Just getting into the Fnaf franchise after watching Five Nights at Freddy’s film? For those looking for jumpscares, good lore, or pure fun, these are the 10 best Fnaf games, ranked.
Master of mascot horror, Scott Cawthon had such a positive impact on the indie horror community with the creation of Five Nights at Freddy’s. Indie horror is on the rise, with Five Nights at Freddy’s movie and Markiplier’s upcoming directorial debut of Iron Lung.
Let’s take a look back at where mascot horror started with our ranking of the mainline Five Nights at Freddy’s series. I wonder how Cawthon would rank his creations.
Fnaf games ranked
Let’s make something clear from the get-go, this ranking is based on my personal experience with the games. When creating this list, I factored in gameplay, difficulty, lore, entertainment, and overall satisfaction with each entry. This list offers zero scientific evidence and is purely backed by my enthusiasm for indie horror. If any Fnaf fans are offended by my hot takes, please forgive, forget, and don’t send Chica on me.
This ranking will start from 10 being the worst on the list, and end with the greatest ever made; No. 1. This list will look at the mainline series of Fnaf created by Cawthon, but a cheeky DLC or spin-off may find its way on the top 10 list. Enough chit-chat, let’s get into my personal experience and ranking of the iconic Fnaf series.
10) Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator (2017)
For the 10th place position on this Fnaf ranking, I had to pick Pizzeria Simulator. When it comes to horror game entries or games that add to the overall plot of Fnaf, Pizzeria Simulator doesn’t really hit either. But there weren’t many options to fit the 10th-place spot on this list. So here it is.
Pizzeria Simulator offers a completely different style of game. It begins with a business simulation and swiftly moves onto the classic Fnaf gameplay of sitting in a dark room and getting tasks done while threats hone in on your position. The problem with this game is that it’s relatively easy to complete so long as you ignore pretty much everything the game throws at you.
The promising part of Pizzeria Simulator is its ending. The game offers six different endings depending on your score on the final night. The only interesting ending is the completion ending, which includes a one-of-a-kind monologue from cassette man, thus making your attempts at completing the game worth your time and effort.
9) Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 (2014)
As much as I love a good challenge, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is a literal multi-tasking nightmare. The older I get, the slower I process video games. Just looking at the Fortnite main menu hurts my brain.
Revisiting the second Fnaf nearly caused an aneurysm. It was an absolute necessity to have the world’s fastest reflexes, a mastermind memory for every threat, and the patience to not fold under pressure. They don’t even train soldiers like this. I had none of these qualities.
All those years spent in school not paying attention led to the leftover and stored attention falling out of me in night two of Fnaf 2. This entry removed the original atmosphere and genuine fear that the animatronics offered. Being in a limited-moving system that briefly offered sanctuary with locked doors and a quick view on the camera feed was quickly removed in Fnaf 2. The stakes grew higher and so too did the pressure to react fast enough to the events on screen.
8) Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 (2015)
Take all of those years spent destroying kids on Call of Duty’s Rust. Take all that pent-up frustration playing solo queue on Overwatch, Apex Legends, and VALORANT. Think about the rise of the cost of living crisis. Put all of that rage inside the one-vs-one in Five Nights at Freddy’s 3.
Instead of having to deal with the original cast of animatronic hooligans: Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy; players would have to take on a singular but equally formidable foe: Springtrap. In the context of Fnaf lore, this was a good one. You were literally taking on the villain William Afton in a Western standoff.
If we were rating the third Fnaf as a horror game, it would appear quite low on the list. However, regarding gameplay, lore, and genuine enjoyment, the third installment of Fnaf was a good continuation of the first game.
7) Security Breach: Ruin DLC (2023)
Security Breach: Ruin is a decent game on the list. I feel there is a blatant divide between the good, average, and terrible Fnaf games and Ruin sits in the average category for me. While it added necessary lore and completed questions relating to Mimic, Glamrock Bonnie, and confirmed the shift to a more virtual world of Fnaf, the DLC primarily repeated things we’d already seen in Security Breach.
To put it simply, the Ruin DLC is not scary. Maybe we are moving away from scary and challenging content and into a realm where children can easily play and not be terrified by the animatronics. The shift to a more sympathetic cast of characters seems to confirm this but who knows where Fnaf is heading?
6) Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach (2021)
So I have a love-hate relationship with this entry. I acknowledge that this is a good game and quite entertaining when it comes to comparing it to the more challenging, frustrating, and downright terrifying entries of Fnaf. However, I hate the move into a more child-friendly world that Fnaf is taking. Security Breach switches everything you previously knew about Fnaf on its head by making the animatronics sympathetic.
