Five Nights at Freddy's 3

### Release date

IndieDB: March 1st, 2015 (selected Youtubers) Windows: March 2nd, 2015 Android: March 6th, 2015 iOS: March 12th, 2015 Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, Xbox One: November 29th, 2019

### Rating

9/10 (Steam)4.7/5 (Google Play)4.7/5 (App Store)

## Summary

*"He will come back. He always does. We have a place for him."* **-Trailer Tagline**

Thirty years after *Freddy Fazbear's Pizza* closing, the events that took place there have become nothing more than a rumor and a childhood memory, but the owners of *"Fazbear's Fright: The Horror Attraction"* are determined to revive the legend and make the experience as authentic as possible for patrons, going to great lengths to find anything that might have survived decades of neglect and ruin.

At first there were only empty shells, a hand, a hook, an old paper-plate doll, but then a remarkable discovery was made...

*The attraction now has one* animatronic*.*

The first trailer  was released January 16th, 2015. The demo was released to selected Youtubers March 1st, 2015. The full game was later released March 2nd, 2015 on Windows for $7.99.

## Gameplay

The gameplay deviates from the previous games of the series slightly. In keeping with the first two games, players are tasked with surviving night shifts as a security guard, with each night lasting from 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. (about 6 minutes of real time). However, unlike the previous two games, only one animatronic is able to attack the player and cause a game over. Several animatronics from earlier games return as *phantoms* that cannot harm the player directly, but can hinder their efforts to survive the night.

The game takes place in a horror-themed attraction called *"Fazbear's Fright"* through which a single rabbit-like animatronic called *"Springtrap"* roams. The player must monitor two separate security camera systems, one for the rooms and corridors throughout the facility, and one for the ventilation ductwork, in order to track *Springtrap's* movements. They can seal off the air vents at certain points to block *Springtrap's* progress towards the office, but the door and air vent that lead directly into the office remain permanently open. In addition to observing the camera systems, the player must watch the status of three operating systems and reboot them whenever they malfunction. These systems control the cameras, a set of audio devices that can be used to lure *Springtrap* away from the player's position, and the facility's ventilation. The camera and audio systems malfunction after prolonged or repeated usage. The ventilation system fails at random, or when a "phantom" animatronic jumpscares the player. Some of these animatronics can also cause audio and camera failure; for instance, "Phantom Mangle" can affect audio as well as ventilation. Failure to keep the latter running can cause the player to momentarily lose vision as well as hallucinate and see multiple animatronics in the building. If Springtrap enters the office, he jumpscares the player and the game ends.

The game consists of five nights, increasing in difficulty, and completing all five unlocks an even more challenging nightmare night. Going through the game normally grants a star at the fifth night. Several Atari-style minigames are also playable within the main game after each level; completing all of them unlocks the game's "good ending" and grants access to bonus content as well as a second star. If the player completes the "Nightmare" night, they will unlock the cheat menu and a third star. The cheat menu offers a range of options, including a mode to make the animatronics more aggressive and increase the game's difficulty. Other cheats include a radar to track *Springtrap* and the ability to decrease the length of nights. Completing the nightmare night with only the aggressive cheat enabled grants the fourth star.

## Plot

The player assumes the role of an unnamed and newly hired employee for Fazbear's Fright, a horror-themed attraction inspired by Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, the family restaurant that closed thirty years prior. During the week before the attraction's official opening, the employee must watch over the facility from a security office each night from 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. On the first night, the player receives a message from an unnamed character, nicknamed Phone Dude, explaining the purpose of the location and the player's role there as a nightguard.

On the second night, the staff at Fazbear's Fright uncovers an older, deteriorated, rabbit-like animatronic named Springtrap; the employee must thereafter prevent it from entering the office and killing them. The team also found a series of instructional cassette tapes, recorded by Phone Guy from the first game. The second night's tape instructs employees on how to operate springlock suits, which can function as both an animatronic and a costume for humans. The third night's tape discusses a "safe room", an additional emergency room which "is not included in the digital map layouts programmed in the animatronics or the security system. This room is hidden to customers, invisible to animatronics, and is always off-camera".

However, recordings on later nights discourage the use of the suits. The recording on the fourth night states the suits are no longer considered suitable for employees following "an unfortunate incident at the sister location involving multiple and simultaneous springlock failures." To replace the faulty suits, the recording states that temporary costumes would be provided, although questions about their appropriateness should be avoided. The recording which plays during the fifth night reminds employees that the safe room is for employees only, and that customers should never be taken there. Also, after discovering that one of the special suits was "noticeably moved," it reminds employees that the suits are considered unsafe to wear.

