When considering how to feel about games, I always feel like it is important to take into consideration the context, conditions, and other variables that revolve around the game rather than the game itself for my review. For example, the time the game was made, the budget or economy of the region, time spent on the game, etc. For most games, especially modern ones, this consideration almost never has any impact.
Five Nights at Fuckboys: Complete Collection is a game that shouldn't be respected. It's a crude, tasteless parody of the FNaF series turned into a turn based RPG format with a story that rivals Kingdom Hearts in convolution, and only a few characters that have any depth outside of swearing and sex jokes. And yet, I love this game. With a combination of scarily well balanced RPG combat, fantastic music choices with an entire alternate OST if you're sick of the main one, a surprisingly good story, and some of the best turn based battles I have ever played through.
Before I begin, I feel that it's important that I talk about my history with the series beforehand. I discovered FNaFb one day while I was scrolling through GameJolt as a child. I played all three games, however I always played on Normal, never did any of the bonus bosses, and in FNaFb3 I never made it past Act 2. I have played the originals countless times. Something about these games were just strangely alluring to me. In the years after, I would randomly get desires to replay these games.
One time, I decided to look deeper into FNaFb, and discovered an entire community of FNaFb fans who made fan games. This lead me down another rabbit hole of strange, usually shitty FNaFb inspired games like FuckCraft, FNaFb: IAT, and Persono. During my dives into the depths, I learned of a new FNaFb game; the Complete Collection. A full remake of the first 3 games inside of the new RPG Maker engine, MV. Needless to say I was excited, and so waited patiently.
After months of waiting, it finally came out in March of 2021. I then played it..... for an hour or so. For some reason I just wasn't grabbed, and so I moved on. It wasn't until a year later where I picked up the game again in January of 2022. I then played for a few more hours before dropping at FNaFb3 Act 1. It wasn't until late May of 2022, where I discovered JoiPlay, and the fact that I could play these games at school. Suddenly a fire was reignited and I blasted through the rest of FNaFb 3, including beating Act 3 for the first time.
To say I was satisfied with this collection is an understatement. As stupid as this sounds, I think in relativity, this game is amazing. You might not believe me, however I personally think this game perfects RPG Maker's combat system with minimal additions.
Before that though, I should go over the game. FNaFb CC is split into 5 parts; FNaFb1, 2, 3, as well as the "Afterstory" and "Finale". There's a nifty play order button right on the title screen that tells you exactly the order you should play it (though I will say, I wish it included the Vile scenario so people wouldn't play it right after FNaFb 1 without the context of 2). Each game is really well recreated and preserved in the collection. However, there are a decent amount of notable changes to improve balancing and other parts of the game.
While playing these games, I always chose the hardest difficulty (outside of Night XXX because, you know), and I highly suggest it. XX/Proud feels like the true dev intended way to play the game, and all the fights are balanced accordingly with it. XX brings a special feature with it though; dietary guilt. A major exploit in the original FNaFb was the ability to just spam food and other items onto your party members, effectively making them invincible and giving the ability to beat almost any fight, even ones intended to be unbeatable. CC removes this by adding a new system. Every edible item has one of two aspects; dietary or alcoholism. They are effectively the same, the only difference being the former being food and the ladder being drinks. This adds a lot to combat. Not only can you no longer spam max HP pizzas, but you also have to carefully consider when to use your food and which one to use. If you max out your DP or AP, then you'll be unable to consume food until your points reach a certain point. Despite its overall simplicity, I think it adds so much to combat. You really have to consider your choices in battle. Do I heal here and max out this character’s DP? Or do I heal with a skill, removing the DP but removing SP and adding another gauge to watch for? The feature is generally unintrusive, but if you completely ignore it you’ll regret it, like a ticking timebomb ready to go off if you fuck up.
