Five Nights at Freddy's Mechanics

The FNaF franchise has sort of created an entirely new way people experience horror games. You're holed up in an enclosed location and the only way between you and your enemies from one-shotting you are the convenient mechanics laid out before you.

The mechanics laid out before you differ in difficulty, and failing to perform those mechanics could land you right into the game over screen. So, if you're shit, you'll get a loud sound and get banished to the loser screen.

This page describes a variety of those mechanics, what the AI does, and a bit in between that.

## Main series mechanics

Mechanics that are featured in the main FNaF games.

### Blocking the enemy's path

Honestly pretty straight-forward: when the enemy is ready to attack, close their path to avoid that enemy from attacking. This mechanic has been in place ever since the first game via mechanical doors, so it's as simple as you can get.

In order for the player to not… \*scratches\* uhumm anyways. In order for the player to not piss accidently there would be freddy naked set in place. In most cases, it would be the limited yellow liquid power decreasing at a higher rate than usual if the blockage is turned on. \*scratches pp\* In the case of FNaF4, holding down one door leads to the other 3 enemies having \*smells\* a chance of entering your safe space since the player character is only focusing on glizzy gobbling.

The red one isn’t just the only method of "blocking an enemy's path", take the penis flashlight mechanic from FNaF2 for example. Continually peeing inside the light at the enemy stops it from attacking and leave the player alone. If we replace the flashlight with a door, imagine if I continually peed someone's head in with a door to make them go away.

* Doors (Five Nights at Freddy's)
* Withered Foxy Flashlight (Five Nights at Freddy's 2)

#### Not blocking the enemy's path

I've only seen this in one fangame: not blocking the enemy's path, since it would cause a much larger penalty. This mechanic brings a much larger twist to the standard ways of the player defending themselves, so that will give them some whiplash. (Ex. Homer Simptronic)

* Homer Simptronic's charge (Fun Times at Homer's)

### Hiding yourself

FNaF2 has you wear a mask that fools the titan into thinking you're one of them. This mechanic, like the "blocking" mechanic, also comes with its restrictions; you can't use the titan mechanics while it is activated. In FNaF2's case, wearing the mask disallows you from using the flashlight to deter Foxy or winding the green one.

Realistically, the character in-universe would then look through the eyeholes of the mask to look through the cameras and use the flashlight. But that would make the mechanic overpowered, so that's a case of an acceptable break from reality.

Fangames have come up with this type of mechanic, but appearing in ways that appear fresh and original. Turning off the light in One Night at Flumpty's 2 hides the player from the enemies, but disallows them from checking which way the Owl goes and removing a virus from the Redman.

* Freddy Mask (Five Nights at Freddy's 2)
* Turning off the light (One Night at Flumpty's 2)

### Music Box

There's a bar that slowly drains. The player has to fill it. If they don't, they die. This can go in the reversal; the player has to drain a bar. If it fills up, the player dies. This mechanic has been seen in many fangames, almost to the point of ridicule.

There is a reason behind why the music box exists: the player can only access it inside the cameras. A large majority of enemies have been programmed to only go inside the office if the player has their camera tablet up. If they don't go in the cameras, the Puppet kills them. If they wind up the box, other enemies enter the safe space and might kill the player. A lose-sorta lose situation where the player must always be active.

* Music Box (Five Nights at Freddy's 2)
* Freddles (Five Nights at Freddy's 4)

### Sound distraction

An enemy is distracted by sound, and the player has a device that allows sound to be played elsewhere, causing the enemy to go towards that location. The most popular version of that mechanic is Springtrap from FNaF3. Not using that mechanic causes Springtrap to gang up on the player and causing a game over.

Oddly enough, a mechanic similar to that can be found in Five Nights at Treasure Island, the demo of which released around 4 months before FNaF3 released. In that game, the player needed to shut off one of the cameras, giving them a slight disadvantage for a few seconds since they can't see through the camera and are left with one less defense for a few seconds. That game also uses a more literal version of the "hiding" mechanic.

* Springtrap (Five Nights at Freddy's 3)
* Cameras (Five Nights at Treasure Island)

### Listening

There's a weird sound in some place. They have to listen closely, and carelessly activating another mechanic could spell their doom. This mechanic of closely listening is important, and the payoff, if the player fails, is far greater due to the jumpscare appearing louder.

