Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach (PS5)

Note: This review contains spoilers for the Five Nights at Freddy’s series.

Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNAF) is a game series that I’ve always found fascinating. Ever since the first game launched back in 2014, I was hooked by the hidden lore and stuck by the series ever since, even reading the original novel trilogy (The Silver Eyes, The Twisted Ones and The Fourth Closet) of my own volition. However, I’ve never actually played any of the games myself, instead watching Markiplier play through all of them and uncovering their secrets. That would change with the formal announcement of the ninth main entry, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach (Security Breach), as the change in presentation and gameplay style felt more in line with my interests. As such, although the game, developed by Steel Wool, launched in December 2021, I intentionally didn’t watch any playthroughs so my playthrough would be as spoiler-free as possible when I finally got around to it. Although I feel proud of myself for finally playing a FNAF game, I can confidently say that Security Breach really needed more time in the oven.

Before I continue, I should firmly establish that this review is mostly based on the experience as of the Version 1.06 update. The game updated to Version 1.09 while playing the 5:00 AM portion, then updated again to Version 1.11 while attempting the True Ending after otherwise achieving 100% completion, so I don’t know what a full playthrough is like with either update applied.

In Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex, Glamrock Freddy (aka Freddy), Glamrock Chica (aka Chica), Montgomery Gator (aka Monty) and Roxanne Wolf (aka Roxy) get ready to perform on the main stage. During the performance, Freddy unexpectedly shuts down, cutting the performance short. When he comes to in his green room, he finds a child named Gregory hiding in his stomach compartment. Although the security guard, Vanessa, is looking for Gregory, Freddy instead takes him directly to the front entrance, only for the Pizzaplex to lock down for the night. With Gregory trapped inside, Freddy decides to help him survive until the doors reopen at 6:00 AM while avoiding the other animatronics, who have become aggressive for some unknown reason.

Gregory is trapped in the Pizzaplex until 6:00 AM.

For a game like Security Breach, it would be best to start off with what it did right. Unlike the previous games in the series, the animatronics actually have distinct personalities and their aggression comes from outside interference rather than the vengeful spirits of murdered children. This single shift makes the animatronics more memorable outside of just their appearance and lets the player more easily get attached to them as individuals. For example, I ended up liking Roxanne Wolf the most and, despite her attempts to capture Gregory, I felt bad for her when she got damaged as part of the story. I also particularly enjoyed the idea of an animatronic, in this case a version of Freddy Fazbear, helping the player for once, as well as a human antagonist who was actually still alive. Players can also achieve one of six different endings, each of which feel unique.

Compared to previous games, which mostly have the player sitting still in a single location while fending off incoming animatronics, Security Breach finally changes up the gameplay in a meaningful way by incorporating a free-roaming style with elements of stealth. Throughout the multistory pizzeria, players must make sure the animatronics don’t spot Gregory and can either distract them with various noise makers or climb into hiding spots to throw them off his trail (unless Gregory was caught in the act). Of course, Gregory also has various S.T.A.F.F. bots that he should avoid, as they can alert the patrolling animatronics to his location. If Gregory is ever caught, the player will be greeted with a jumpscare, followed by a game over.

In another major gameplay change, instead of having the player survive five nights, hence the name of the series, the entire game lasts only a single night, with various events and increasingly difficult missions spread across the different hours of the night. For example, locating a potential exit after 1:00 AM or obtaining a Party Pass after 3:00 AM. Fortunately, Gregory can obtain a few tools throughout the game to help him out. Although the flashlight illuminates the immediate area pretty well and doesn’t attract animatronics, it has no effect against them and has a limited, rechargeable battery. Two truly defensive tools are the Faz-Cam and Fazerblaster, both of which can stun animatronics and S.T.A.F.F. Bots, but have different ranges of effect and limited shots before they need to recharge. If the player isn’t confident in sneaking around alone, they can also have Gregory climb into Freddy’s chest and freely move around without alerting anyone. The only drawback is that Freddy has a limited battery, unless the player can visit a recharge station to extend his use, and will jumpscare the player if he ever runs out.