I understand this adds more layers to the story of Fnaf but from my own personal experience with this entry, I hated how simplistic the gameplay ended up being and how there was little horror throughout the game. It feels more like a fan-made game rather than coming from Steel Wool Games, which worked with Cawthon for this project.
Security Breach is an entertaining game at times but for a horror game, it does little in that category, which is an absolute shame when you look at the earlier entries. The scariest part of the game is Vanny who frequently treads across that line between horror and comedy. Credit where it’s due, however, Security Breach is a positive and giant step away from the standard of indie games.
5) Ultimate Custom Night (2018)
Out of all of the Fnaf games Cawthon made, Ultimate Custom Night is probably the most brutal and fun at the same time. The game offers players their own version of Five Nights at Freddy’s. You can set any mode you want based on the amount of animatronics you pick to attack you.
Some of these modes are truly ridiculous and virtually impossible to beat, while others add pure entertainment. Yes, Ultimate Custom Night isn’t scary but it’s a damn good time. You have the freedom to create whatever nightmare you head into, gain some points to show off on Reddit or to your friends, and master the art form to beat Five Nights at Freddy’s.
4) Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location (2016)
The placement of Sister Location is probably the most controversial on the list and honestly, I don’t blame you if you hate me for this one. I have two reasons for liking this entry so much: the lore about the Mimic and Baby, and the storytelling/voice acting. These two factors truly make this game.
If you were to judge this game purely from a gameplay standpoint (which is what I normally do), Sister Location would appear much lower on this list. The level of difficulty as you progress through the game gets a tad extreme at times. For many, the only option was to watch the end of Sister Location rather than beating it, and unfortunately, I’m in the same boat. Out of everything on the list, Sister Location probably has the most tedious and frustrating gameplay.
But Sister Location has moments of brilliance. The lore for one is, in my opinion, the most interesting in the entire series. The sheer amount of theories that are still discussed to this day and linked to Security Breach is fantastic storytelling from Cawthon.
3) Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted (2019)
With Fnaf being a franchise pretty much known for its jumpscares and scary animatronics, a VR version of the game was inevitable. Fnaf originally planted you in a claustrophobic situation where freedom of movement was not possible. The VR version made the earliest Fnaf entries a living nightmare where the only way to escape was to knock yourself out on a nearby wall.
Help Wanted works as a VR horror game because you are forced to deal with any threat head-on. Looking away would only get you killed. Help Wanted brought back that much-needed horror that Fnaf started drifting away from with its spin-offs and custom nights.
The only downside to Help Wanted is that you are forced to repeat the same gameplay over and over, with little breaks in between. This followed the same format as the first three Fnaf games but in a VR setting, it meant burnout was inevitable and more breaks were needed to reset my sanity and the gameplay.
2) Five Nights at Freddy’s (2014)
Perhaps a controversial pick for the No. 2 spot but I chose the first Fnaf. The only reason this isn’t my No. 1 is because of the limited gameplay options. Although I am all for point-and-click horror, the game didn’t feel as challenging as the others. But the fact remained that this game was truly an iconic masterpiece in the mascot horror subgenre.
I distinctly remember playing the first Fnaf with my sister when it came out. Our screams flooded the neighborhood as Foxy came storming down the corridor to literally take the souls out of our bodies. Those were good times.
The original had some of the best jump scares and atmosphere in the game. While the atmosphere got removed as you progressed through the nights, the original experience of Fazbear’s haunting melody, Foxy storming the gates, and golden Freddy staring into your soul was fantastic.
1) Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 (2015)
The fourth game of the mainline series is unforgettable. Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 did something that the first didn’t do; it showed horror directly through the eyes of a child. In my playthrough of Fnaf 4, I genuinely felt like a child playing the game. That fear of what’s lurking in the darkness. It’s the perfect game of “the monster under your bed” or “the monster hiding in your closet.”
At moments, I wished it was Sully from Monsters Inc. on the other side so I could dramatically yell “kitty” while I ran into his arms but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Everything in Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 was lethal and terrifying. The added touch of being able to run to each door, return to the center of the room, check the closet, and hesitantly look behind you for any animatronics on the bed is truly fantastic.
For me, dread and anticipation for my inevitable demise were felt strongest in this Fnaf game. Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 was challenging but in a way completely unique to the rest of the series. Having to listen out for footsteps in the corridor and be brave enough to open the door and shine a light onto the evil to deter them is the chef’s kiss of indie horror.
