I have never been someone who played horror games, despite my innate fascination with them. I will gladly watch other people play and dig into the lore and storytelling of horror games, like the history of The Mold from Resident Evil 7 & Village, for example, but I've also dropped Prey and Alien: Isolation due to the spikes in my blood pressure and tight feelings in my chest, despite them being on my list for years; to put it mildly, I've had to learn to pick my battles. One of those franchises I've had this complicated relationship with, as well, is Five Nights at Freddy's.
My husband originally got me into the series, and I have been hooked ever since. The character designs, the deep and rich lore, and the iconic jumpscares from creator Scott Cawthon were one of my first horror experiences, and, as such, I do feel attached to the franchise. Having bought Secret of the Mimic recently, I thought to myself, why not attempt to play more horror games while also playing one of the most anticipated Five Nights titles in years?
Little did I know just how conflicted I would feel while playing.
STORY & WORLDBUILDING -
You play as Arnold, an underpaid and overworked Engineer at Fazbear Entertainment, tasked with retrieving Fazbear property from a now-defunct family business, Murray's Costume Manor, all the while receiving directions from a Fazbear Dispatcher to upgrade your Data Driver, the game's main tool for exploring and progressing the game, with high enough clearance to get into the office of business owner, Edwin Murray. The property in question is blueprints to the Mimic, a living Endoskeleton that can copy behavior and characteristics from people it interacts with. The last encounter it had was violent in nature, making the Mimic dangerous and volatile. The game also has three different endings: bad, true, and a secret, non-canon ending, all of which expand on the story in their own way. I ended up getting the true ending.
As we explore the facility, we discover the origins of the Mimic and how it stemmed from Edwin's struggle with grief and single parenthood, attempting to both run a business and care for his son, David, after his wife, Fiona, passed away. In the true ending, we learn that two Mimics are in the factory. The one chasing us is M2, and the "Dispatcher" speaking to us is actually M1/F10-N4, whom Edwin built to replace his wife and care for David so he could continue to focus on work. However, when David also passed away not long after, M1 convinced Edwin to build M2 to bring David back and "complete their family." But M2 is broken, and M1 asks for our help to fix it. To do that, we go to Murray's family home, where M1 believes Edwin is hiding and ignoring them. However, it is revealed that Edwin attacked M2 in a fit of grief-inflicted rage, resulting in a fight that led to M2 killing Edwin and assuming his identity, explaining its violent tendencies. After attempting to fix M2 using a program called "Cradle.Exe," Arnold barely escaped the factory, leaving it ablaze, only for M2 to crash our van, steal the Data Driver, and, presumably, us for dead.
This game is a far cry from the original franchise and has significant implications for the already established lore, which clarifies details and muddies others. As someone who has loved the Five Nights' franchise since the release of Five Nights 4, I can't help but feel frustrated by the story. Yes, it is good on its own and stands to be sufficient in the realm of mascot horror, but adding in new details, like William Afton stealing employees from MCM to join Fazbear Entertainment, then only to buy MCM out, and also reveal that the Mimic has existed since the 70's but also in Security Breach: Ruin, taking place presumably decades later and leaving a large gap in its existence, makes it difficult for me to follow no matter how much time I put into learning it. In some ways, the worldbuilding worked to its advantage, expanding on the sordid history of Fazbear Entertainment, but also felt shoehorned in an already established story. This is a pitfall a lot of franchises can face when it comes to disrupting the status quo, and Secret of the Mimic is no different.
It is a mixed bag and threatens to isolate some fans of the series who don't know all the ins and outs of its lore and history. But, despite my grievances as an old-school fan, I will give the game credit for its ability to build off an admittedly bloated and massive franchise uniquely. Perhaps, from a biased perspective, the story is just not to my taste, but that's okay with me.
