Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted is a 2019 virtual reality survival horror video game developed by Steel Wool Studios and published by ScottGames. It is the eighth main game in the Five Nights at Freddy's series, following Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator, and the ninth installment overall. It presents itself as "The Freddy Fazbear Virtual Experience", produced for the fictitious corporative entity Fazbear Entertainment to help improve its public image after a series of debilitating lawsuits, following several incidents and disasters that allegedly occurred at their various locations.
Gameplay is presented from the first-person perspective and focuses on a series of minigames based on previous games in the series, in which the player must evade attacks from sentient animatronics. The game's canon establishes that Fazbear Entertainment hired an unnamed indie developer to create a video game series based on the events of the previous seven games, before cutting ties with him, and commissioned a virtual reality game meant to make light of the rumors and convince players that those events were completely fictitious.
Development of Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted, the first licensed game by Steel Wool Studios, began in 2018 and took less than a year. The game's design took inspiration from the history of Five Nights at Freddy's across all media. First announced in August 2018, the game was released on May 28, 2019, for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift headsets on Microsoft Windows, and PlayStation VR headsets on PlayStation 4. A non-VR version of the game was released for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4 on December 17, 2019. A Nintendo Switch port was released on May 21, 2020. An Oculus Quest port was released on July 16, 2020. An Android port was released on October 26, 2020, and an iOS port was released the following day. An Xbox One port was then released three days later. The game received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised it for its narrative, content, voice performance and original soundtrack. and is among the top selling virtual reality games on Steam. Downloadable content, Curse of Dreadbear, was released on October 23, 2019. A spin-off set after the events of the game, Five Nights at Freddy's: Special Delivery, was released on November 25, 2019, for Android and iOS, while a main game sequel, Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach, was released on December 16, 2021. A direct sequel, aptly titled Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted 2, is planned for release in late 2023.
Gameplay
The game contains forty playable minigames, which can be accessed from the game's hub. Many of these minigames recreate the mechanics of the previous games in the series, with their controls adapted to be better suited for a 3D virtual environment. The minigames are divided into groups by game of origin, and sorted by increasing difficulty. In all minigames, losing results in a jumpscare.
The original Five Nights at Freddy's inspires five minigames that recreate each of the game's five nights (levels). Situated in a security guard's office, the player must survive a full night shift by conserving power and avoiding attacks from four animatronics, which can be observed through security cameras. All visuals of the game are updated from 2D renders to 3D models, and all buttons and controls are laid out around the 3D office for the player to physically interact with. For example, the camera feed, which previously obscured the player's entire screen, is displayed on a monitor on the player's desk. Five Nights at Freddy's 2 and Five Nights at Freddy's 3 are adapted in a similar manner, with updated visuals and concrete UI.
Five Nights at Freddy's 4 inspires six minigames. The Night Terrors minigames adapt the gameplay of its main levels, in which the player must ward off animatronics from entering their bedroom by strategically opening and closing the doors. Some of these minigames allow the player to move by "teleporting" to different locations within view, a common VR locomotion method. The first level features Funtime Freddy, the second level features Nightmarionne, the third level features Circus Baby, and the fourth level features Nightmare Fredbear. The original game's "Fun with Plushtrap" and "Fun with Balloon Boy" minigames are adapted as Dark Rooms minigames, in which the player must use a flashlight to locate the animatronic around an unlit area.