The first game I'll start with is FNaFb 1. It's very simple and short, starting you as the titular Freddy Fuckboy. Your goal? Have a night of debauchery and shit on all the cameras. Simple, but endearing. The humor in the first game is good. It sets up not only the humor for the series going on, but also the beginning of many recurring jokes in the series. The small puzzles to recruit party members is also pretty fun, though incredibly easy once you know what you're doing. A neat feature about this game is that you can recruit the party members in any order, or you can just not recruit some. You’re given the freedom to tackle the game how you want, though there’s no real reason to not recruit them.
The cameras are the first major change in CC. Rather than every camera being the exact same, each one has a special gimmick to them. So for example, one might be incredibly strong but can only hit every other turn, one might be incredibly fast and even outpace Foxy, or a camera that causes your team to constantly lose HP. There's lots of variety and it adds a lot to what used to be overall pretty boring and unnotable battles in the original. Another major change is the Puppet. Rather than being a constant timer, the Puppet appears and gives you only 5 minutes to prepare. You better run around and grind like crazy, or you'll get your ass kicked (it's not nearly as bad as the OG trust me). Once you beat the Puppet, a second Puppet spawns, however it has no time limit. It is simply a bonus boss you can fight at any time. I really love these changes. In the entire FNaFb series and especially fan games, they really loved bringing back this stupid fucking Puppet for no reason. Its gimmick was super annoying and a chore to do. It added so much wasted time to every playthrough, as every 3 minutes you'd have to backtrack or be killed by an insanely hard superboss. Luckily by Act 2, the puppet was removed from existence, but his scars on the community will always remain.
The only other truly notable change is the bonus dungeon. For context, every FNaFb game received a "Final Mix" update to the game, adding wealths of content and overhauling certain aspects. In FNaFb 1, the big addition was this dungeon. It has a unique gimmick where your health is constantly drained, however there are restore points around the map that fully fill up your HP. CC changes this, instead adding a new oxygen meter that slowly goes down. If it hits zero, you die. It's relatively easy to get through, especially with all the oxygen vials, but it's still pretty stressful. In CC, there is also a bonus boss at the end. You have to fight Plushtrap. Apparently, this bonus boss was added as a teaser for FNaFb ASL, a now canceled FNaFb VR game (I wonder why it was canceled). The boss is overall pretty easy and not notable, outside of its connection to ASL. FNaFb1 ends with a fight against Golden Freddy, who is pissed that you didn't invite him to your night of debauchery (remember this, it's important). Freddy and Co beat the shit out of him and the game ends. (I forgot to mention, if you complete all the content there is a little bonus boss with Puppetmaster BB, where he reveals himself to be the villain. His role as antagonist isn’t important yet though).
Overall, FNaFb1 CC is a fantastic remake of the original. Removing all that made it annoying and instead adding genuinely fun and balanced features, FNaFb 1 CC acts as an easy replacement of the original, and should be played first if you're interested. FNaFb1 also has two side modes; its Q and W scenario. The Q scenario just lets you play as BB and is non canon, however the W scenario is much more interesting. I will go over it later.
Next is FNaFB2. It's similar to its predecessor in many ways; Freddy (now Toy) decided to go on a night of debauchery and invites all the animatronics in the pizzeria to join (including Golden Freddy this time!). Most everything I said about FNaFb 1 is true with this one, so instead I will focus on the unique things that make this game stand out.
First is the plot. This is where the series goes from Freddy says fuck to Freddy says fuck to Balloon Boy who is also God now for some reason. It's a stupid plot but it's enjoyable, but it hasn't truly picked up at this time yet.
The next is the combat. It's mostly the same, except for one key difference; the Withereds. In the original FNaFb2, you were dumped all 8 animatronics at the same time. Every turn in battle, you had to give commands to and account for all 8 animatronics, and as you could easily guess it was a nightmare, especially for the balancing. CC fixes this perfectly and adds a decent amount of extra depth to this game; allowing you to only use 4 animatronics, but being able to switch any of them out freely (outside of Toy Freddy of course). And my favorite part; when you switch, they get to go on that turn. You don't waste the turn. The amount of extra strategy this adds to bosses is great and makes some encounters, especially one in particular, really fun. Their HP, SP, and TP also stay the same when you switch, which allows for fun strategies like something I call a "Toy Chica Bomb", where you max out Toy Chica's TP as soon as possible before switching her out for someone else, and then when you're in a tricky situation, adding her back and having her use her move where she revives the entire party or fully buffs all of them. Shit like this is just incredibly satisfying to be able to be given the tools as a player to do, while also making boss fights more strategic. And speaking of bosses...
