The horrors of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza continue in Five Nights at Freddy's: Into the Pit , the newest entry in the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise. Developed by Mega Cat Studios, the title adapts the titular short story from Five Nights at Freddy’s: Fazbear Frights Volume 1, marking the first time an entry in FNAF's novel canon has been featured in an official spin-off. Unlike previous titles in the franchise, Into the Pit features retro pixel graphics and a third-person perspective, delivering an experience that feels new and original for the FNAF series. Mega Cat Studios enhances the source material for the screen in nearly every way, filling its 2D Freddy Fazbear’s with more horror and graphic imagery than ever before. Together with the title’s tight gameplay, dread-filled cutscenes, and masterful audio, this new level of horror not only makes Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit one of the best titles in the franchise, but easily its darkest.

Five Nights at Freddy's: Into the Pit tells the story of 10-year-old Oswald, whose mischievous plan to scare his father opens the door to horrors beyond his wildest imagination. Oswald spends his summer days passing time at Jeff's Pizza, waiting for his dad to pick him up after work. On the last day of summer, he decides to teach his dad a lesson by hiding in the restaurant's abandoned ball pit. Jumping in, he discovers that the pit can transport him back to 1985 when Jeff’s was a thriving Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Unfortunately, Oswald arrives on the very day that Spring Bonnie kills six children in the venue’s Party Room, causing him to flee. Arriving back to the present, Oswald embraces his father, but, before he can explain where he’s been, Spring Bonnie launches from the pit, dragging his father to the past and replacing him in the present. Hunted each night by a killer rabbit only he can see, Oswald must devise a plan to rescue his father before it’s too late.

FNAF: Into the Pit’s narrative takes place over five days and nights, with each offering a unique objective. During the day, players follow Oswald as he attends school, explores his neighborhood, and plans his next escape to the Pizzeria. During the night, players are tasked with escaping Oswald’s home, returning to the past, and finding clues to his dad’s whereabouts. Oswald primarily gathers leads by saving children trapped within Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, before Spring Bonnie appears and chases him back to the ball pit. However, Into the Pit throws a few highly effective twists into this nightly formula. As the week progresses, Spring Bonnie will block, board up, or destroy any escape that Oswald used in previous nights, forcing players to find new and riskier ways to escape. When they return to the past, players must also contend with a growing number of Freddy Fazbear’s animatronic band, with Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica joining Spring Bonnie in the hunt.

Completing each night requires players to thoroughly explore the world of Into the Pit, leading to some of its most compelling gameplay elements. Oswald’s neighborhood is broken into five locations - Oswald’s House, The School, The Library, The Mill, and Pizzeria. Though the majority of the game takes place between the House and the Pizzeria, each location plays a role. Key items can be hidden anywhere, and there are often multiple routes to accomplishing the tasks required to save Spring Bonnie’s victims. As such, players are encouraged to check every nook and cranny before heading to Freddy’s each night. The title also features a range of optional items that can be utilized in unique ways, such as trading to other students or repairing the arcade cabinets at Jeff’s Pizza. Exploration is key to discovering all that Into the Pit has to offer, and players will need to jump between the past and present to achieve their goals. However, Mega Cat Studios ensures that these tasks are far easier said than done.

FNAF: Into the Pit is a true survival horror experience. Players must navigate the twisting corridors of Oswald’s House and the Pizzeria while contending with a host of ever-present dangers. While Oswald can hide in several unique objects and locations, sound also plays a major role in surviving Into the Pit. Being too loud or placing batteries in the wrong object can notify Spring Bonnie to Oswald’s location. Additionally, Oswald can trip and fall if players run for too long, resulting in an audible gasp that alerts enemies. What’s more, hiding doesn’t ensure survival. Should an enemy see Oswald enter a hiding spot, an interactive cutscene will play, with players forced to complete a tense mini-game to avoid detection. These cutscenes highlight an element of Into the Pit that stands as one of its absolute best, as their unique visuals and first-person perspectives lead to some of the scariest jumpscares and near-death animations FNAF has to offer.

