep a marionette animatronic from leaving its box and attacking the player.

The player is also informed that their flashlight will cause certain animatronics to reboot and leave the room. As more enemy characters appear as the player advances through the game, the man on the phone informs Jeremy of the characters' presence, their movement patterns, and some background information on their presence in the game. For example, the man on the phone explains that the older animatronics are in the new restaurant, and have been retrofitted with the new technology, but as they did not work properly they are kept for spare parts.

As the game progresses, it is hinted that something is going on during the day, as the man on the phone mentions that rumors are going around and, later, that a police investigation is going on regarding the restaurant. On the game's fifth night, Jeremy is informed by the man on the phone that the restaurant has been put on lock-down due to an event that he will not describe but which is in place to make sure no employees, present or former, can come in or go out. The man also mentions that the position of the restaurant's day shift security has a vacancy and Jeremy may be promoted to it, and that the owner of the older restaurant named "Fredbear's Family Diner" will be contacted for more information on the animatronics.

On the sixth night, the man on the phone informs Jeremy that the restaurant has been shut down for undisclosed reasons, although mentioning the use of a "spare yellow suit". and an issue of the animatronics not functioning properly. He also tells Jeremy that he will be taking over as night shift security guard when the restaurant reopens. If Jeremy is successful in surviving the sixth night, he is promoted to day shift to cover a birthday party on the next day to make sure the animatronics do not cause any problems.

In the custom night level, Jeremy is replaced by a new player character named Fritz Smith due to Jeremy's promotion. If the player manages to win the custom night, they discover Fritz has been fired for "tampering with the animatronics" and "odor", a call back to the previous game's custom level message. A newspaper that is shown in the winning screen of the sixth night says that the restaurant will close down and the newer animatronics will be scrapped, however the older ones saved for when the restaurant reopens, hinting at the events of the first game.

Reception

Omri Petitte for PC Gamer gave Five Nights at Freddy's 2 a score of 70 out of 100, commenting that what he wanted in the sequel "was more mind games and more uncertainty. I wanted the plodding animatronic suits to find me and rip my face off in new and interesting ways. I wanted working legs. What I got was a horror game dipping heavily into deception and subtlety, a wonderfully cruel cocktail of supernatural mystery and jolts of panicked adrenaline. Enjoying the good parts, though, comes with a cost of a frustratingly steep difficulty." Destructoid also gave the game a positive review, saying that "It's absolutely terrifying to know that you could be attacked at any moment from multiple avenues", praising the introduction of new animatronics and mechanics, but also criticizing the jumpscares and called the game "too hard for its own good".