The boss fights in FNaFb2 CC are easily the best in the entire collection. All of them are incredibly well balanced, and one of them is genuinely one of my favorites of all time in any game. Some examples of great fights are Shadow Bonnie, who hides his health bar and makes the fight unpredictable and intense, Toy Freddy where you must face yourself and throws off your current strategy by taking away your permanent party member and making you rethink, and Giygas BB, with his incredibly simple but genius gimmick of the empty heads, which give BB an extra move based off one of the 4 original FNaFb 1 party members.
However, out of all of these, one stands above the rest, and of course that belongs to the Refurbs. After beating every single boss on Proud mode, the animatronics from FNaFb 1 suddenly appear during the credits for one final showdown. The whole fight is incredible. I have played many games where you fight other people who are apparently on your level, however they use none of the cheap tricks you can. The Refurbs change that, giving them access to both healing and reviving. This sounds terrible, but the fight is meticulously balanced so that it becomes fair, if challenging. You have to constantly attack the animatronics, while also making sure your party stays alive too. It's a long back and forth full of death, dietary guilt, and constant party member swapping, but after a long battle you can exhaust their resources and take the victory. Beating this boss for the first time after fighting them multiple times for 40 minutes each was one of the most satisfying moments in any turn based game I've played. A genuinely genius boss battle that I will view as a golden example as how to do a challenging superboss correctly in turn based games.
However, that is not all for FNaFb2. Starting with it, there was a very interesting way of storytelling added to the games; side modes. The side mode included in this game was the Afterstory, also known as the Save Import Scenario. In the original FNaFb2, if you placed a completed Night XXX save file from FNaFb1 into 2's save folder and loaded it in game, you'd unlock a special mode detailing the events after Night XXX. This is where the story goes off the rails. After Freddy and Co get completely yiffed by Golden Freddy, Freddy is left all alone with his teammates dead. However out of nowhere, Balloon Boy comes in with his time machine and picks up Freddy, taking him to the glorious 80's, aka the FNaFb 2 location. After some shenanigans with the lord Michael Jackson, 90's BB kills 80's BB, fucking up the timeline. BB then warps back to the future with the Puppet to fuck up FNaFb1 and possess the toys. Freddy escapes and explores the 80's, finding himself in a land of glorious vaporwave. He eventually encounters Golden Freddy, and take him 1-1. However, his allies suddenly appear from the sky and fight alongside him, and they eventually take Golden Freddy down in an epic rematch. Afterward, the gang catch up with BB in order to get back home, however after a dispute they are sent in between timelines. Eventually, they escape, but BB travels to the credits, trapping the animatronics in the cutscene and allowing for BB's escape. After the credits though, they find the FNaFb2 cast, and Freddy decided to take them on as an unwinnable superboss just to fuck with them. However, they both join forces after deciding to team up against BB after Freddy and Co obliterate them. They wander into his new golden palace, and face him, with each animatronic group facing him individually. Finally, the Freddys team up, leveling up every single turn, before delivering the final blow, killing BB and banishing him between timelines.
In my opinion, the Afterstory is peak FNaFb. It is easily the funniest for me, with great lines from every character. They all have great timing and execution, and the whole trapped in the credits sequence is amazing. The boss fights are all really solid too, especially the final boss where you fight with each character group individually. Seeing XXX Freddy level up to 20 too was also just an amazing moment. While I love what comes after, I think Afterstory just hits all the high points of the series for me.
