Five Nights at Freddy's: Into the Pit Review (Arthromod)
After five years of ups and downs from letting other companies take a crack at FNaF, Mega Cat Studios comes in with my absolute favorite just in time for the ten year anniversary. Five Nights at Freddy's: Into the Pit is a fantastic entry into the series, and is well-worth the price of admission for the polish alone. It takes the design of classic point-and-click adventures and puts it into the context of a pixelated Freddy's minigame, with stealth mechanics! And that's not to mention the fluid animations, the eerie sound design, the beautiful art style, and the crazy secrets - it's clear Mega Cat Studios did their homework on the series.
Being the first Freddy's game based on a book, and thus separate from the game-canon timeline, it allows this game to stand on its own, meaning only a general knowledge of the concepts in FNAF are required to jump in (to the pit) and enjoy. As a result of this, though, the story isn't technically new, so anyone familiar with the book Into the Pit will already know what's coming, so I'm curious how this will play with people who don't know what happens. On that point, though, I do love its story. It's sweet, and hits at the heart of what Freddy's has been about for a while. I have never been a huge fan of the way the books approached canon, though, being a sort of parallel universe, but after playing this, I am much more open to them. It's nice to wipe the slate clean and just take in the universe that Freddy's has become.
If I were to come up with any issues I had with the game, it would be the relatively simplistic nature of its item system, and the little impact it has on the endings. The items are pretty straightforward, meaning you'll collect something, then more than likely use it within the next five minutes. I hope that in a sequel there is a bit more depth and diverging pathways, but nevertheless, this was still a very fun experience.
To close, I highly recommend playing this game for yourself. It's a breath of fresh air for this series, and I hope this is a good indicator for what more there is to come.