Developed and published by Scott Cawthon. Released on January 21st, 2016. Available on PC (reviewed), iOS (upcoming), Android (upcoming).

Why do so many parents misunderstand/hate FNAF? It's almost like they just look for any reason to hate it. I just read some parent reviews from Common Sense Media and the complaints vary from 'tricking kids into playing horror games' to 'summons demons into your house.'

Editor's Note:As of this afternoon, Five Night's at Freddy's World Has been pulled from the Steam library and is no longer available for sale.

Before I talk about Five Nights at Freddy's World, I have to bring up another game series called Five Nights at [email protected]#*kboys. In short, this was an unlicensed fan project taking characters from the FNAF universe and putting them into JRPGs. Each game plot usually involved one of the FNAF animatronic mascots trying to throw a massive party and being stopped by the security guy. They were filled will drug, alcohol, and sex references, and voiced entirely by text-to-speech algorithms. They were immature, cheaply made, offensive on every level ... and they were fun!

While these games were hard, JRPG grinding didn't matter as much as understanding gameplay systems. Combining different abilities which seemed odd, random, or poorly programmed, but did heaps of damage together, was far more compelling than you'd think. There was also something charming about putting mascots from the FNAF series together in one party. It helped a sloppy game created with RPG Maker feel oddly complete, and much of the FNAF fanbase enjoyed it.

This brings us to Five Nights at Freddy's World, Scott Cawthon's FNAF JRPG, which does the same thing as Five Nights at [email protected]#*kboys with official branding and a PG plotline. You take control of the FNAF animatronics in the village of Animatronica. Or is it Animatronic village? Village-tronica? (The game literally tells you Scott never came up with a good name for the setting.) It's an alternate reality where the FNAF characters are real, prance around a forest all day, and blah blah blah insert cutesy stuff here. Unfortunately, glitches are starting to invade Animatronica because something bad happened on 'the flipside' AKA the real world. It's up to you to hunt down these glitches and save Animatronica, though what you must do when you find them is never explained.

The game's flimsy premise is played up for laughs, and for the most part it works. Much of the writing is genuinely funny, parodying the FNAF series and its fanbase. Loading screens have cute quips about each animatronic mascot, making fun of elements like the gruesome appearance of The Mangle. Sadly, the writing is inconsistent. Many laugh worthy lines are separated by exposition that takes itself too seriously, or jokes that fall flat.

It's important to note that this is not a horror game. You won't find any jumpscares here. Five Nights at Freddy's World is an RPG first and a parody second. While the game alludes to some plot tie-ins with the core FNAF franchise, you won't find any surprise revelations. Searching for multiple endings is fun, but none are built up or referenced over the course of the game. They appear from nowhere, and any plot reveals they offer are too vague to be rewarding. Heck, the normal ending taunts you for finding nothing important and the hard ending makes fun of you for wanting an explicit conclusion.

Fnaf World Age Rating

In terms of gameplay, Five Nights at Freddy's World is your standard JRPG fare. You wander around a world map - presented in the style of FNAF's Atari-esque mini-games - speak to NPCs, purchase things from shops, get into random battles, level up, and so on. The battle system itself is unique compared to most JRPGs. You'll assemble two parties of four animatronics, each of which has three abilities, and switch between the two parties whenever you'd like. Otherwise, battles work on an ATB (active time battle) system, where you and enemies attack each other once a certain amount of time has elapsed

Fnaf World Reviews

It's the game's abilities which are the most interesting, since they share the complexity of abilities in Five Nights at [email protected]#*kboys. Instead of simply dealing damage, attacks cause effects like damage over time, AOE, multiple hits, buffs, debuffs, and more. Healing abilities don't simply restore HP, they heal you in response to enemy attacks, resurrect you when you die, invert damage, and so on. Some of the best abilities in the game randomly choose attacks from other characters, or offer instant kills if the opponent's HP is above or below a certain number. Understanding how to combine these abilities effectively makes the difference between breezing through battles and losing your party in one hit.