Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit Review – Familiar Pitfalls

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit is the newest game in the Five Nights at Freddy’s indie horror franchise that first took the world by storm 10 years ago in August 2014. With Into the Pit being a celebration of that very fact. However, this is not a continuation of the story from the previous FNaF game. It is instead a spinoff based off a short story from the Fazbear Frights anthology book series.

In Five Nights at Freddy‘s’ ongoing quest to never expand its fanbase, Into the Pit is a great addition. Offering up references and lore galore for long-time fans to discover and enjoy. All while proving an effective albeit rather short horror experience with familiar faces. And leaving the door open for further games based on any number of Fazbear Frights tales.

However, if you aren’t well-versed in the complex lore of the FNaF universe that even the most ardent conspiracy theorist would say makes no sense, then you probably won’t enjoy Into the Pit nearly as much. It has some fun survival horror mechanics, graphics, and sound design. But the story is the standard level of open-ended theory bait that turns a lot of people away.

This review contains minor spoilers for Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit is available on Steam for $19.99

Story – Stuck in the Past

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit follows Oswald. A sixth grader who discovers a ball pit in the back of a pizza restaurant that teleports him back to 1985. Time-travelling ball pits are far from the weirdest thing in this franchise. They aren’t even top ten. 

Oswald’s blast in the past is soon interrupted by a homicidal golden rabbit. And it manages to snatch Oswald’s father as he escapes the ball pit back to the present. Not only that, it also takes his dad’s place. And only Oswald can tell. So it’s up to him to explore Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza and find a way to save his father.

He wants to have you for dinner

The story is the typical level of insanity you come to expect from this franchise ten years in. Man, that makes me feel old. The premise is strong, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. There’s no explanation for why no one else can tell Oswald’s dad is different. And the endings only make somewhat sense if you’ve read the Fazbear Frights anthology series. Which not everyone has.

Gameplay – You Can Run, But You Can Hide

Into the Pit is a 2.5D survival horror game. Meaning you’ll spend a majority of the time solving puzzles and evading enemies. Jumping between past and present to find ways to progress further. All while Afton and his menagerie of merry murder machines stalk your every move.

Puzzling Pizzerias

The puzzles are all fairly straightforward. Especially if you’re a kleptomaniac in games like I am. There are a couple times where the instructions are unclear. But the game is so small that you won’t have to look around for long.

As is the standard by now, this game is filled with arcade minigames. But this time they’re actual arcade games. As Oswald can find pieces to repair the pizzeria’s arcade cabinets. Which he can then play to earn tickets. Then those can be converted to prize vouchers to get collectables. There are, of course, secret minigames too. And it’s a testament to this fanbase that the game hasn’t even been out for a week yet people already discovered the hidden minigame you can only access by interacting with the gumball machine an inordinate amount of times. 

Arcade spirits

Another unfortunate occurrence in this series is annoying bugs or glitches. 2021’s Security Breach was riddled with them. Into the Pit isn’t in nearly as bad a state. Though there are a few noticeable bugs here and there. Including a hard-lock bug that prevented me from finishing the game. Fortunately, there’s already a public beta that fixes that.

The Most Dangerous Game (of Hide & Seek)

By far the biggest highlight of the game is the enemy mechanics. If you’ve played Resident Evil 2, then you’re familiar with Mr. X. The Tyrant that constantly stalks you after a certain point. That is the core gameplay mechanic of Into the Pit. As Afton and Chica will roam the pizzeria searching for Oswald. 

You have to listen for their footsteps or their creepy machine noises and act accordingly. Either by running to a different room or hiding until they go away. There are also noisemakers you can use to lure them to a specific room. Which can be useful when you want to make sure they aren’t in the room you need to go to. 

How many teeth does one rabbit need?

If Afton sees you, he’ll chase after you. So you have to run away from him and find a hiding spot in a different room. If you hide during a chase, you’ll have to play a Wario Ware-esque micro game to determine your survival. And it’s different depending on where you hide. 

The animatronics each have their own quirks. Chica will alert everyone else of your location if she sees you. Bonnie will hide and try to grab you. And Freddy barely shows up in his own game for like the fifth time. The mechanics are great, and very effective at first. However, they got stale toward the end of the game. The tension never really ramps up, so it all starts to feel familiar. 

Graphics & Sound – Retro Rampage

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit has a throwback pixel art style to go with it’s time-traveling plot. Given how many indie games have a pixel art style, it’s nice to see one where it actually relates to the game in some way. All the sprites look great, and the animations are amazing. Occasionally feeling like upscaled cutscenes from those Legend of Zelda games on the Phillips CD-i with how smooth they are. 

The sound design in this game is fantastic. The sounds Afton makes are haunting, especially as you hear them get closer to you. This is a game you need to play with headphones. Preferably good ones. As the directional audio – hearing footsteps specifically in the upper right or lower left, for example – enhance the experience tenfold. The jumpscares aren’t particularly scary, though let’s be honest, they haven’t been in a long time. But that end credits song alone almost makes a playthrough worth it.