Hiding in Freddy has its advantages.

By far the most useful item, however, is the Fazwatch. The Fazwatch not only lets you view messages, an in-game map and mission updates, but also nearby security cameras. Viewing the cameras gives the player valuable information on where the S.T.A.F.F. Bots and animatronics are, which can help the player determine the safest opportunity to avoid getting caught. What balances this, however, is that the Fazwatch menus occur in real time, meaning that players must first find a safe place before checking it for information.

Exploring the Pizzaplex also requires dealing with certain additional mechanics, like obtaining key cards or increasing Gregory’s security level to access certain areas. At the end of every hour, Gregory must also reach a recharge station before the Daycare Attendant catches him, undoing some amount of progress. Performing certain actions like recharging the Flashlight or Saving progress takes a little time, which feels like at least an attempt at introducing a risk vs. reward system. Particularly curious or observant players can also find hidden upgrades that increase Gregory’s stats or enhance his abilities, such as a pair of shoes that increases his speed or various Fizzy Faz sodas that increase his stamina.

Players can even increase Gregory's flashlight battery.

As a small treat for longtime fans of the series, if the player reaches the Security Office at the Prize Counter, they’ll play through a sequence that mimics the gameplay of the original FNAF, complete with two doors and a limited amount of power.

As a nice touch, the Pizzaplex contains a handful of playable arcade cabinets, including one that lets you play a few rounds of mini-golf. By far the most interesting, however, is a trio of Princess Quest cabinets, two of which are required to access the third as part of one of the game’s endings. Princess Quest plays like an old-school dungeon crawler, complete with puzzles and a variety of enemies, though obviously on a smaller scale so that it could still be considered a minigame. What makes this trio of cabinets interesting, however, is that its environments and enemies contain a surprising amount of carefully crafted symbolism and playing all three in sequence lets players learn a lot about a certain character with barely a word exchanged. In fact, I enjoyed these cabinets so much that I considered out loud that I found them more fun than Security Breach itself (you’ll understand why in a bit).

Among the entire FNAF series, Security Breach easily has the best graphics. Not only do the designs of the animatronics stand out from all of their predecessors, but the Pizzaplex itself is packed with an incredible attention to detail. Not that long into playing the game, the environmental design of the Pizzaplex really sold me on the idea that it could conceivably exist as a real place, at least for the most part, and I loved the narrative design within the world. Just looking around different rooms and paying attention to certain details can really tell a story or form certain implications about what happened prior, even without reading the supplemental hidden notes. Longtime fans may also catch certain hilarious Easter eggs related to previous games and players can view their inventory of key items and collectables at any time through the pause menu.

The Pizzaplex has a truly stunning level of environmental detail.

Although the Pizzaplex can arguably look too clean for some, I’d say it’s definitely a step in the right direction for this sort of horror game. Related to this, I like the detail that with each in-game hour that passes, the animatronics look noticeably dirtier or more deteriorated, both subtly showing the passage of time and making them look more menacing in the dark. I also would honestly love a mode where players could just walk around the Pizzaplex with no danger and simply enjoy all the detail put into it.

Just as noticeably more effort went into the graphics, it’s clear that Steel Wool put some great effort into the voice acting and sound design. Pretty much every voice actor does a great job, though since the voices of the animatronics are heard the most, more credit goes to Kellen Goff as Glamrock Freddy, Heather Masters as Glamrock Chica, Cameron Miller as Montgomery Gator and Marta Svetek as Roxanne Wolf. Though the sound design receives a much-needed update, players can still hear some familiar sounds from previous games, most notably the honk of Freddy’s nose, which helps tie Security Breach into the rest of the series. The music is also more memorable this time around, with the main theme (which sounds a bit like “Jump” by Van Halen) acting a leitmotif throughout the rest of the score. Interestingly, this is also the first game in the series with an audio slider specifically for the jumpscare audio. Considering you’ll hear the same sound right before each game over, this is a welcome option.

