Why Five Nights at Freddy's is Scary
Channel: Rym DeCoster
Date: 2015-03-16

Disclaimer: I made this video long before Scott Cawthon's abhorrent right wing extremist political views were known to the public. I do not endorse him, his beliefs, or his statements in any way, and you will never see me further analyze any of his works on this channel. Vote Blue in 2022 if you want to save basic Democracy.

I stand by the game design conversation in this video, independent of its creator's awful views. I do not recommend that you purchase any of his games if you didn't already prior to these revelations.

Five Nights at Freddy's is undeniably scary.  While it relies on jumpscares, notice that it uses them not to scare you along the way, but more to condition you for much greater and sustained fright and paranoia.  FNAF is a clever, well-designed, simple horror game that in many ways has redefined horror games as a genre.

What exactly makes Five Nights at Freddy's so scary? What game mechanics does it employ to do this?