Atari-style minigames that are playable between nights provide insight into the restaurant's lore. The first four nights' minigames depict animatronics from the previous two games following a dark purple animatronic before being violently disassembled by a purple figure, a supposed serial killer that was previously seen in the minigames of Five Nights at Freddy's 2. In the fifth night's minigame, the ghosts of the figure's five victims corner him, and he seeks protection by hiding inside of a yellow bunny suit. However, the suit's springlock mechanism fails, crushing the man in the process, and the children fade away, leaving the figure to seemingly bleed to death. It is implied that the suit is now possessed by the spirit of the figure, which became the main antagonist of the third game, Springtrap.

Unlike the previous games, Five Nights at Freddy's 3 contains two different endings, depending on whether the player has found and completed all of the hidden minigames within the main game. Some of these are only available on specific nights, while others can be accessed during any night. The "bad ending" is attained by completing the game without completing all the hidden minigames and shows a screen depicting the heads of four of the five animatronics from the first game with lit-up eyes, along with one head that is obscured by darkness where only the glowing eyes are visible, speculated to be Golden Freddy's head, a secret animatronic from the first game. Completing all the hidden minigames before completing the main game earns the player the "good ending", which is the same screen as described previously but with the animatronics' eyes not lit up, and with the one obscured head missing. This screen has been speculated to suggest the souls of children killed by the purple figure and possessing the restaurant's animatronics have been put to rest.

In the sixth nightmare night, an archived recording states that all Freddy Fazbear's Pizza locations' safe rooms will be permanently sealed, instructing employees that they are "not to be mentioned to family, friends or insurance representatives". When the night is completed, a newspaper clipping reveals that Fazbear's Fright was destroyed in a fire shortly after the events of the game and that any salvageable items from the attraction are to be auctioned off. However, brightening the image reveals Springtrap in the background, indicating that it survived the fire and is now on the loose.

## Reception

*Five Nights at Freddy's 3* received mixed to positive reviews from professional critics, specifically garnering praise for its darker and grittier tone. At Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, *Five Nights at Freddy's 3* has received an average score of 71 out of 100, whereas GameRankings gave the game's PC version a 72.00% based on 4 reviews, and the iOS version an 80%.

Omri Petitte from PC Gamer gave *Five Nights at Freddy's 3* a score of 77 out of 100, praising the reworked camera system, but commented on how the jumpscares from the other animatronics "felt a little stale by the third night." In a more critical review, Nic Rowen from Destructoid gave the game a 6.5 out of 10, saying that, even though the game is "by far the most technically proficient and mechanically satisfying installment yet," he criticized Springtrap and Fazbear's Fright for lacking the "charm of the original cast and locations."

## Development History

### 2014

* December 6th: When brightened, Scott's website had a very large number three on the bottom right. This was possibly hinting at a third installment to the *Five Nights at Freddy's* series. Then, a very small text named "until next time" and then "Merry Christmas!"

### 2015

* January 3rd: The "**Offline**" image was replaced with a picture of Springtrap's face looking out from the darkness with the accompanying text, "**I am still here**". When brightened, one can see "3" on the right bottom. Another version on Reddit is "**I'll always be here**".
* January 14: The deteriorated animatronic image was replaced with a picture of the toy animatronics' empty heads, including the BB paper plate doll, inside a box. A big, red "3" is seen above them. When the image is brightened, one can see Springtrap at the right of the box.
* January 27th: After the trailer's release, Scott replaced the image on his website with a black image with very light text that reads "**He always does**".
* February 3rd: An image on Scott's website appeared to have a map on it with an icon that reads "YOU" and an arrow across from said icon. In Steam Greenlight, Scott made a post about him being hacked and sent a troll game available for download here.
* March 1st: The image was changed once more on Scott's website of an image of Phantom BB that reads "**Guess Who?**" with a faded 10 on the bottom left-hand side.
* March 2nd: Scott released another image of Phantom Chica and Phantom Foxy that reads "**It's all in your mind**". On this same day, Scott released a demo to a number of Let's Players on YouTube and Twitch. Hours later, the full game was officially released to the public. Minutes before the game's release Scott Cawthon did a countdown on the Steam Greenlight page, claiming "he was trigger happy when it comes to releasing games".
* March 7th, an Android version of the game was released.
* March 12th, an iOS version of the game was released.

## Links

1. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdHlIy0W4uU
2. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameRankings
3. ↑ https://www.gamerankings.com/pc/131793-five-nights-at-freddys-3/intex.html
4. ↑ https://www.metacritic.com/games/
5. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MetaCritic
6. ↑ https://ww.metacritic.com/game/five-nights-at-freddys-3/
7. ↑ https://www.metacritic.com/game/five-nights-at-freddys-3/