Now that we’ve looked at what the game does really well, it’s unfortunately time to look at everywhere the game stumbles.

The issues begin with the story. Even though it’s pretty straightforward, every plot thread feels underdeveloped, with hardly any questions answered, if at all. We never learn why Gregory was in the Pizzaplex or why he wasn’t registered as a guest, Vanny’s identity is completely obvious even without the game spelling it out, her whole deal is hardly explained outside of easily missed collectables and the storyline within the True Ending has no foreshadowing whatsoever, relying entirely on knowledge of Sister Location, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator and Help Wanted to even start making any amount of sense. While there are six different endings, each with a different star rating, they can feel underwhelming depending on the player and only the True Ending is fully animated, the rest depicted like a motion comic. Certain references (and, as previously stated, the True Ending) also won’t make any sense for those who start with Security Breach, which can potentially alienate new players.

When it comes to the endings, they also all require different amounts of effort to unlock. While two of them are easy, simply selecting the Leave option at two specific exits, the two Vanny endings require first finding a secret room in Fazer Blast (with one Vanny ending also blocked off unless you also play Princess Quest I and II in order), the Rooftop endings requires finding nearly every collectable in the game and the True Ending requires fully upgrading Freddy and finding a hidden elevator under the Pizzaplex. Even with a single post-6:00 AM Save Station added in, these requirements can get frustrating, since even with Freddy showing you the locations of the collectables within presents, the Retro CDs only show up when Freddy is nearly right next to them and obtaining one of the golden plushes requires using the Fazcam on four specific cutouts seen throughout the Pizaplex. Even then, duffel bags are invisible to Freddy and may require a guide to find unless you're very observant.

As for fully upgrading Freddy, this requires going back and decommissioning either Chica or Monty, whichever one you ignored early on. No matter how much setup you do beforehand or when you save your game, you'll still have to complete their entire boss battle in one go. In my case, this meant a lengthy sequence of turning on generators and running away from Chica in the sewers, with one mistake wiping out several minutes of progress. Though I got extremely lucky on my third try, it only highlighted the issues brought on by a near lack of an autosave and disabling all of the original Save Stations past 6:00 AM.

Prepare for frustration if you saved Chica for later.

Since I went through the effort to obtain all six endings, I thought the three-star ending (aka the Good Ending) felt the most satisfying, as it had the most positive outcome and came the closest to an actual resolution. By comparison, the True Ending felt the most unsatisfying not only from making the least amount of sense, but also from constructing its boss fight around heavy amounts of RNG and obtuse direction (for example, you're not told to use Chica's voice box to make Roxy go away or to get in Freddy to make the tentacles in phase two disappear).

From there is some fairly minor stuff, but enough to affect the enjoyment of the experience. While it’s natural for a game like this to hide some useful items or intriguing collectables, some of them are hidden too well, sitting in very easily missed side areas where the average player might not normally think to look. This arguably rewards exploration, but there shouldn’t be instances like permanently missing a flashlight battery upgrade just because you didn’t think to look for a hidden staircase in a castle turret in the Daycare. In fact, it’s generally not completely obvious where you’re supposed to go, even with giant signs, since some entrances aren’t as easily accessible and some players can get easily lost looking for things that aren’t actually marked on the Fazwatch map, like security offices, despite Freddy saying they are. Yes, the Pizzaplex has directories, but good luck interpreting them. This means potentially looking up a lot of things online, including how to complete certain missions, which you shouldn’t have to do to get through a game like Security Breach.

Good luck using this directory.

If you care about accessibility, you should know that there are only two subtitle sizes and with no option to preview what they look like, unlike other recent AAA games. Additionally, while the security camera footage seen in the Fazwatch is of understandably lower quality (and noticeably higher brightness), it has a tendency to lag at times. Considering the entire purpose of the feature is to give players accurate real-time information on where the animatronics and S.T.A.F.F. Bots are, this can be a real issue.

