Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach

Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach is a 2021 first-person survival horror video game developed by Steel Wool Studios and published by ScottGames. It is the ninth main installment in the Five Nights at Freddy's series and the eleventh game overall, taking place after the events of Five Nights at Freddy's: Special Delivery. The game differs from other installments in the franchise, featuring only one night instead of five and having free-roam gameplay. The player takes the role of a young boy named Gregory, who must evade hostile animatronic characters and a night guard in a large shopping mall, unveiling its morbid secrets while trying to survive until morning.
The game was released digitally on December 16, 2021, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5, with ports for other platforms planned to be released at later dates. The physical release for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 was released on April 1, 2022. A Google Stadia port released on July 1, 2022. Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S versions of the game were released on November 22, 2022. The game received mixed reviews from critics. A Nintendo Switch port was released on April 19, 2023. A free DLC expansion titled Ruin was released on July 25, 2023 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5, with release on other platforms at later dates.
Gameplay
The player takes control of a young boy named Gregory, who is locked in the "Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex", a large shopping mall filled with virus-infected pursuing animatronics and must complete numerous missions to survive the night in order to escape. The 1980s glam rock-styled animatronics found throughout the mall include Glamrock Freddy, Glamrock Chica, Montgomery Gator, Roxanne Wolf, the Daycare Attendant, the Glamrock Endoskeletons, the Wind-Up Music Man, and DJ Music Man. Gregory will also encounter other types of enemies, such as Vanessa, the mall's security guard who also turns out to be Vanny, a corrupt woman in a rabbit suit; and the S.T.A.F.F. robots that can alert enemies to Gregory's location if spotted or offer him a map if the S.T.A.F.F. robots are a mapbot.
Unlike previous iterations where Freddy is a prominent antagonist, Glamrock Freddy helps Gregory evade his fellow animatronics. Freddy has a compartment in his stomach that is "reserved for oversized birthday cakes and piñatas" that Gregory uses to hide in. While inside Freddy's "birthday cake hatch", Gregory can see through Freddy's eyes and can use him to get past most other animatronics without trouble; this will not fool the enemies Vanny and the Attendant's Moon form, however. Also, Freddy has limited battery power, and if he is low on it, he will need to recharge at a charging station, as he will malfunction and kill Gregory if he is inside of him when his power runs out. Freddy receives hardware upgrades throughout the game's progression, and can acquire two extensions to his battery life as well as the abilities to overload voice-activated locks and stun other robots, break open chain-locked fences, and locate collectible items. Freddy can also give Gregory advice, shortcuts, or warnings about the challenges and enemies he will face in the mall.
All enemies will get stronger as the night progresses, so the player must adapt to their surroundings in order to survive. Gregory can hide to avoid enemies or knock over objects to distract them. Running drains stamina and if it is low, Gregory will not be able to move fast. Some confrontations will require the use of strategy in order to avoid being caught. Gregory has a flashlight that he can use to see in dark places and carries a device called a "Faz-Watch" on his wrist, where he can access the missions, camera system, and his location in the mall, as well as communicate with Freddy. However, the flashlight has limited power and needs to be recharged frequently. There are also two kinds of weapons that can be used to temporarily stun some enemies: the "Faz Camera" and the "Fazerblaster". The Faz Camera can stun all susceptible enemies in front of the player, but it has a lengthy recharging time between uses. The Fazerblaster can be fired more frequently than the Faz Camera, with six shots before needing to recharge, but only stuns one animatronic or S.T.A.F.F. and only with a successful shot to the head.
There are multiple paths and endings depending on the choices made throughout the game. Office escapes are also featured. Unlike previous games, this game allows free roaming and combat, features boss battles (with some being optional), and instead of five nights, the entire game takes place in a single night that lasts six in-game hours, with time only progressing alongside the story. Minigames are also featured as arcade games.
Plot
In the Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex, a large shopping mall centered around its animatronic mascots, Glamrock Freddy, Glamrock Chica, Montgomery "Monty" Gator and Roxanne "Roxy" Wolf are getting ready to perform for an audience. During the performance, Freddy suffers a technical malfunction and shuts down, collapsing on the stage and cutting the performance short.
