How to Play all the Five Nights at Freddy’s Video Games

The fateful date that fright fans have been waiting for is just around the corner — and nope, we’re not even talking about Halloween. Straight from the demented mind of producer Jason Blum (M3GAN), Five Nights at Freddy’s officially opens for business in theaters and on Peacock starting Oct. 27 — and it’s sure to serve up more than just a single slice of possessed pizza-palace terror.

Like the huge, horrifically popular video game series it’s based on, the setup for the movie couldn’t be simpler: A down-on-his-luck guy named Mike (Josh Hutcherson) takes a nightshift security job at a family-friendly kids’ pizzeria, learning only too late that the place isn’t just closed for business; it’s actually an after-hours haunting ground for the once-lovable giant animatronic characters that serve as the fun-zone spot’s deadly mascots.

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As Freddy Fazbear and his overstuffed fluffy pals come to homicidal life in the movie, it’s up to Mike to survive the night while keeping a careful watch over Abby (Piper Rubio), his kid sister. But before showing up for your first night of scary security duty, there’s no better place to dive deeper into the creepy secrets of Five Nights at Freddy’s than by going back to their original source — the games themselves!

Come along, if you dare, for a tour through all eight frightening titles in the mainline Five Night’s at Freddy’s video game franchise, complete with all the info you need to play each installment on the gaming platform of your choice. No matter how you play, it’s a magical place where fantasy and fun come to life… though we’d all be a lot safer if they'd just stay switched off. 

Five Nights at Freddy’s

The original survival horror masterpiece that started it all, Five Nights at Freddy’s went on a viral internet rampage as fans (and popular YouTubers) discovered its murderously addictive mix of voyeuristic gameplay, jump-scare paranoia, and surprisingly deep horror-story lore from original game creator Scott Cawthon (who co-wrote the screenplay and also serves as a co-producer for the movie itself). This is the game that introduced Mike as your humble security-guard protagonist, while setting out all the creepy terror conventions (like controlling all those lifesaving surveillance cameras) that’ve helped to define the series ever since.

Available on: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One & Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2

Released only months after its groundbreaking predecessor, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 serves as a prequel to the unsettling events of the original game, while introducing new survival horror elements into the mix (including an old-school minigame that uncovers more of the bigger plot). Just as before, you’ll be trapped in a security office manning the cameras to decide how best to control the restaurant’s deadly corridors — and just as before, you’ll probably be scared out of your wits.

Available on: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One & Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android

Five Nights at Freddy’s 3

The first games had already conditioned fans to live in fear of the killer animatronic quartet you’ll see in the upcoming movie (Foxy, Chica, Bonnie, and Freddy himself, of course!) But Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 is where things start to get really weird, flashing forward 30 years in time for a new security survival adventure at a dilapidated attraction stalked by a freaky giant bunny named Springtrap. There’s more to Springtrap’s story than this one game alone reveals… though you’ll be too busy trying to stay alive — all while waving away some crazy animatronic hallucinations — to really notice. 

Available on: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One & Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android

RELATED: Why Five Nights at Freddy's is the Perfect Horror Movie For You and Your Kids, Too

Five Nights at Freddy’s 4

Have we mentioned yet that each “night” of survival in the first three Five Nights games equates to a six-hour security shift, beginning at midnight and ending (mercifully) at 6 a.m.? That formula still applies in Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 — only this time out, the venue isn’t an unnerving darkened pizza parlor. Instead, the entire game takes place within the surprisingly frightening confines of a silent child’s bedroom; a place where your player character will have visions of long-buried events that begin to unravel the larger mystery of why Freddy and his stuffy animatronic henchmen seem possessed to ruin your pizza party.

Available on: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One & Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android

Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location

At last — your character can do more than manipulate cameras and open doors! — Not that the newfound ability to crawl between rooms in Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location will do you too much good. In this fifth main game installment that unfolds in the “Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental” shop, you’ll play as a nighttime technician terrorized by the place’s many glitchy automatons, all while taking deceptively “helpful” cues from the shop’s main mascot (Circus Baby, who else?!) Sister Location also evolves the Five Nights lore in a big way, revealing a seriously dark backstory surrounding the mysterious William Afton character who’s been lurking in the background since the very first game. After you’ve finished this one, let’s just say that William’s fate and yours will be entangled forever… and that’s probably not a good thing.

Available on: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One & Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android

Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator

Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator is indeed a business simulation game like its name suggests… but thanks to a ton of inventive new tricks that expand the Five Nights storyline even further, it ends up being so much more. Fans of this sixth main installment in the scary-bear franchise obsess over getting the best outcomes through their multi-night playthrough, possible only through the effective management of a host of new-to-the-series gameplay resources (including money — because, after all, you’re trying to run a business here!) Before it’s all said and done, though, you’ll definitely be scraping to survive just like always… all while realizing that your place in Five Nights’ insane realm of animatronic stalkers might’ve been preordained from the very start. 

Available on: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One & Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android

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Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted

Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted first debuted as a virtual reality title in 2019, five years after the first game and fully aware of the now-iconic horror franchise’s immense popularity. There’s a clever meta-element to the story’s setup, which places you in the role of a trainee who’s been tasked with completing a virtual survival quest that the pizza chain’s corporate overlords have cooked up — all the better, they reason, to deflect attention away from one too many pesky lawsuits over the years. You’ll complete a series of mini-games inspired by previous installments in the series, while discovering that there’s a strange and sinister connection between these murderous animal robots and humans just like you. Hmm… what could that be?

Available on: PC, PlayStation 4/5 & PlayStation VR, Xbox One & Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android, Meta Quest VR Platforms

Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach

In a big departure from earlier Five Nights games, Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach unfolds over the course of a single ill-omened evening — all while allowing your player character an unprecedented measure of 3D freedom to walk around. This time out, you’ll play as a lil’ fella named Gregory, trapped inside a 1980s-vintage shopping mall and on the run from glammed-out rock-’n’-roll versions of the franchise’s bloodthirsty automatons. For the first time in the series, you can even join forces with Freddy himself, taking command of his robotic exoskeleton to evade your way to safety. Also new to the series is a new human menace named Vanessa — a mall-walking security guard who may or may not be related to the same-named character played by Elizabeth Lail in the upcoming movie. 

Available on: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One & Series X/S, Nintendo Switch