Definitive Fazbear Fun - Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted Review

Developer: Steel Wool Studios | Platform: PS5 (Non-VR) | Playtime: 12:30 | Platinum: 13:10

For the record, I played the game in Flat Mode as I did the first time around. The game is obviously designed for VR but is more than playable in flat mode.

In the leadup to the release of Into the Pit and my 52in52 Journey, I figured a return to Help Wanted with it’s PS5 version was in order. As I did the first time, I had a great time with what I consider to be one of the best FNaF experiences out there.

The game’s premise is meta and cool at best or convoluted bollocks at worst, depending on how charitable your viewpoint is. The events as seen in the previous FNaF titles are also games that exist in universe, made by an in universe Scott Cawthon who is exaggerating the events for drama. In order to fight these allegations, the Fazbear Entertainment company has created a virtual reality experience (the game you are playing) as a way to highlight how ludicrous the events were and how they couldn’t possibly be true. Personally I lean on the side of it being amusing as long as you don’t think too hard about it.

So the game is split into 6 different level sets - the first three are recreations of the first three games whereas the following three are minigames that are inspired and remixed versions of the next three games - FNaF 4, Sister Location and Pizzeria Simulator. Ultimate Custom Night isn’t represented due to it being more of an arcadey game and the story being about the series antagonist trying to escape Hell. Harder to recreate that.

I do genuinely believe that this is the best way to experience the first three titles beyond the novelty of actually just trying them out. Each game is pretty faithfully recreated, almost to a fault in some places. There are necessary changes made due to the swap from 2D to the 3D VR space the new game would occupy but these work in the games favour. For one, everything now operates in real time. While in the original had the sprites teleport around, here the models actually move from place to place. The iconic camera static returns to help the fact the game follows the original design and animatronic behaviour and animatronics do sometimes need to warp from one side of the place to another. The accurate recreation makes some things easier such as FNaF 2’s music box being accessible at all times and the FNaF 3 borderline exploit of cycling Springtrap between the two furthest cameras still existing but to counter balance, the necessary changes make some things harder. As the camera is always on in the Help Wanted version of the games, the battery only drains when the camera is switched. Freddy in FNaF 1 is camera stalled, Freddy in Help Wanted cannot be stopped, only delayed. It’s these little differences won’t be noticed by a new player but pulls the rug out for experienced players.

The decision to remix the next three games is a good one, allowing for the second half of the game (Each game can be played in any order, but the nights/minigames must be played in order). These allow for interesting set ups - Seeing Circus Baby (who was introduced in Sister Location) appear in the FNaF 4 house is something only a game like this could do. They’re also all quite fun, ranging from reaction games to stealth challenges to perception and problem solving. Personally I wouldn’t have minded if the whole game was like these stages - there’s not enough modern minigame style games and using an established franchise like Five Nights at Freddy’s is just as good as any.

Once you’ve beaten each of the stages, flipping the switch in the hub (which I love, I absolutely adore VR real time menus and hub spaces) into Blacklight mode unlocks the hard mode varieties for the levels. For the first three, it is the respective games’ Night 5 with visual distortions and for the latter three it’s harder versions of the challenges - the hard mode version of Night Terror’s Plushbaby minigame took me like four hours to beat. Easily the hardest the game gets. All normal levels and all hard mode levels must be beaten to ubnlock the final level and beat the game.

That’s not all though, there are collectibles to be found too - Golden Coins let the player unlock silly props to play with alongside the things they won after each mini game whereas the audio tapes are linked to the secret/true ending of the game, nothing worthwhile unless you’re into the FNaF lore. Even then, this is the start of the new chapter of lore which I’m not sure people are fully on board on with.

Help Wanted is a great game for Five Nights at Freddy’s fans and a perfect entry point for new fans, even if they don’t have a VR headset to play the game. This is the second time I’ve platinumed the game and will probably play it again for fun. Definitive Fazbear fun.