Freddy awakens back in his room in Rockstar Row, where he discovers that a young boy named Gregory is hiding inside his stomach compartment. Vanessa, the female security guard and only human on staff for the night, orders all animatronics and employee robots—most of which have mysteriously become aggressive unbeknownst to her—to search for Gregory. However, Freddy's malfunction and Gregory's fear of Vanessa causes him to disobey her orders and instead guide Gregory to the lobby, only for the mall to lock down for the night, trapping Gregory inside. Freddy continues to help Gregory survive the night until they find another way out or the front doors re-open at 6:00 a.m. After eluding Vanessa and the animatronics and taking refuge in a security office, Gregory manages to gain access to the mall's surveillance system. In an effort to obtain high-level security badges in order to access certain areas of the mall, Gregory enters the mall's daycare and encounters the Daycare Attendant in his friendly but overbearing Sun form. A power outage forces Gregory to confront Sun's hostile alter ego, Moon. Gregory manages to restore power to the daycare, but Sun kicks Gregory out for turning the lights off and alerts the animatronics of his location before he is rescued by Freddy.
Gregory is captured by Vanessa and is later confined in a Lost & Found room. Suddenly, Vanny—a woman in a white patchwork rabbit costume who was likely responsible for reprogramming the animatronics to kill Gregory—approaches him, and he escapes before reuniting with Freddy. Gregory and Freddy venture into the basement, where Moon ambushes them and captures Freddy. Gregory proceeds throughout the basement and avoids animatronic endoskeletons, before finding Freddy being interrogated and threatened by Vanessa. Vanessa states that there is no record of Gregory in the mall database, and accuses Freddy of colluding with Gregory. Once Vanessa leaves and he frees and repairs Freddy, Gregory is faced with exploring the atrium's attractions in order to battle either Monty for his claws or Chica for her voice box to upgrade Freddy with, acquiring a tool that can temporarily disorient animatronics and S.T.A.F.F. along the way. After installing Monty's claws or Chica's voice box, Gregory evades the large DJ Music Man and forcefully takes Roxy's eyes to further enhance Freddy.
Shortly after the ocular upgrade is completed, 6:00 a.m. arrives and the mall's doors open, but Vanessa broadcasts a message urging Gregory to meet her for a reward. The "reward" is revealed to be several recorded messages of Vanessa and an unknown person undergoing therapy sessions. Gregory has the choice of either leaving the mall, staying to continue exploring the mall's secrets and trying to solve the remaining mysteries, or confronting Vanny, who was also responsible for several missing children cases within the mall.
Endings
A total of six endings exist for the game, each marked with one to three golden stars upon their final cutscenes.
★ Alley ending — If Gregory leaves through the mall's main entrance, he is revealed to be homeless and returns to the cardboard box he has been residing in, using a newspaper with photos of the previous missing children on the front page as a blanket. Gregory tries to fall asleep as Vanny's shadow fills the foggy alleyway, indicating that she has found him.
★★ Getaway ending — If Gregory leaves through the loading dock, he escapes with Freddy in a van and uses its battery to recharge Freddy after he runs out of power. A newspaper article reports that Freddy has been replaced with a Glamrock Mr. Hippo playing the triangle, while Monty has taken his position as lead vocalist.
★★ Rooftop ending — If a certain number of collectibles are collected and Freddy is upgraded, Gregory and Freddy decide to burn down the mall using flammable plushies before they are confronted by Vanny on the roof. Freddy tackles Vanny off the roof, destroying them both; Gregory unmasks Vanny, who turns out to be Vanessa. As the flames grow bigger, Vanessa's spirit stands on the rooftop, sadly looking down at her and Freddy's bodies. A news article reports that the mall has burnt down and that flammable toys have been recalled.
★★ Disassemble ending — If Gregory and Freddy decide to fight Vanny in her hideout in Fazer Blast, Vanny will order the S.T.A.F.F. robots to disassemble Freddy, forcing Gregory to face her alone. He manages to grab Vanny's device and orders the robots to "disassemble" her. Gregory approaches the damaged Freddy, who gives words of comfort before he shuts down. A news article reports that the mall has closed due to health concerns and plans to reopen next season.
★★ Burntrap ending — If the player backtracks to defeat either Monty or Chica to fully upgrade Freddy, Gregory and Freddy travel underneath the construction in Roxy's Raceway and find the buried ruins of the burned-down Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place, which had sunk underground through a sinkhole and was further buried by the mall's trash. Freddy remembers that he was brought there by Vanny in the past, to clear a path to an unknown location in the restaurant's basement level. As they encounter a monstrous amalgamation of older animatronics, them as such being Freddy, Circus Baby, Chica, Puppet, and the Mangle, with the head being Funtime Freddy, and is now called “The Blob”{{efn|group=note|Originally called "the Blob" in the game's files before being renamed Tangle with the release of 'the 'Ruin DLC.}}, an animatronic named "Burntrap" awakens and attempts to take control of Freddy, forcing Gregory to fight Burntrap, The Blob, and the remains of Chica, Monty, and Roxy alone while under threat of Freddy turning against him. The battle causes the ruins to burn down and forces Gregory and Freddy to flee. The blob then wraps a tentacle around his neck and brings himself and Burntrap away, leaving their fates unknown, enabling Gregory and Freddy to escape from the collapsing underground ruins. The two find rest atop a hill, enjoying the sunrise. This ending was considered canon initially, but the release of the Ruin DLC makes it more ambiguous as it seems to have been combined with the Princess Quest ending.