And finally, we have FNaFb3. This is easily the biggest of the three, while also easily being the most unique. And in terms of the CC, it's the game that has been touched up the most. Most of the changes for CC up to this point have been, in my opinion, just better than the original all around, however with FNaFb3, there are enough changes and additions to the point where I can easily understand a preference between one or the other. This is going to be a long one, so let's get into it.
Unlike with FNaFb2, I cannot fully gloss over similar aspects with FNaFb1, as so much has changed. So, I'll start from the beginning. This game has three acts; Act 1, Act 2, And Act 3 (also known as "Finale" in CC). These acts all shift up the gameplay of FNaFb3 considerably. Obviously, I will start with Act 1.
In the first genre defining change that will shake the foundation of gaming as a whole, you play as “not Freddy”, aka Springtrap. Springtrap is very unique as a party member, as he has two turns. And likewise, due to this, he never gains any party members. For the entirety of Act 1, you are completely alone. I personally love this feature. It completely recontextualizes how you do fights, and the limited two turns you're given makes the way you strategize and tackle battles entirely different. Springtrap was easily my most favorite character to play as, as he's given just enough tool variety to be really fun while not being too boring or too easy. I have no clue how they did it but they struck the balance perfectly.
The gameplay has received some notable changes. You go after the Phantoms in a linear format this time, with each having a special mechanic similar to the Cameras of past games. There’s also the aforementioned double turns, which gives combat a completely new feel. However outside of that, the gameplay is pretty similar to what I described for previous games.
The true first difference comes from enemies. In random encounters, the devs decided to add new enemies. I always found these new additions really strange and out of place, as they break away from the common theme of pizzeria items and instead go for random shit like kids in ghost costumes and… Freddy Freaker? I’m going to be honest, I do not understand why they added these at all. It’s overall pretty minor but it feels like the devs were just fucking around, which is strange in a game that’s surprisingly airtight and faithful to the originals.
The next major change comes in the form of bosses. I already mentioned the phantoms beforehand, but there’s also an entire new group of optional bosses. Most of these bosses are alright but generally unremarkable. However, there is one pretty great one; Scraptrap. If you beat all of the FFPS, begin the vent act and get to the office, you’ll discover him. Scraptrap is a pretty difficult fight, made all the more stressful by the fact that there is no save point. You can retry the fight after death, but if you quit the game you have to go through Ennard all over again. Scraptrap is pretty much just Springtrap, copying down his exact moves and using his same strategies. You have to be very liberal with your buffs and debuffs, as he will punish you for using both. My suggested strategy is to attempt to get him asleep, and then to apply buffs and debuffs, use that charge move and attack for massive damage. You’ll have to play defensively to cover the lowered defense but it’s worth it. Also always know that you can guard on your second attack to pretty much guard every turn, but I found that overkill.
Next is the story. This is when it starts to get good. At the end, you learn that Springtrap has been helping to revive Balloon Boy this whole time, and it ends like that. It’s a sudden ending, but it’s far from the end.
You start Act 2 with a cutscene. Golden Freddy is driving through the rain. Chipper calls and asks him to take down Springtrap and Phantom Balloon Boy. This part is unironically really fucking cool. A banger begins playing as you walk through the building to take down an old friend. As you walk, you see cutscenes of your past, revealing that Golden Freddy and Springtrap used to be friends. However, one day Springtrap decided to have a night of debauchery, in which he refused Golden Freddy from going. This sparked Golden Freddy’s hate of being uninvited to nights of debauchery.
The gameplay here is pretty unique too. Golden Freddy is another solo fighter, however he has a very unique ability; summoning. With enough TP, he can summon one of many party streamers to help him fight. Each party streamer has different moves which can be useful in different situations. Sadly however, the act isn’t long enough, nor are the fights interesting enough to let this moveset shine. You basically fight the same set of cameras from the first 2 games but with some differences.
