Warning: This article contains spoilers for all of the FNAF games.
With the success of Blumhouse’s 2023 Five Nights at Freddy’s film, fans are returning to the FNAF games to further immerse themselves into the world created by Scott Cawthon in 2014. Those who’ve already played the horror games in order of release are now enjoying an entirely new experience by playing them chronologically.
How many FNAF games are there?
Since 2014, there have been nine FNAF games that are canon to the storyline, and four that are not. According to GamerTweak, the non-canon games include Five Nights at Freddy’s World, Ultimate Custom Night, Freddy in Space 2, and Security Breach Fury’s Rages. The rest, however, can be played chronologically so you can experience events in the order they occurred.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 4
Most fans believe Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 is set in 1983 and depicts the first events in the storyline. The game was released in 2015 as a prequel, and is the first in the franchise to change the player’s setting. While the first three games took place in a security office, FNAF 4 takes the player inside the bedroom of a frightened child haunted by various animatronics.
The assumed date comes from an Easter egg you can find after completing night three by interacting with the television in the living room. If you click on the TV enough times, a still for a Fredbear and Friends commercial pops up with the air date indicated beneath the title.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2
The next game in the FNAF chronological playthrough is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, released in 2015. Players control a new overnight security guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, where they must avoid being spotted by any of the animatronics. This game introduced The Puppet and Balloon Boy, as well as the ability to disguise yourself from the animatronics with a Freddy mask.
Instead of in an Easter egg, you’ll find out when FNAF 2 takes place after surviving the fifth night. Only then will you receive a paycheck, dated Nov. 12, 1987.
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location strays from the games that came before it. Released in 2016, you play a technician working the night shift at Circus Baby’s Entertainment and Rental. In addition to repairing and maintaining the animatronics, you’re responsible for surviving their lethal intentions.
There are no Easter eggs or clues in Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location that place its events on the timeline with absolute certainty, but some hints have led fans to believe it takes place somewhere in the late ’80s and the early ’90s. While some still question the dates, it’s thought to take place then because HandUnit shares the sister location opened after “the unfortunate close of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.” This likely refers to the same Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza location mentioned by Phone Guy in FNAF 1 that shut down in ’87, placing events of this game between 1987 and 1993.
Five Nights at Freddy’s
After playing the other FNAF games, the original Five Nights at Freddy’s will feel like child’s play. While playing as an overnight security guard, you must survive the animatronics wandering the halls of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza for five nights. The only way to survive is to keep an eye on the security cameras and have reflexes quick enough to close the thick security doors.
Five Nights at Freddy’s takes place around 1993, an estimate determined by what Phone Guy says on the first night. If you recall, he said that the animatronics used to walk around during the day, “but then there was the bite of ’87.” This puts the original game after FNAF 2 in the timeline but before FNAF 3.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 3
Scott Cawthon gave fans a hand when he released Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 in 2015. Right on Steam, the game’s description reveals that the events in FNAF 3 take place 30 years after Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza closed. This detail places FNAF 3 around 2023, 30 years after the events in the original game happen.
Players get to explore a new Freddy’s location, which capitalizes on the rumors that started after the tragic events in 1987. As a night guard, the player must keep Fazbear’s Fright: The Horror Attraction secure, while avoiding capture by the animatronics, some of which were present for “The Bite of ’87.”
Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator
Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator is the perfect game for FNAF fans who are sick of playing security guards. In this 2017 horror release, players get to see what it’s like running their own pizza restaurant. The only catch is that while making pizzas, you’re also tasked with keeping the animatronics out of your office and salvaging them.
Springtrap, which first appeared in FNAF 3, also appears in Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator, placing this game after it in the timeline. Based on when the last game on this list takes place, it’s safe to assume that Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator also takes place around 2023.
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted took fans inside the FNAF world in 2019 with its first virtual reality game. Players can take on various mini-games that feature events from previous games, using a VR headset to get up close and personal with the animatronics.
It’s placed on the timeline around 2023, as all of the events featured in the mini-games cover up to FNAF 3, so it likely occurred around the same time as Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator.
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Special Delivery
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Special Delivery is an augmented reality game available on mobile devices. Once again, players are immersed in the FNAF franchise when the animatronics stalk the places they’re most comfortable. While keeping a lookout for movement on your mobile device, you can stop the animatronics with a flashlight or controlled shock.
This is another FNAF game that likely took place around 2023 or 2024. At the beginning of Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted, HandUnit explains how Fazbear Entertainment is joining the digital age with “an edge-of-your-seat virtual reality experience.” So, if VR was their first endeavor, then it makes sense for Five Nights at Freddy’s: Special Delivery to come afterward on the timeline.
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach
The most recent addition to FNAF, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach, is the franchise’s first free-roam game released in 2021. Players get to explore Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex, which offers everything from mini golf to a movie theater.
At this point in the timeline, Fazbear Entertainment has greatly advanced the technology used in their animatronics. They’ve also expanded the entertainment and merchandise they offer, with a venue about the size of a large shopping mall.
In addition to these obvious indicators that Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach takes place in the future, one of the game’s endings also makes it clear. After dismantling all the animatronics and merging them into Freddy, you’ll gain access to the remains of an underground Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Place that looks remarkably similar to the one seen in Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator, putting this game last in the timeline after 2024.