GAMEPLAY & CONTROLS -
I played the Steam version of the game with an Xbox controller. The controls, for the most part, worked fine, but my only issue was sometimes trying to interact with items and parts of the environment, like hiding in lockers. It felt sensitive to the point where it wouldn't let me open or use anything if I wasn't hovering over an exact spot, which changed depending on where I was standing, and it can be difficult to pinpoint when being chased. I felt like it led to some unfair deaths, but they weren't frequent enough to diminish my enjoyment.
Another large part of gameplay has to do with the Mimic itself. Many of the rooms have empty costumes scattered around, and the Mimic can control any of them. Unlike horror games where the monster has a strict walking pattern and can easily be predicted and followed, the Mimic, being either right next to you or on the other side of a hallway, makes the game feel perfectly unnerving, but not impossibly random, since there are plenty of distractions, like toy mice and speakers, to lure it away from you if you're backed into a corner. Lockers are also not a perfect solution, like in other games. The Mimic can pull you out of a locker if it sees you enter, encouraging you to keep moving rather than stand still. Stealth is a game genre I love, and Secret of the Mimic does great at making the sneaking sections feel balanced despite the Mimic's random spawn chance.
I have been hypercritical of Steel Wool's work in the past, especially after the insane post-launch bugs and crashes in Security Breach. However, game development is a learned experience, and the studio took all their shortcomings to heart and used them to their advantage when making every game to come after, especially Secret of the Mimic, to make sure it was as finished as possible. I, myself, experienced only one visual glitch with M2's torso glitching in different directions. It didn't break my game in any way, so, at most, it was a funny way to break the tension.
MUSIC & ATMOSPHERE -
The game does well when it comes to making its players feel uneasy and stressed out, thanks to the Mimic being anywhere and everywhere, switching between the suits scattered about. However, two other contributing factors to this are definitely the music and set design. Horror games have prided themselves on making a world that sucks their players in and makes them feel like they're in danger, and my favorite example of this in Secret of the Mimic is Nurse Dollie and Big Top.
Big Top is a part of the game where I truly felt my chest tighten. Spotlight sections in video games tend to lean very simple, with a basic fade to black and restart consequence, whereas Big Top is an animatronic that is imposing and intimidating, with his creepy carnival design and his big, lumbering parts reaching for you with surprising speed, despite the environment for that boss fight being very simple. In contrast, the Doll Hospital takes full advantage of the set piece. Full of suits ripped to pieces, parts scattered across gurneys and beds as Nurse Dollie, this section's boss, keeps stomping ever closer to help the player "feel better." It feels suffocating in a way only proper set design can invoke.
The music for both sections is also memorable. While the music for the rest of the game was good, I can't say it stood out to me in the way both of these sections did. Big Top's unsettling circus lullaby becomes more frantic and heavy as it drags its way to you; the heart-pumping organ kicks in your adrenaline as soon as Dollie's chase begins. Both pieces, as well, benefit from the mechanical sounds layered beneath them like a slowly decaying music box. It proves composer Leon Riskin's skill. On his own website, he mentions taking pride in creating sounds that "elevate gameplay and immerse players" into their games. In this case, he knocked it well out of the park.
FINAL THOUGHTS & SCORE -
I like to think that playing Secret of the Mimic is allowing me to exercise some of my own demons, especially when it comes to nostalgia bias and expanding my own palette. Yes, this game's story is not my cup of tea, and I won't repeat my complaints, but when you have a franchise running as long as Five Nights, you have to reinvent parts and expand others to keep things interesting and maintain the image fans have built after so many years, even if said changes pose risks. Game development is nothing if not risky, after all.
All in all, Five Nights at Freddy's: Secret of the Mimic is a solid 7.5/10 in my book, providing a uniquely unsettling experience despite its faults. It is a game that both old fans and new are able to enjoy, one way or another, as they slowly unravel the mysteries left behind in that old costume factory, and I highly recommend it. Just don't let your previous assumptions about the franchise's history cloud your enjoyment.