At the end, you take on Springtrap and Phantom Balloon Boy. It’s a long and tough battle. Balloon Boy straight up leaves half way through, so don’t waste your time on him. This fight is sorta neat as there’s a move limit. After enough turns, the building will collapse and you will die, so make sure to kill Springtrap as fast as possible. In the end, the building burns to the ground and in the end you both seemingly go down in the fire together… or do they?
That’s it for FNaFb3. You may be thinking “That’s it?”, but trust me, we still have some ways to go. Before that though, there is something I must cover. Remember beforehand where I mentioned the W scenario in FNaFb1? Well, this scenario is also known as the Vile scenario.
Back at the pizzeria, we find a new character; Vile (who might be familiar to Megaman X fans). He has one goal; to find his father and get revenge. The mode itself in gameplay is pretty uninteresting; you’re basically blasting through FNaFb1 with a super overpowered character. The real meat of this mode comes from the lore reveals.
Scattered around the pizzeria are books, which tell a story. A story of a sought out man, who after being forced to care for a child from a woman who he hated, he decided to do the unthinkable. The child is sent to the past and lives a life on his own. However, after losing his wife to, and I quote, “a kratt racing dinosaur in a game of poker”, his life fell apart. After this, he began to hunt down his father for abandoning him when he needed him most. He was able to build his own time travel machine, finding himself in a dystopia wasteland where humans were no more. To this day, he is still hunting for his father. If it wasn’t obvious, this story is about Vile. His father? We’ll just have to see…
But anyways, the scenario ends with Vile taking down different phantoms created from his memories. He realizes that his father was not here, and decided to check out a different era. While this scenario is pretty absurd and obviously based on a multitude of inside jokes that I could never understand, it’s still pretty interesting. The story is unironically intriguing and I was curious what would happen next. And speaking of that…
Finally, after so much time, we reach the end. The Finale, or Act 3. This act is incredibly long, and brings everything to a close. It has both the highest highs and the lowest lows. The act also has very unique gameplay compared to the rest of the series. However, there is a bit of a prelude before this act kicks into full gear, so I'll start with that.
The act takes place just after the Afterstory. Freddy is alone in the Delorean, and decides that he wants to take the ultimate vacation, and so begins to locate Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy. After obtaining them all, they proceed to have the ultimate vacation, however, on their last stop, Freddy comes to a terrible sight; Vapor Land has lost all of its wave. Freddy grieves the loss of his washed out glory land. Realizing that the Delorean ran out of gas, Freddy and Co (minus Bonnie who fell off) travel to the ruins of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.
Freddy uses a large button on the wall he installed to bring back all his money, however it ends up getting scattered everywhere. While picking it up, Vile suddenly appears at the pizzeria. Believing Freddy to be his father, there’s a short chase sequence before they fight.
This fight is pretty neat, however there’s something beforehand I’d like to point out; the music. This is the first time the games have used actual “real” music rather than video game music, and God did they make an incredible choice. I was already a fan of The Fall of Troy as I had listened to them for the first time a few months prior after a recommendation, so hearing one of their songs here was surprising and awesome. Maybe it’s just because of its use in a fight, but I think the song is genuinely one of, if not my favorite song of all time. It hits most of my tastes in a perfect way. I highly recommend you go listen to it; “Mouths Like Sidewinder Missiles'’ by The Fall of Troy, you wont regret it (And also listen to the rest of the Doppelganger album, it has some gems).
Anyways, the rest of the fight is standard, at least in terms of the boss. The interesting part once again comes from the lore. Midway through the fight, Freddy has an epiphany and leaves. After a few turns, he comes back with who would’ve guessed, Toy Freddy. It’s revealed that he was the father, and that Vile was his and Splash Woman’s bastard child. Vile is obviously pissed by this, but Toy Freddy shows pretty much no remorse. After the fight, Vile dies. Freddy and Co face Balloon Boy in the office, however he is invincible. So, Freddy and Co go on a quest through dungeons inside the Past and Future respectively in order to turn on the generators, enter the office, and defeat Balloon Boy. Before we get into that though, I want to go over some wide sweep changes and additions.
