The Tragic Failure of FNAF: Security Breach

In December 2021, the long awaited Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach finally released. Intrigue was high as fans were curious about how Steel Wool games would develop the popular franchise’s complicated and fascinating story and lore.

What fans got however was a major letdown.

Security Breach was ridden with bugs, lacking in features and stories that were advertised, and the game itself was a huge departure from the classic gameplay fans knew and loved.

The FNAF franchise has been a steadfast fixture of gaming and pop culture alike, ever since the release of FNAF 1 in 2014, only growing with each passing year and release. Fan theories and YouTube channels helped transform it into a household name, nesting the horror game into the minds of every nerdy teenager and pre-teen out there.

This was also the first FNAF game to be released since series creator Scott Cawthon retired. Cawthon announced his retirement in June of 2021, shortly after it was revealed he was using money earned from FNAF to donate to MAGA-leaning Republican party candidates, many of which having anti-LGBTQ sentiments. 

The donations invoked outrage from a fandom which had a large queer population who felt betrayed.

As for the game itself, fans found that the mini-games and other content advertised were missing in the final product, often found defunct in the game files. Meanwhile, the “save-point” mechanism which in prior games autosaved some progress was replaced with manual save-points, making for a frustrating experience where one simple mistake could lead to hours of progress lost.

Security Breach also was an extremely buggy mess at launch. Known bugs included teleporting or disappearing enemies, phasing through walls or skipping whole parts of the game, as well as error messages which prevented many from playing.

FNAF was built upon a dense story with complicated lore, allowing for a plethora of fan theories and debate. Security Breach on the other hand attempted to branch out with new characters and lore. The consequence of this was an abandonment of the original gritty horror, replaced with new lore which didn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the franchise.

Plenty of this is not surprising, Security Breach was the first in the franchise made without the story direction of Scott Cawthon. Meanwhile, a rushed production rife with delays for a game released a whole year after its initial release date meant a calamity of errors which resulted in a defective product.

And for fans of this storied franchise who paid $40 for Security Breach, a deeply disappointing addition to Five Nights at Freddy’s.