The best Five Nights at Freddy’s Games, ranked

The master jump-scare franchise of Five Nights at Freddy’s has spiraled into multiple titles in the past few years, and figuring out which ones are worth diving into is a feat unto itself. While players could opt to work through the FNAF titles in chronological order, some may prefer to simply visit the best titles of the franchise thus far.

While there are currently nine canonical titles within the franchise, FNAF also hosts four spin-off titles. These spin-offs are not considered to be canonical, but they may be worth visiting nonetheless for additional flavor. Here are the best FNAF games in our eyes, from least favorite to most.

Related: How to play the Five Nights at Freddy’s Games in Order

5) Five Nights at Freddy’s 2

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 stretched a lot of the original gameplay loop into new mechanics. The original FNAF felt a bit lackluster, in retrospective comparison, in terms of interaction and mechanics. The second title, which released the same year, brought about insidious mechanics such as the music box and Freddy mask. Some swear by the mechanics of these original titles, where players are mostly stationary and using cameras to watch doors, as the “authentic FNAF experience.” This iteration summarizes that playstyle well.

4) Five Night’s at Freddy’s: Sister Location

FNAF: Sister Location is an important entry into the FNAF franchise, as it was the first title to allow players to explore on their own, rather than being trapped behind a desk in a weird horror-filled PowerPoint program. Sister also brought about voice acting, which makes this iteration a bold step for the franchise — the risk of alienating fans of the franchise that had been developing for two years ultimately brought even more fans.

3) Five Nights at Freddy’s: Pizzeria Simulator

Pizzeria Simulator was a strange leap for the FNAF simulator, offering a management theme for this iteration. Upon initial play, the classic fans were a bit stymied by the gameplay loop: buying and placing arcade machines, animatronics, and building out your very own FNAF franchise location were fascinating and unique ploys that took a sharp turn to horror once the locale closed for the day. Both aspects were more than competently handled: a top-down view during the day to place and purchase parts, and the classic first-person at night to attempt to survive.

2) Five Nights at Freddy’s 4

This title is the scariest of the franchise as a whole, even if one were to include the spin-offs. Published in the second year of the life of the franchise, FNAF 4 remains one of the most terrifying titles across the spectrum. Notable for being claimed as the “last chapter of the FNAF original story,” players rely on audio cues to keep themselves alive until dawn. It isn’t the prettiest, admittedly, but with such a heavy reliance on sound, it’s sure to get your heart rate up.

1) Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach

This entry is the most recent in terms of release date and chronological order, and exploring the expansive Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex is a brilliant journey across a beautifully realized map. Between playing laser tag, starting a show, dodging security bots, and trying to stymie a control-room invasion, Security Breach is the most extensively realized version of the franchise thus far. It’s not as horrifying as others, but the sheer amount of world-building that takes place nets this an easy first place in our eyes.