The first notable change in gameplay is the party. You’re finally back to 4 party members! And not only that, but party member switching is back! You’re limited to just 4 at the start, however as you explore the dungeons (which we’ll get to later), you’ll discover more and more new party members from various points along the series. All these characters hold their original movesets, and can be used in combat in any combination (Freddy always has to be there though).
The second change comes within the map itself. FNaFb has always been very unique in where you play; you’re isolated to a single, pretty small building. There’s no real outside to explore and despite the fact that you can pretty much go anywhere, the tiny size of the maps means you’re always gonna be following the intended path. Act 3 takes the series in an entirely new direction by turning it into a full on dungeon crawler, with many floors, puzzles and characters to find. Exploring is actually pretty fun, and I thought all the puzzles were well made. There’s a total of two dungeons, one set in the Past and one in the Future, which you switch between to explore further in each. I love this system as I am an avid fan of dungeon crawlers, however, there is one major issue I have, which I will get to soon.
If there’s one thing that didn’t change too much, it’s the combat. It’s pretty much everything you’d expect up to this point, outside of the party member changes stated earlier. The biggest change is the lack of a level system. You still need to fight to get tokens, however every character starts at their highest level. This might be my biggest problem with Act 3. The dungeons are fun to explore, but combat feels genuinely pointless. Tokens are still useful, but it just feels pointless at that point. I would’ve greatly preferred if you had to level everyone up again, it would be fun. And sadly, despite loving the dungeons, they’re not good enough to carry the gameplay single handedly. I found myself bored around half way through. It sucks too since adding levels is such an easy fix, but whatever.
Speaking of combat though, the bosses are alright this time around. Most of the dungeon bosses are nothing notable. The real interest comes from the trinkets. Around the dungeon, you can pick up trinkets which can be brought to Toy Freddy. Each trinket will bring you to a different time period to fight a superboss. These fights are neat little things and have some nice jokes, but the fights themselves are kinda meh. I remember just trying to get through them because most of them are pretty slow.
There’s also one last big notable change. At the end of the Future dungeon, there’s a completely new boss; Dreadbear. The fight is surprisingly tough, but eventually you take him down and get him as a party member.
After beating the two dungeons, you’re at the end. This is it for not only the Act, not only for the game, but the entire franchise. Pick the best party members you’ve got and head into the office and face Balloon Boy. Balloon Boy reveals his true intention; to become God. All he has to do is breach time itself.
I’m gonna be honest, the fights that come next and the scene beforehand I described were a lot more impactful and emotional for me than I expected. I’ve never been particularly close with this series, however it’s been with me for years. I’ve been playing these games for 7 years now, nearly as long as the main FNaF series. I’ve replayed them countless times, however I was never able to truly finish it. So after all this time, seeing it all come to a close is just incredible. Freddy saying some stupid sterotypical JRPG shit about saving the universe and stopping BB genuinely threw me back. Starting the fight and hearing that music, paired with the original FNaFb 1 team I decided to start with for dramatic effect, hyped me up so much. However, the greatest part came after I scanned Hybrid B.B, where it simply read “No regrets. No turnbacks. Defeat BB”. The sense of finality from this fight, not just in the game, but for me and my connection to this series was absolutely insane. I don’t think there’s another game series currently that can top the rush I felt during this finale. The fact that a stupid game where Freddy says fuck can have this much impact on me is something that has to be commended highly.
Anyways, after Hybrid BB, you fight Balloon Boy’s final form. This fight is probably the hardest required fight in the series, taking a lot of time and strategy. It’s not over yet though. BB reveals that the fight was a ruse, and that it gave him just enough time to reach the portal to become God, and hops in.
Realizing what must be done, Freddy sends himself in to fight alone. He orders Toy Freddy to take the crew away. Toy Freddy meets with his old friend, Namine from Kingdom Hearts, and has her draw the crew, causing them to forget who Freddy is.