* Nightmare Bonnie and Chica (Five Nights at Freddy's 4)

### Complete reset

FFPS has the player zapping the animatronic, completely reducing their path of being awake back to the start. In order for the player to not completely abuse the mechanic, there are penalties set in place. In FFPS' case, the enemy's worth in money would reduce the more the player abuses the mechanic, causing them to lose out on whatever they could've bought with that money.

Other ways of penalizing the player could be a severely limited battery system. The player made the enemy reset before they were even halfway to being awake? Ha, that player should've timed themselves better, and now they have to be extra careful with spending power in those last few minutes.

* Salvaging (Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator)

### Bye

You only have to do one thing that's a really simple mechanic, such as pressing a button.

* Old Man Consequences (Ultimate Custom Night)

#### Goodbye

Same as Bye, but this mechanic is one-time, meaning the enemy is gone forever.

* Afton (Ultimate Custom Night)
* Nightmare Bonnie, Nightmare Mangle, and Circus Baby (Ultimate Custom Night)
* Scrap Baby (Ultimate Custom Night)

## Enemy paths

### Adventurers

Enemies that go their predestined path. If the player impedes their attack, they reset their path and do it all over again. Maybe some forks in the road will happen, but they'll always end up at the same destination to attack the player.

* Bonnie, Chica, and Freddy (Five Nights at Freddy's)

### Brood & Go

An enemy that broods in one location, before leaving and charging at the player's safe space. If the enemy fails, they retreat into their sad little hole and brood again before doing it all over again.

* Foxy (Five Nights at Freddy's)

#### Hourly Brood

An enemy that stays in one location until a certain time has passed, in which case the enemy instantly attacks.

* Funtime Foxy (Ultimate Custom Night)

### Clyde

A name based around the Clyde ghost from Pac-Man, a Clyde enemy goes their own random path and attacks when they happen to be near the player. Whether the enemy's location is logical or not doesn't matter.

Okay, maybe that's not exactly what Clyde does in Pac-Man (actually retreats if he's near Pac-Man) but it gives an idea of how the enemy acts.

* Flumpty Bumpty (One Night at Flumpty's)

### Mechanic Inconvenience

An enemy that doesn't kill you, but inconveniences you for another enemy via reducing your chances of surviving. That inconvenience can last from a few seconds to forever.

* Balloon Boy (Five Nights at Freddy's 2)
* Phantom Animatronics (Five Nights at Freddy's 3)
* Sara the Squirrel (POPGOES)

### Will Kill You

Nothing can stop that enemy, the only thing the player can do is sort of stop their progress, but if they reach the next stage of attack, the player can't revert that. If the player hasn't stopped all of the enemy's stages and is at their last, the only thing they can hope for is that the enemy is slow.

* Creation (The Joy of Creation: Story Mode)

### I Can Do Anything

An enemy is introduced late in the game that is basically a combination of all the previous mechanics put together.

* Nightmare Fredbear (Five Nights at Freddy's 4)

### Mafia

The enemy requires something, and the player has to give them that before the enemy's patience runs out.

* Rockstar Bonnie (Ultimate Custom Night)
* Rockstar Freddy (Ultimate Custom Night)
* Nightmare Bonnie, Nightmare Mangle, and Circus Baby (Ultimate Custom Night)

### I Hate You

An enemy that doesn't like to be looked at. The penalty of looking at them depend on either a mechanic inconvenience, death, or the game crashing.

* Golden Freddy (Five Nights at Freddy's)
* Bonnie (Ultimate Custom Night)

## Methods of winning

### Clock

Survive an indeterminate amount of time and you progress to the next level. Ancient times.

* Five Nights at Freddy's

### Filling a bar

You have to fill a bar to win the level. Pretty cool.

* Funtime Freddy (Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location)
* Office (Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator)

### Adventure

Perform a step-by-step task, and you progress to the next level. Enemies are still abound, though.

## What, How, Why, Who

What's happening. How to stop it. Why it works. Who is it affecting.

### Five Nights at Freddy's 2

 The enemy sees you and will kill you, regardless of the mask
 The enemy will kill you, regardless of the mask and light

### Five Nights at Freddy's 3

 The enemy is taking a shortcut by crawling through the vents to your location
 One of the key mechanics has gone offline

### Five Nights at Freddy's 4

 The enemy is breathing right outside your door. Flashing the lights provokes them to kill you
 The enemy is about to exit the closet to kill
 The enemy is about to exit the bed
 The enemy has to land on the X

### Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location

 The enemy kills you when you move
 The enemy wants to kill you