Five Nights at Freddy's 3

A gameplay screenshot showing the player's camera system, with Springtrap visible in the feed.

Five Nights at Freddy's 3 is a point-and-click survival horror game.[1] Players take control of an unnamed night security guard at a soon-to-open horror attraction known as "Fazbear's Fright",[2] and must complete their shift without being slaughtered by a homicidal animatronic that wanders around the attraction.[3]

Unlike the two previous games, Five Nights at Freddy's 3 features only one animatronic capable of killing the player, that being a rabbit-like character known as "Springtrap", which wanders around the attraction and targets the players office.[3][4] The four main animatronics from first game (Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica and Foxy) as well as a few from the second game make appearances as "phantom" animatronics, though these are incapable of killing the player.[4][5]

The player is unable to leave their office and is defenseless against Springtrap, only able to delay its advancement.[2] They can use two security camera networks to monitor Springtrap's movement, and can halt its progress by strategically opening and closing air vents.[2] The player also has access to a set of audio devices through the cameras, which can be used to lure Springtrap away from the office.[2][4] Alongside the cameras and audio systems, the player must also maintain the ventilation system.[2] All of the three systems will occasionally fail, requiring the player to reboot them through a lengthy process that leaves them vulnerable.[4][6] If the ventilation fails for a prolonged period of time, the player will hallucinate and their vision will be obstructed, causing phantom animatronics to begin appearing.[2][4]

If a phantom animatronic appears in the office, the player will be jumpscared and one of the systems will fail.[4] If Springtrap enters the office, the player will be jumpscared and killed, causing a game over.[4] After each night, the player can choose to play an Atari-style minigame. These minigames provide backstory for the series.[6] The game consists of five "nights" and an extra sixth night.[6]

The player assumes the role of an unnamed employee for Fazbear's Fright, a horror-themed attraction based on Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, a family restaurant that closed thirty years prior,[2] where homicidal animatronic mascots attacked anyone present after midnight. The player is assigned the role of night security guard for the week before the opening of Fazbear's Fright, while the team behind the attraction searches for items from the former restaurant to be exhibited. These items include cassette tapes recorded by the instructor in the first game, which play at the start of the following nights. On the second night, the player learns that the team discovered a destroyed, rabbit-like animatronic named "Springtrap", which the protagonist must prevent from entering their office for the duration of the week.

As the week progresses, the tapes discuss a variety subjects, such as how to operate "springlock suits", which function as both animatronics and as a costume for employees. Another tape mentions safe rooms built at each Freddy Fazbear's Pizza location, which are inaccessible to all people except employees and is unknown to the animatronics and customers. The cassettes on later nights discourage use of the springlock suits after an event that involved "multiple simultaneous springlock failures.", and the final message states that the safe rooms were sealed off for unknown reasons. In-between nights, the player is able to play Atari-style minigames that provide insight on the history of the former restaurant. In the first four minigames, animatronics from previous games are destroyed by an unnamed purple figure, whom is a supposed serial killer previously seen in the minigames of Five Nights at Freddy's 2. In the fifth minigame, the ghosts of the figure's victims corner him, prompting him to seek protection by hiding inside of a yellow rabbit suit. While inside, its springlock mechanism fails, crushing the figure to death as the ghosts fade away.

The game has two different endings, with the ending determined by whether the player has completed all of the minigames, with the "bad ending" occurring if the player does not complete all minigames, and a "good ending" occurring if the player completes all minigames. After the sixth night, a newspaper clipping reports that Fazbear's Fright burned down due to unknown circumstances and that all salvageable items will be sold at public auction. Brightening the image used in the newspaper clipping reveals Springtrap in the background, indicating that it survived the fire and is now on the loose.

In January 2015, less than three months after the release of Five Nights at Freddy's 2, an image was uploaded to Scott Cawthon's website teasing a third entry in the series. At the same time, an automated response system was setup on Cawthon's email, confirming Five Nights at Freddy's 3 to be in development and requesting fans to not ask questions on the game.[9][10] Various additional teaser images followed and a trailer was released on January 26.[11] A demo for the game was released to selected YouTubers on March 1, with the full game being released hours later on March 2.[12] A mobile port was released for Android devices on March 6,[13] and for iOS on March 12.[14] Ports for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One were released on November 29, 2019 alongside the first, second, and fourth games in the series.[15]

Five Nights at Freddy's 3 received "mixed or average" reviews according to review aggregator Metacritic, assigning the Windows version a score of 68 out of 100 based on seven critic reviews.[16]

The mechanics and gameplay were praised. Omri Petitte of PC Gamer and Nic Rowen from Destructoid praised the reworked camera system, both believing it to be more useful than in previous game's and gave the player more reasons to use them.[4][6] Mitch Vogel of Nintendo Life called the gameplay simpler than previous titles, believing it to be "more of a skill-based game".[5] Nadia Oxford of Gamezebo believed the game to be easier than its predecessor.[3] Other critics praised the character of Springtrap. Rowen liked its inclusion, saying it combined with the reworked mechanics to make "by far the most technically proficient and mechanically satisfying installment yet",[6] and Shaun Musgrave of TouchArcade described it as the "most intelligent and ghastly antagonist in the series so far", highlighting its unpredictability.[2] Petitte and Vogel had differing opinions on the game's difficulty, with Petitte believing the game to be intense and consistently give him paranoia[4] and Vogel believing the use of only one animatronic made the game easier.[5]

The game's atmosphere was debated by critics. Petitte wrote that the game was presented well and praised the horror aspect of Springtrap, but believed that the phantom animatronics lacked their original personalities and felt repetitious,[4] an opinion concurred Rowen and Vogel.[5][6] Vogel furthermore believed that the phantom animatronics were unnecessary to the game and considered the weaker horror aspects to be a trade-off with the improved mechanics.[5] The game's narrative and minigame's were also discussed. Rowel criticized the game as adding "more convoluted layers to the story while offering no real explanations" and described the minigames that are required for the good ending to be a "chore to slog through" and tarnished the rest of the game.[6] Conversely, Oxford believed that Scott Cawthon had "proven his talent" at storytelling and character design, and that he chose a "good place to end things" if the series was coming to a finish.[3]

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• Five Nights at Freddy's 3 on IndieDB