since then, FNAF has become a special interest of mine that has shaped who i am, including shaping my music tastes and fascination with robotics and horror, it's also the first piece of media i ever made an OC (original character) for alongside my little pony and the lion king.
from august of 2014 to July of 2015, the creator (Scott Cawthon) released the original game plus 3 sequels in rapid succession, with varying ratings and a repetitive gameplay, the first 4 games are held quite highly due a strong nostalgia, new gimmicks, and crumbs of lore that set the foundations for the franchise.
personally, my favourite game (even out of all currently released games) is FNAF 2, it has one of the highest numbers of animatronics and gave us some iconic characters such as the puppet, mangle, and the purple guy (later known as William Afton), i also find FNAF 2 most interesting as it was infamously known for the sheer amount of hoaxes that flooded the fandom at the time, as game theorists weren't as wide-spread as they are now and the majority of fans were children with the occasional youtuber making videos on said hoaxes for content.
from january of 2016 to june of 2018, 4 more games were released by Scott Cawthon with a more focused direction on expanding gameplay and the storyline of the Afton family, including central protagonist Micheal Afton and antagonist William Afton, this era is considered to have one of the best and worst games, with FNAF world being widely hated at it's release and sister location being beloved by many even 9 years later. During this time we also see the uprising of merchandise thanks to the toy company Funko.
Pizzaria sim is my favourite game from this era, as i've always been a big fan of tycoon games and introduced one of my favourite line of animatronics: the mediocre melodies. though my one complaint for Pizzaria sim is that at some point we were promised an endless tycoon mode, which we unfortunately never received.
from january of 2019 to may of 2019, 2 games were released as Scott Cawthon transitioned the franchise to new ownership under steelwool studios, considered the shortest era in the timeline, these games include "help wanted", the first VR game created for the series, and "special delivery", the first mobile AR game (note that in the past there has been ports of older games to mobile.), special delivery was also not made by Scott Cawthon or Steelwool, but infact the company Illumix.
as stated before, this is the shortest era, and thus choosing a favourite game is quite easy: help wanted gives us an indepth scope of what working as an employee at the pizzaria for the first time, and no wonder it led to a hyped build up for the next era.
from decmber of 2021 to current day, Steelwool has currently released 3 games, with a 4th still in development, due to a rise in badget and no longer being produced by just one man, the games have made a jump in quality and content, going from a main 2d click-and-point to a 3d free-roam, these games also bought in a new community of fans who grew attached to the new line of animatronics: the glamrocks. despite the jump of quality and bringing in new fans, the games are also known for having rushed development and plot points that were scrapped due to it.
personally, this is when my interest in the franchise died the most, i am not a fan of how they wrote William Afton's character, and bringing him back devalues the sacrifices that characters like Micheal Afton and Henry Emily made in order to save the spirits, mainly i'm just glad that FNAF did find a new wave of fans though and that the animatronics aren't haunted by a new group of kids.
work in progress.
FNAF sites