★★★ Princess Quest ending — If Gregory completes the three Princess Quest arcade games instead of deciding to kill Vanny, he finds the mall's robots have shut down and Vanny's mask has been discarded. He escapes with Freddy's still-active head in a duffel bag, with Vanessa, now free from Glitchtrap’s control, joining him. The three rest atop a hill, enjoying the sunrise as Gregory and Vanessa eat ice cream. As of the Ruin DLC, it's possible this is the canon ending; however, this and the Burntrap ending appear to have been merged together.
Ruin
Sometime after the events of the game (implied to be either the Burntrap ending, Princess Quest ending, or some combination of both), Gregory's best friend, Cassie, arrives at the now-ruined mall after receiving a call from Gregory saying that he is trapped in the mall and that he needs her to get him out. She collects a Faz-Wrench, a Roxy-Talky and a security mask designed to allow Cassie to access a Virtual Augmented Neural Network Integration unit (or "V.A.N.N.I." for short). Gregory tells Cassie that he is trapped by an unknown enemy in the sinkhole underneath the Roxy's Raceway racetrack, and that she will need to disable the Security Nodes in order to get to him in the sinkhole. During her journey into the ruins of the mall, Cassie encounters some of the mall's animatronics, including Chica, Monty, and the Daycare Attendant. She manages to avoid Chica, kill Monty, and combine the Attendant's Sun and Moon forms into the friendly Eclipse. She is also hunted by a digital entity in the form of a rabbit during times when she is using the mask.
Cassie soon encounters Roxy, further damaged and still bearing a grudge with Gregory for stealing her eyes. Roxy, mistaking Cassie for Gregory due to her blind state, hunts and soon catches her, but lets Cassie go when Roxy recognizes her voice. After disabling most of the security nodes and escaping from a headless Glamrock Freddy prototype, Cassie is told by Gregory that Roxy is the final Security Node, much to her shock. Cassie finds Roxy pinned underneath a forklift. Roxy, who considers her a friend, tells Cassie that she remembers her when she came to the mall for her birthday. Cassie then disables Roxy and tearfully apologizes to her.
With the final Security Node disabled, a distressed Cassie makes her way into the sinkhole and into Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place. She disables the security protocols and shuts down a program named M.X.E.S. (the server for the rabbit entity), then breaks into the room that Gregory was trapped in. However, Cassie discovers that what she just freed was not Gregory, but a skeletal animatronic known as the "Mimic", who was using Gregory's vocal patterns to trick Cassie into releasing him. The Mimic tries to attack Cassie, but is stopped by Roxy, who was rebooted. The Mimic overpowers Roxy and chases after Cassie as the real Gregory leads her to an exit. He directs Cassie to an elevator, which she reaches just in time as the Mimic tries to grab her, getting its arm severed in the closing door.
As the elevator ascends, Gregory reveals what happened: the Mimic was trapped in the sinkhole for some time and M.X.E.S. was built to stop it from escaping. Since Cassie shut down the Security Nodes and M.X.E.S., the Mimic is now free. Though Gregory appreciates Cassie risking her life for him, he cannot allow the Mimic to follow them outside the mall. Gregory apologizes to Cassie before disabling the elevator and sending the car plummeting to the ground, with Cassie still inside. Following the end credits, Roxy can be heard saying Cassie's name in a worried tone, implying that Cassie is still alive and that Roxy has found her.
Alternate endings Ruin contains two alternate endings. It is unclear which is canon, but at the moment, the Elevator ending is considered to be the canon ending. The alternate endings depend on the player's choice:
Brazil ending — Disobeying Gregory's last direction in the Mimic's chase leads Cassie to a dead-end tunnel with a cutout of a cartoon Freddy. The V.A.N.N.I. mask is re-enabled in front of the cutout, allowing Cassie to put on the mask and presumably "hide" from the Mimic. The real world is replaced by a cartoon scene of Vanessa and Gregory eating ice cream on a hill as Gregory's line from earlier in the game is repeated. Cassie’s actual fate is left unresolved. The name of this ending found in the game files is the "Brazil" ending, likely referencing the ending of the 1985 film of the same name, possibly indicating that this is a joke ending or at least non-canonical.
