Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location

Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location
Steam storefront header
Developer(s)	Scott Cawthon
Publisher(s)	Scott Cawthon (PC) Clickteam LLC USA (Console and Mobile)
Composer(s)	Leon Riskin
Series	Five Nights at Freddy's
Engine	Clickteam Fusion 2.5
Platform(s)	Windows Android iOS Nintendo Switch Xbox One PlayStation 4
Release	Windows WW: October 7, 2016 Android WW: December 22, 2016 iOS WW: January 3, 2017 Nintendo Switch NA: June 18, 2020 EU: July 10, 2020 Xbox One WW: July 10, 2020 PlayStation 4 EU: July 21, 2020 NA: July 22, 2020
Genre(s)	Survival horror, point-and-click
Mode(s)	Single-player

Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location is a 2016 point-and-click survival horror video game developed and published by Scott Cawthon. It is the fifth main installment in the Five Nights at Freddy's series and the sixth game overall. Set at a sister location of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria called Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental, players control a new employee who must perform maintenance work while defending themselves from a set of animatronics, which become mobile and homicidal at night. The gameplay in Sister Location is significantly different from the previous Five Nights at Freddy's games in that it grants players mobility between rooms where tasks are completed.

Cawthon teased the game in April 2016 with the tagline "There was never just one". Following a trailer released in May, it was released on Steam on October 7, 2016, on December 22 of the same year on Android, and on January 3 of the following year on iOS. It received mixed reviews, with praise for its plot and voice performances, and criticism for some aspects of its gameplay. A sequel, Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator, was released on December 4, 2017. Ports for Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 were released in 2020.

Gameplay

A screenshot showcasing the Primary Control Module

Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location is a survival horror video game wherein the player assumes the role of a late-night technician named Mike at Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental who must survive five nights against murderous animatronics.

Though it continues the series's point-and-click format, Sister Location introduces a more dynamic gameplay environment. Players use crawlspaces to move between the facility's rooms: Primary Control Module, Funtime Auditorium, Circus Control, and Ballora Gallery. The player must perform tasks (which vary from night to night) in each room to continue. Instead of requiring the player to survive within a set timeframe against the animatronics each shift like in previous installments, the night concludes upon the completion of the player's assigned tasks.

In addition to a company-issued AI voice named HandUnit, a variety of tools are available to the player to navigate the rooms and subdue the animatronics. For example, on night one, players use an elevated control pad to light a room and shock the animatronics. On night three, the player is tasked with crossing Funtime Auditorium; a flash beacon is used to see in the dark room and avoid its animatronic Funtime Foxy.

As with all Five Nights at Freddy's games, failing to defend oneself from the animatronics results in a jumpscare, causing the night to restart. However, in this game, the animatronics do not actively pursue the player; instead, a jumpscare occurs if the assigned tasks are not completed correctly. If the player dies, there is a chance for them to enter a simple Atari-style platformer minigame—akin to the post-death minigames in Five Nights at Freddy's 2—where the player acts as Circus Baby delivering cupcakes to children. If the player completes the minigame in a certain way, access is granted to a Night 5 secret level which reintroduces the immobile survival aspect of the original Five Nights at Freddy's.

Completing all five nights unlocks extra features: pictures and blueprints of animatronics, their making-of, a facility map, and menu access to the post-death minigame. A December 1, 2016 update added the non-canon Custom Night mode, set in a modified Night 5 secret room. Players choose from various modes and difficulty settings, facing new animatronics while conserving power and oxygen. Completing these modes unlocks a series of mostly 8-bit cutscenes that are considered part of the series canon.

Plot

Mike is hired by Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental, an underground facility storing animatronics from the closed Circus Baby's Pizza World. The facility's AI, HandUnit, greets Mike each night and assigns him maintenance tasks.

On the first night, everything runs smoothly: using elevated control pads, Mike checks on and, if necessary, administers electric shocks to the three animatronics—Ballora, Funtime Foxy, and Circus Baby—to ensure they remain active, before leaving. On the second night, the power goes out, the animatronics come to life, and Circus Baby warns Mike of the danger posed by the other animatronics. She instructs him across Funtime Auditorium and assists him in resetting the circuit breakers. On the third night, after performing maintenance work on Funtime Freddy, Mike is attacked by Funtime Foxy and is placed in a springlock suit by Circus Baby for his protection, from which he must escape while repelling Minireenas on the fourth night. On the fifth night, Mike discovers two hanged technicians in the location where the animatronics should be, preventing HandUnit from detecting their absence. Circus Baby directs Mike to dismantle her empty shell in the Scooping Room, where the animatronics' endoskeletons are extracted, explaining that this is necessary to "save what is good so the rest can be destroyed." However, she warns him that he is being pursued by the animatronic Ballora, who intends to kill him. Between nights, Mike watches an animated sitcom at home. Elizabeth, William’s daughter, is heard begging him to play with Circus Baby, despite her father's insistence that she must stay away.

