Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit Review – Spring Back in Time

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit Review

The Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise has exploded in the 10 years since Scott Cawthon originally debuted the original Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNAF) game on PC. Since then, we’ve seen over 10 games, countless fan-made games, graphic novels, books, toys, and even a pretty decent movie! One of those books featured a collection of short stories, and one of those short stories was called Into the Pit, which has now been turned into an official FNAF game of the same name. This FNAF game definitely stands out from the rest of the games. A unique playstyle and look, a time travel plot, a creepy unnamed animatronic (Spring Bonnie?), and a dirty ol’ kids’ ball pit. Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit is sure to solidify its place in FNAF history.

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into The Pit sees you take on the role of Oswald, a young kid living in a small town with his mom and dad. The town has taken a hit recently with the closure of a local industry, and many residents have moved away. Oswald’s hang out place is the local restaurant, Jeff’s Pizza. One day, Oswald comes across an abandoned ball pit at Jeff’s Pizza, and when he jumps in, he’s teleported to the past where he encounters a very dark history. Can Oswald save a bunch of kids and his own dad from the evil bunny-like animatronic?

A New Look and Feel

Into The Pit is a unique entry in the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise. The game is unlike anything that’s been officially released in the FNAF franchise, opting for a 2.5D side-scroller with a retro, pixelated look. It’s a bit odd having a time-travelling element added to the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise, as it doesn’t mesh well with the pre-existing folklore of the franchise, but in the context of the game, it does make for some interesting gameplay.

As Oswald, you’ll be travelling to a handful of locations in the present time, such as your school, home, and Jeff’s Pizza. When you enter the Jeff’s Pizza ball pit, you’ll be limited to just the pizzeria, which at the time was a Freddy Fazbears. This is where the majority of the gameplay takes place, where you’ll have to accomplish a variety of tasks to survive the night. While you’re trying to complete tasks, animatronics will be hunting you down. There will be times where you’ll need to navigate between the two timelines to find items. It’s a fun little way to provide puzzles, while being pursued by various animatronics.

Five Nights, Like Usual

Like previous FNAF games, the game takes place over the span of five nights, and in this case, each night will introduce another animatronic to the mix. Throughout the pizzaria is a number of different hiding spots and noise makers to help you avoid getting caught by the various bad guys. For example, if you’re trying to get into the security room, maybe you’ll take a vent to the entrance, turn on the noisy Freddy sign, and then crawl back through the vent as the animatronic rushes to the entrance.

The animatronics generally move randomly throughout – so, using hiding spots and noisemakers is vitally important. Despite this, there were more than a few times I was stuck waiting in a hiding spot for an animatronic to go into a specific room and give me a straight-shot to my goal. If an animatronic spots you, the chase is on. Get caught, and you’ll be jump-scared. Almost get caught, and you might have to complete a small mini-game to stay safe – such as swatting spiders in a vent while the animatronics lurks just outside the vent.

The visuals, as noted, feature a retro, pixelated look that at times looks quite impressive. The only real downside is sometimes you won’t know what an item is, especially smaller items. This can make completing some of the hidden objective challenges difficult – which you’ll need to do to get the better endings (I only got 2 endings, but might eventually go back for a better ending).

Could Use a Patch or Two

The game is not without it’s faults. There were times when I would get stuck against objects when I was trying to run away. Animatronics would seemingly camp areas I need to get to. Objectives can sometimes be ridiculously vague – but ultimately I was able to figure most things out after a few tries. Getting caught usually resulted in a set back of only a few minutes – so not too big of a penalty. After completing the game, an Extras menu is made available, but clearly hasn’t been completed yet as looking at one of the options causes the game to crash.

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit is a solid entry in the FNAF franchise. The story is a bit lame, especially the time-travel bit – but it does make for some interesting gameplay. There are plenty of FNAF inspired minigames and lore to be found throughout, which is a nice bonus. The game isn’t overly scary or frustrating, but I did find early on that I needed to turn on the audio/visual assist since I don’t have a surround sound stereo set-up. FNAF diehard fans will enjoy this, as will those who like games with a creepy atmosphere. It definitely needs a patch or two to iron out some issues, but overall it’s a solid game.

***Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit Xbox Series X code provided by the publisher.***