Five Nights at Freddy’s series creator Scott Cawthon confirmed that a sequel is launching in August, following up on a trio of virally popular survival horror games released over the past year.
Cawthon additionally plans to follow up on the sequel’s release with a free content update to commemorate the series’ one-year anniversary.
Released last Halloween, Five Nights at Freddy’s is a survival horror game for PC platforms that puts players in the role of a security guard stationed at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a Chuck E. Cheese-like children’s entertainment center.
Players discover that the establishment’s animatronic characters “become somewhat unpredictable at night,” resulting in tense gameplay that requires tracking the robots using security camera footage and taking defensive precautions using a limited amount of electricity. Gameplay ends with a sudden jump scare if one of the robots breaches the player’s security station.
Five Nights at Freddy’s quickly became a sensation on YouTube, Twitch, and other video-sharing sites as players documented their fright-filled journeys into Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. The game spawned a cultish following, leading fans to concoct theories regarding the storyline’s direction in future series entries.
A sequel to Five Nights at Freddy’s premiered less than three months after the original game’s release. The next follow-up, Five Nights at Freddy’s 3, took the storyline 30 years into the future and features retooled gameplay.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 will premiere on August 8. A planned content update will launch on October 31.