In between time, Freddy and Balloon Boy meet. BB has ascended to Godhood, absorbing the power of all the previous BBs across time that Freddy and co have killed. And at the same time, he has discovered something. A new universe, similar to theirs but free from debauchery; the original FNaF universe. He plans to break into it, and absorb all those who live there.
Freddy and Balloon Boy have one final fight. BB continuously kills Freddy, however he does not give in. Eventually, Freddy reflects one of BB’s attacks to his dismay, and hears the cry of the world’s heart. Using everything he has, Freddy takes down BB once and for all, using Savior’s Inhale to end it for good. And after that, it’s over. Freddy is gone, his fate left open. None of his friends will remember who he was, outside of Toy Freddy. His accomplishments will be forgotten for the rest of time, with no one knowing the great sacrifice he made. The end.
In spite of its flaws, Act 3 is an amazing end to the series. It’s cheesy, stereotypical, sad and funny, and I couldn't imagine it ending any other way. It’s worth replaying just for the ending alone.
And with that, the series is over. There were a few extra things I didn’t mention here, but those are either currently not a part of CC or are just canceled games that never finished. It’s sad to see it go, but this series is something special. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fan game reach the amount of further fan games spinning off the fan games than I have seen with FNaFb. This series clearly clicks in a way with a lot of people, including myself. I wouldn’t have gotten into RPG Maker 4 years ago if I never played these games.
If you don’t think you could get past the humor or premise of these games, then it’s probably not for you. FNaFb requires an acquired taste of sorts to enjoy to its fullest. Turn based RPGs is one of the more controversial genres, and the FNaF series has never been too respected by most people. However, if you can get past that and want to enjoy some of the best RPG combat and battles I’ve ever experienced, as well as some genuinely funny dialogue, please give this game a shot. While I never expect this game to receive the respect I think it deserves, especially since it barely even respects itself, I hope my review can make you think twice about ignoring this game and chopping it up to be just another FNaF fangame, because it is so much more than that.
Five Nights at Fuckboys: Complete Collection is a game that shouldn't be respected. It's a crude, tasteless parody of the FNaF series turned into a turn based RPG format with a story that rivals Kingdom Hearts in convolution, and only a few characters that have any depth outside of swearing and sex jokes. And yet, I love this game. With a combination of scarily well balanced RPG combat, fantastic music choices with an entire alternate OST if you're sick of the main one, a surprisingly good story, and some of the best turn based battles I have ever played through.
Before I begin, I feel that it's important that I talk about my history with the series beforehand. I discovered FNaFb one day while I was scrolling through GameJolt as a child. I played all three games, however I always played on Normal, never did any of the bonus bosses, and in FNaFb3 I never made it past Act 2. I have played the originals countless times. Something about these games were just strangely alluring to me. In the years after, I would randomly get desires to replay these games.
One time, I decided to look deeper into FNaFb, and discovered an entire community of FNaFb fans who made fan games. This lead me down another rabbit hole of strange, usually shitty FNaFb inspired games like FuckCraft, FNaFb: IAT, and Persono. During my dives into the depths, I learned of a new FNaFb game; the Complete Collection. A full remake of the first 3 games inside of the new RPG Maker engine, MV. Needless to say I was excited, and so waited patiently.
After months of waiting, it finally came out in March of 2021. I then played it..... for an hour or so. For some reason I just wasn't grabbed, and so I moved on. It wasn't until a year later where I picked up the game again in January of 2022. I then played for a few more hours before dropping at FNaFb3 Act 1. It wasn't until late May of 2022, where I discovered JoiPlay, and the fact that I could play these games at school. Suddenly a fire was reignited and I blasted through the rest of FNaFb 3, including beating Act 3 for the first time.
To say I was satisfied with this collection is an understatement. As stupid as this sounds, I think in relativity, this game is amazing. You might not believe me, however I personally think this game perfects RPG Maker's combat system with minimal additions.