Before I jump into the more major issues, I should address one of the bigger questions, that being whether or not the game is actually scary. For the most part, I would honestly say no. While the jumpscares can be effective, it’s only when you’re not expecting them. Otherwise, they have diminishing returns if you see them multiple times in a row, at which point they feel more frustrating than scary. The only genuine tension I ever felt during my entire playthrough came from the Montgomery Gator boss fight, since he could chase me and jump around the maze-like arena at will, so you have to gamble on whether or not he’ll approach you as you hastily shoot a specific target.

The only time I ever felt any sort of tension.

Now for the increasingly annoying issues with the design itself. Whenever you would perform certain actions, an Information card can pop up explaining how a certain game mechanic works. At first, these cards are helpful, since the player is just learning the rules of the game and might need some guidance when something new comes up. As the game goes on, however, these cards are increasingly repetitive and useless, giving information that’s either incredibly obvious or something the game was about to tell you through other means anyway. Even worse, you have to hold down a button to dismiss these cards instead of a more logical single press. Fortunately, you can turn off the information cards altogether, though this doesn't take away from the fact that the card for the Fazcam lies about how to recharge it (it recharges automatically instead of at a flashlight recharge station like the card implies).

On the generally more annoying side, I noticed that the mini-golf arcade cabinet had some of the most unintuitive controls I’ve seen. It took me a couple holes to really grasp the mechanics, especially since the player isn’t told at any point what to do. This is oddly the opposite problem as the information cards, which held the player’s hand just a little too much. A more direct problem with the game, however, is the length of Freddy’s battery. I understand that it discourages overusing him and keeps the threat of a jumpscare from him a possibility, but completing certain objectives or exploring more of the Pizzaplex uninterrupted pretty much requires using him a lot. As such, I didn’t feel too comfortable abusing his stealth capabilities until I got the upgrades that increase his battery life and learned where the recharge stations were in each area.

A bigger issue lies in a certain quirk where reloading a save completely resets any AI and enemy spawns (though Freddy always stays where you last left him). On the surface, this doesn’t seem too bad, since you can abuse this feature to more reliably get through an area undetected. However, it also put me into nearly unwinnable situations, both involving Roxanne Wolf. The first time, when finishing off the Prize Counter mission during the 1:00 AM portion, Roxanne would always spawn in the same spot right outside her exit door as soon as I triggered an event flag. What this meant is that every time I opened the door, Roxy would always discover me and kill me before I could do anything. My solution was approaching the door at a more deliberate pace until I triggered the flag, then wait a couple seconds before opening the door and finding my way out.

Later, during the 2:00 AM portion, I ran into an issue when reloading a save in the Atrium. While working my way up to completing the task of activating the Main Stage, I died and had to reload my save. As it turned out, not only would Roxanne Wolf spawn mere feet away from the Save Station, she would spawn with me directly in her line of sight, giving me only seconds to live with no way to avoid her (I tried). I actually nearly gave up under the assumption that I had somehow softlocked myself, but reloading the save also came with a random chance that she wouldn’t spawn in that spot at all, which finally gave me the opportunity to complete my goal. I'm aware that this issue was since patched, but the damage was already done for me by then.

By far the biggest issue however, is the complete lack of an autosave outside of only two occasions. If you ever die while completing various missions throughout the Pizzaplex, you’ll have to start back at the last Save Station you used, which can potentially undo at least several minutes to an hour of progress. This also includes lengthy missions like restoring power within the Fazcade, where you have to dodge not only several groups of S.T.A.F.F. Bots, but also Chica and Monty twice while weaving through arcade cabinets, followed by a chase sequence down a maintenance tunnel. The lack of an autosave is especially bad with boss battles, as I nearly got caught by a S.T.A.F.F. Bot right after defeating Monty in his own lengthy encounter. What makes this omission particularly baffling is that not only is autosaving present in other AAA horror titles, like say Resident Evil Village, but it only makes a game like this more frustrating and artificially lengthens the playtime.