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit is a beautiful game, as Mega Cat Studios flexes its ability to push the boundaries of 2D gaming. Everything is animated, be it speaking NPCs, wandering animatronics, or background assets, making for a world that feels more alive than many of the franchise’s mainline offerings. The title’s opening and closing animatics feature beautiful artwork, lending emotional weight to its more emotional moments. Into the Pit also features a host of short and highly effective in-game cutscenes, which elevate its gameplay and storytelling to a level of detail its third-person gameplay could never reach. However, the true strength of Into the Pits’ 2D visuals lies in the pushing of another boundary, one that the FNAF series has long held back.

Into the Pit features the most terrifying, dark, and gruesome visuals ever featured in a Five Nights at Freddy’s game. In-game survival cutscenes take the action to first-person, giving players terrifying close-up looks at its animatronic horrors. Random shots of Freddy and the gang offer haunting half-lit perspectives of faces players have long grown complacent towards. Most significantly, jumpscares feel scary again. In a series where post-jumpscare death is assumed, Into the Pit lingers on the moments following the scare, with some putting the violent nature of its killer on display. These visuals are enhanced by bone-chilling audio, another area in which Into the Pit defies expectations.

Despite Into the Pit’s retro aesthetic, the title features immersive, realistic audio design, which adds a discomforting and disorienting level of tension to its horrors. The sounds of children’s screams and cries echo through Freddy Fazbear’s, as the heavy, robotic feet of its animatronics march audibly through the halls. Doors from distant rooms open and close with immersive audio, leaving players to decide just how many rooms away Spring Bonnie could be. Jumpscares don’t only feature a classic animatronic shrill, but Oswald’s screams as the figure descends on him. On top of these, the title features highly effective ambient noises across its various locations, setting the tone for each while continuing the disjointed uneasiness of hearing highly realistic sounds spill out from a pixelated screen.

Into the Pit also features a variety of minigames, some unlockable with optional items and others deeply hidden. Jeff’s features a range of broken-down arcade cabinets from its Freddy Fazbear days, which Oswald can fix using items strewn throughout the title. Once repaired, fans can play each an unlimited number of times, earning tickets. Every 20 tickets can be used to receive a prize voucher, which Oswald can redeem at the arcade’s prize machine. These prizes prove useful to Oswald accomplishing certain tasks in later nights, making them a fun and useful distraction before hopping into the ball pit each night. Additionally, players can find a few secret minigames hidden throughout Freddy Fazbear’s, which aid in unlocking the game’s best ending.

While Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit delivers an incredible 2D horror experience, some players may find the tension lighter as the title progresses. As Oswald explores the Pizzeria, he gains access to keys, keycards, and vents that help him navigate the restaurant. For some players, vents may make Spring Bonnie and the animatronic band a bit too easy to elude, as hiding in one grants the opportunity to travel to the complete other end of Freddy Fazbear’s. However, these vents never quite aid Oswald in avoiding Freddy’s horrors for long. Main objectives are always closely guarded, ensuring fans need to face Spring Bonnie and the band eventually.

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit is made for multiple playthroughs, with a long list of achievements challenging players to unlock every ending, find every secret, and complete the title under unique conditions. What’s more, once players finish their first playthrough of Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit, they unlock a variety of harder difficulties and Extras. Extras include Into the Pit’s version of a Custom Night, giving them free rein to turn hiding spots on or off, alter animatronic aggression, and more. Fans of the FNAF franchise have plenty to see on these subsequent playthroughs, as Mega Cat Studios’ world offers a variety of references and easter eggs to discover.

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit is both an exceptional addition to the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise and a truly remarkable piece of retro-inspired horror. Melding haunting pixelated visuals, rich animations, and disturbingly realistic sound, the title delivers on all fronts, marking FNAF’s 10th anniversary with an experience unlike any before. While FNAF’s mainline titles move the story forward, balancing kid-friendly scares with a bleak and disturbing backstory, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit goes back to where it all began, immersing fans in the series’ darkest and most straightforward horror title to date. In doing so, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit delivers a can’t-miss experience for fans of the FNAF franchise that any fan of the genre can sink their teeth into.