Endings

The game has two endings. If Mike follows Circus Baby's instructions, he finds all animatronics have been "scooped". Circus Baby's voice is revealed to be Ennard, an amalgam of the animatronics, who uses the Scooper to eviscerate Mike and disguise itself in his skin. The other ending is unlocked when the player completes the minigame in a certain manner: upon success, Circus Baby extends a claw from her stomach and pulls in and kills a girl, presumed to be Elizabeth, whose soul possesses the animatronic. Subsequently, the player can defy Circus Baby's instructions by entering a private room. Inside, they must fend off Ennard, who is angered by the player's defiance, until 6 AM. Mike returns home only to find that Ennard has followed him.

In a series of 8-bit cutscenes unlocked by completing Custom Night on the hardest difficulty, Ennard abandons Mike's decomposed body, but Mike reanimates. It is revealed that Mike is the son of William Afton, the murderer mentioned in previous games. Disfigured and "living in shadows," Mike recounts that William sent him to the underground facility to free "her," leading to the animatronics attacking him, mistaking him for William. With nowhere else to go, Mike resolves to find his father. The final scene shows the burned remains of Fazbear's Fright, from which Springtrap emerges.

Release and reception

Reception

Aggregate scores

Aggregator	Score
Metacritic	62/100
OpenCritic	20% recommend

Review scores

Publication	Score
Destructoid	PC: 6/10
Gamezebo	MOB:
GameCrate	PC: 7.50/10

Developer Scott Cawthon had previously stated that Five Nights at Freddy's 4 (2015) would be the final game in the series. However, he announced Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location on his website in April 2016 with the tagline, "There was never just one." A trailer was uploaded online on May 21. On October 7, Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location was released on Steam. Upon release, user complaints circulated about the difficulty of the fourth night; thus, a patch was released that eased its difficulty. Downloadable content was later added for a non-canon Custom Night. Sister Location was ported to Android on December 22, 2016, and on January 3, 2017, a port for iOS devices was released. Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 ports were released on June 18, 2020; July 10, 2020; and July 21, 2020; respectively.

Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location received mixed reviews. According to Metacritic, a review aggregator website that compiles reviews from publications and assigns a weighted average score out of 100, the game received a score of 62 based on 4 critic reviews. The aggregate website OpenCritic calculated that only 20% of critics recommended Sister Location.

Critics have praised the voice acting. GameCrate opined that the "best thing" Cawthon financially invested in was a full voice-acting cast. He felt that the addition of voices to fit the animatronics enhanced the scare factor, stating that the animatronics "don’t seem like mindless death machines anymore. They are intelligent. They know who you are, and they can manipulate you." The A.V. Club contended that the game's use of professional voices "pays off memorably."

A source of contention for the game is its use of humor. Kotaku contended that "Sister Location is actually funny," positing that "Scott Cawthon pokes fun at the player, and isn’t afraid to have some fun with it all." GameCrate echoed similar thoughts, arguing that, despite the assertion that humor cannot be in a horror game, humor in this game is used to calm the player, leading to a more intense next jumpscare. The A.V. Club described the humor in Sister Location as "some of the series' best," specifically pointing out the humorous TV show that plays during the downtime between nights. Conversely, Destructoid argued that, while some attempts at humor worked (like the HandUnit mishaps), the "other goofy asides feel like they were tossed in for the sake of it." They suspected that some of the humor was in service of merchandising.

Another debated aspect of the game is its difficulty. Some have criticized it for its lack of difficulty, while others have argued that it is overly challenging. GameCrate wrote that every night "ends up being its own tutorial and level one before being quickly discarded," arguing that "once you know what to do each night can be beaten without any real challenge." Contrarily, Destructoid argued that while "Sister Location keeps things moving and delivers fresh thrills throughout the entire work week," its pacing in terms of difficulty is what obstructs other aspects of the game from excelling. Specifically, they pointed out that night four is a "massive roadblock" whose purpose seems to be only to pad out the game's length rather than enhance the experience.

Destructoid rated the game 6/10, while GameCrate rated it 7.50/10. Rob Rich of Gamezebo gave the mobile version a decent review, giving the game 3 out of 5 stars, saying, "I don't necessarily think Sister Location is the worst mobile iteration of the FNaF series, but it's certainly not the best despite the overall improved visuals."