Scooper ending — Finding five secret cameras throughout the game will lead to a different final chase sequence. The original path to the elevator is blocked by debris and a previously locked door to the left is now open. Cassie leads the Mimic, which has donned a mascot costume, through a series of rooms, trapping it in the final room. Cassie presses a button activating a strange claw-like device resembling a scooper, which grabs the Mimic and deactivates it. The Mimic can be seen lying inert through the glass afterward. It can be presumed that Cassie found her way out of the mall afterwards.
Development and release
On August 8, 2019, on the first game's fifth anniversary, Scott Cawthon posted a new teaser on his website, teasing the eighth installment for the series. The teaser depicts a modern shopping mall containing '80s-style versions of Freddy, Chica, and two new animatronics playing for an excited crowd. Throughout the following months, various characters in the game were shown throughout several teasers such as the new animatronics and the character Vanny from Help Wanted. On April 21, 2020, the characters' names were leaked from Funko's list of upcoming products and the title was revealed to be Five Nights at Freddy's: Pizza Plex. The following day, Cawthon confirmed the leaks, but that the title is not official. Cawthon also announced that the game was scheduled to be released in late 2020.
On September 16, 2020, a teaser trailer for the game was launched during the PlayStation 5 Showcase event, revealing new rooms along with the main lobby and new animatronics. At the end of the presentation, it was announced that the game would be released on PC, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5, and may come to other platforms at a later date. However, on November 17, Cawthon announced that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and new additions to the game, the game had been delayed to early 2021.
On February 25, 2021, during Sony Interactive Entertainment's State of Play live stream, the first gameplay trailer was released, showcasing various areas and characters in the game.
On September 1, 2021, Steel Wool launched a new website, titled Security Breach TV, to host new teasers for Security Breach. Just a week later on September 7, the first video teaser was posted on Security Breach TV in the style of an old-fashioned cartoon, called Freddy & Friends: On Tour!, featuring the main four characters from the original game. Throughout the following months, the website was updated with more video teasers containing secret images and teasers inside the videos.
During a PlayStation State of Play on October 27, 2021, the final trailer was showcased, featuring the other Glamrock animatronics as well as gameplay, cutscenes and mechanics. The game's release date was also revealed to be December 16, 2021. Ports for the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S was released on November 22, 2022. A Nintendo Switch port of the game was also released on April 19, 2023.
An update was released on February 28, 2022, which fixed many glitches and bugs present in the game, while also making the difficulty of the game easier.
Spin-off
On April 28, 2021, Cawthon announced that, due to the unexpected size of the game, its release was delayed further. As compensation for the players, Cawthon released a freeware beat 'em up spin-off game titled Security Breach: Fury's Rage.
Tie-in media and merchandise
Before the release of Security Breach, on October 30, 2020, Funko released a line of action figures of the Glamrock animatronics and collectible mystery minis. On May 20, 2021, Funko also released two 12" statues: one of Glamrock Freddy and Gregory hiding from Vanny and the other of Vanny and the night guard Vanessa on opposite sides of a potted plant.
Downloadable content
On May 30, 2022, a free DLC expansion titled Ruin was announced. On May 15, 2023, the Security Breach TV website was updated with a new teaser for the upcoming DLC. Shortly after, the gameplay trailer for the DLC was released on the Steel Wool Studios YouTube channel on May 19, 2023. This trailer reveals the new protagonist’s name as Cassie, whose goal is to save Gregory in the ruins of the Pizzaplex from destroyed-looking animatronics. Eight new teaser images were revealed for the DLC on YouTuber Lewis Dawkins' (known online as Dawko) channel on June 24, 2023, on a charity livestream for The Trevor Project. On July 14, 2023, the release date for the DLC was revealed to be July 25, 2023 by Steel Wool Studios.
Reception
Critical reception Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. Jeuxvideo.com gave a mixed review, praising the atmosphere and the originality of certain gameplay sections, but criticizing the bugs and technical issues. The Escapists Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw was more critical of the game, praising the visuals, but criticizing the bugs, design, and restrictive save system. He would later list Security Breach as being his least favourite game that he played in 2022 based on these factors.
Sales
As of March 2023, Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach has sold over 1.7 million units.
Accolades
The game was nominated for and won Players' Choice December 2021 on PlayStation's official blog.
The Freddy & Friends: On Tour! animated teasers on the Security Breach TV'' website were nominated in October 2022 for a Streamy Award for Brand Engagement.
Notes
References
External links
Security Breach official website
2021 video games
Five Nights at Freddy's video games
2020s horror video games
Indie games
Nintendo Switch games
PlayStation 4 games
PlayStation 5 games
Single-player video games
Stadia games
Unreal Engine games
Video games developed in the United States
Video games set in Utah
Windows games
Xbox One games
Xbox Series X and Series S games