Rating: 3.5/5

“Five Nights at Freddy’s” is an innovative indie point-and-click survival horror game with an enticingly low price tag and jump-scares that might be bad for those with heart problems.

Released only in August of this year, “Five Nights” has gone viral. The game has inspired “Let’s Play” videos with gamers recording their reactions to the game.

The player assumes the role of the new night security guard at “Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza,” a “Chuck E. Cheese’s”- look-alike business that employs animatronic animals to entertain children and families during the day.

The core gameplay is simple. You’re in charge of monitoring various cameras around the premises from midnight until 6 a.m. every night. Once it reaches daybreak, you’re home free. The catch: you have a limited amount of power to spend every night, and checking the cameras, turning lights on and off and closing and opening doors.

Upon starting the game, you are greeted with a rambling phone call from the previous security guard, saying there is “nothing to worry about,” but just in case, there are some provisions that you should follow. This also includes a detailed explanation of the length of time it’ll take to file a missing persons report and the cleanup procedures if anything should happen to you—which it won’t.

According to the game, these animals just get a little antsy from being in use all day, that’s all. The guard cites the “Bite of ’87,” an incident in which the animatronics malfunctioned from not being able to roam at night. After all, Freddy Fazbear is the main attraction, and you have to keep him and his friends Bonnie, Chica and Foxy in tip-top shape to run the business. They get nervous when they see you, because they think you’re an animatronic frame missing a suit, and that’s where you run into some problems. They want to fix you, and so they will jam you into a fur suit… full of wires, sharp metal and electronics.

Since Freddy and his friends are so excited to meet you, it’s important to check every once in a while to make sure they’re in their proper places. They tend to move around throughout your shift, so you’ve got to keep an eye on those goofy, lovable characters. And if they’re right outside your office, you should close the door as soon as you can to remind those creatures that it’s not playtime and encourage them to go back to their spots.

The difficulty level starts out relatively flat. It’s so easy on the first night, it’s tempting to give up out of boredom. However, it’s best to stick it out. With each progressive night, the gameplay gets exponentially more difficult until it gets ridiculous. Add in the fact that one of the creatures sprints towards you when you least expect it, and the paranoia level quickly starts to rise.

Those who enjoy punishing themselves will be glad to know there is an incentive to beat the first five nights—you can unlock a surprise that will push you to the limit, which gives the game good replay value.

The music serves as an atmospheric backdrop at first, but you’ll find it serves a greater purpose. As certain creatures creep closer to your door, a different sound effect will begin to play, ranging from a carnival jingle, to rattling, to banging sounds, assuming you closed the door in time. It’s up to the player to recognize these subtle cues and act accordingly.

It’s not the most graphically polished game, but that lends to its charm. The graphics hearken back to a simpler time, with 3D models reminiscent of the late ’90s or early 2000s—think of a slightly more polished intro to the 1997 PC game “Dungeon Keeper.” In that way, the game awakens some nostalgic feelings despite being a new release. It also helps that it’s a point-and-click game, which is a mostly dead style of gameplay in modern times. The addition of static and infrared on the camera screens are a great touch.

It’s clear that this is a small-time production—indie developer Scott Cawthon created the game with the relatively cheap program Clickteam Fusion 2.5. The scary element is mainly just jump-scares peppered in with sound effects, which can be varied enough to be startling for a while, and there is replay value for players who get far enough. However, those who have logged quite a few hours may become too used to it to be afraid any more.

But if you’re not scared? Play it in the dark.