Also annoying is how Security Breach doesn’t take full advantage of the PS5’s capabilities. I don’t just mean graphical capabilities, like some noticeable texture loading in a couple places, but also the console’s lightning-fast SSD. Although the game intentionally designed so that areas seamlessly load, they still obviously hide some loading behind lengthy elevator rides, which the PS5 should be capable of bypassing. I also wondered if they had properly optimized the game for the system after I witnessed the game freezing on me once while trying to load a save from the 5:00 AM portion.

Even beyond the game’s inherent design flaws, I ran into a whole slew of bugs and glitches. I have no idea what caused this exactly, but starting from a certain point in the Daycare section, I heard the Daycare Attendant’s Sun persona use audio clips from the Moon persona while cleaning up distractions. Speaking of the Daycare Attendant, Moon once jumpscared me through elevator doors while I was looking for a recharge station at the end of the 4:00 AM portion of the game. There were also moments where Gregory got stuck on parts of the environment, as well as one instance where Vanny followed me to a hiding spot, but got stuck on the wall instead of just jumpscaring me. At that point, the only way out was to let myself get caught and redo that section of the game.

Of course, not all glitches I ran into were bad, with some even working in my favor. During the Daycare section, I managed to trap Moon in place, which allowed me to turn on all of the generators without any hassle. While playing through the portion of the Prize Counter Security Office segment that played out like the original FNAF game, I somehow got away with only closing one door and camp just inside the other instead of juggling both doors as intended. In one other notable, and rather baffling, glitch, Roxy didn’t react to Gregory entering her green room without Freddy, walking out of her room anyway instead of initiating a jumpscare.

Now, as I mentioned at the beginning of this review, the game updated to Version 1.09 while I was playing through the 5:00 AM portion. As such, I have no idea if the patch had fixed any of the glitches that I specifically ran into, but I did notice some differences.

The most immediately noticeable change was the game actually taking more advantage of the PS5’s unique hardware, in this case haptic feedback when Gregory performed certain actions, greatly increasing the overall immersion. One quality of life change was having the game actually pause while taking a screenshot with the DualSense’s Share button, meaning players don’t have to worry about getting caught or draining Freddy’s battery. I’m also aware of the addition of visible security cameras, giving the player an actual frame of reference for the Fazwatch, and noticed firsthand that some cut content was added back in, specifically voice lines spoken in the elevators.

Other changes from the update relate to the animatronics themselves. The one that is most obviously deliberate is that Freddy now reacts to the player using the Fazcam or the Fazer Blaster on him, as opposed to just a voice clip. Beyond that, it seemed like the animatronics might have gotten smarter, as it seemed I could no longer just hide somewhere right in their line of sight, though I didn’t have enough of a sample size and their AI was already inconsistent. I also noticed that when I completed Fazer Blast after 6:00 AM for the sake of obtaining an ending, Chica didn’t despawn when she was supposed to and continued roaming the area until I finished my business and left. At the time of this writing, I’m not sure if this particular quirk was a glitch or a deliberate choice from Steel Wool.

While attempting the True Ending, the game updated again to Version 1.11. Although I'm aware of all the changes from Steel Wool's official massive changelog, I'm not sure how many of them I really noticed, apart from the environmental fog in one area. Despite the changes and fixes made regarding this ending's boss fight, however, they didn't do enough to make it feel less reliant on random luck or clear up the rules. Even when you know how to deal with Roxy, however, there's still a chance that it will have no effect on her. As such, I'd say that this section of the game still needs a bit of work to feel less frustrating.

Despite its numerous faults, Five Nights at Freddy’s Security Breach is a step in the right direction for the franchise, with a unique premise and gameplay style that would be interesting to see fleshed out in another entry. Unfortunately, even after numerous patches, I can’t recommend playing it at full price. If you want to experience Security Breach for yourself, you’re better off waiting for a sale, regardless of your chosen platform.