Before that though, I should go over the game. FNaFb CC is split into 5 parts; FNaFb1, 2, 3, as well as the "Afterstory" and "Finale". There's a nifty play order button right on the title screen that tells you exactly the order you should play it (though I will say, I wish it included the Vile scenario so people wouldn't play it right after FNaFb 1 without the context of 2). Each game is really well recreated and preserved in the collection. However, there are a decent amount of notable changes to improve balancing and other parts of the game.
While playing these games, I always chose the hardest difficulty (outside of Night XXX because, you know), and I highly suggest it. XX/Proud feels like the true dev intended way to play the game, and all the fights are balanced accordingly with it. XX brings a special feature with it though; dietary guilt. A major exploit in the original FNaFb was the ability to just spam food and other items onto your party members, effectively making them invincible and giving the ability to beat almost any fight, even ones intended to be unbeatable. CC removes this by adding a new system. Every edible item has one of two aspects; dietary or alcoholism. They are effectively the same, the only difference being the former being food and the ladder being drinks. This adds a lot to combat. Not only can you no longer spam max HP pizzas, but you also have to carefully consider when to use your food and which one to use. If you max out your DP or AP, then you'll be unable to consume food until your points reach a certain point. Despite its overall simplicity, I think it adds so much to combat. You really have to consider your choices in battle. Do I heal here and max out this character’s DP? Or do I heal with a skill, removing the DP but removing SP and adding another gauge to watch for? The feature is generally unintrusive, but if you completely ignore it you’ll regret it, like a ticking timebomb ready to go off if you fuck up.
The first game I'll start with is FNaFb 1. It's very simple and short, starting you as the titular Freddy Fuckboy. Your goal? Have a night of debauchery and shit on all the cameras. Simple, but endearing. The humor in the first game is good. It sets up not only the humor for the series going on, but also the beginning of many recurring jokes in the series. The small puzzles to recruit party members is also pretty fun, though incredibly easy once you know what you're doing. A neat feature about this game is that you can recruit the party members in any order, or you can just not recruit some. You’re given the freedom to tackle the game how you want, though there’s no real reason to not recruit them.
The cameras are the first major change in CC. Rather than every camera being the exact same, each one has a special gimmick to them. So for example, one might be incredibly strong but can only hit every other turn, one might be incredibly fast and even outpace Foxy, or a camera that causes your team to constantly lose HP. There's lots of variety and it adds a lot to what used to be overall pretty boring and unnotable battles in the original. Another major change is the Puppet. Rather than being a constant timer, the Puppet appears and gives you only 5 minutes to prepare. You better run around and grind like crazy, or you'll get your ass kicked (it's not nearly as bad as the OG trust me). Once you beat the Puppet, a second Puppet spawns, however it has no time limit. It is simply a bonus boss you can fight at any time. I really love these changes. In the entire FNaFb series and especially fan games, they really loved bringing back this stupid fucking Puppet for no reason. Its gimmick was super annoying and a chore to do. It added so much wasted time to every playthrough, as every 3 minutes you'd have to backtrack or be killed by an insanely hard superboss. Luckily by Act 2, the puppet was removed from existence, but his scars on the community will always remain.
The only other truly notable change is the bonus dungeon. For context, every FNaFb game received a "Final Mix" update to the game, adding wealths of content and overhauling certain aspects. In FNaFb 1, the big addition was this dungeon. It has a unique gimmick where your health is constantly drained, however there are restore points around the map that fully fill up your HP. CC changes this, instead adding a new oxygen meter that slowly goes down. If it hits zero, you die. It's relatively easy to get through, especially with all the oxygen vials, but it's still pretty stressful. In CC, there is also a bonus boss at the end. You have to fight Plushtrap. Apparently, this bonus boss was added as a teaser for FNaFb ASL, a now canceled FNaFb VR game (I wonder why it was canceled). The boss is overall pretty easy and not notable, outside of its connection to ASL. FNaFb1 ends with a fight against Golden Freddy, who is pissed that you didn't invite him to your night of debauchery (remember this, it's important). Freddy and Co beat the shit out of him and the game ends. (I forgot to mention, if you complete all the content there is a little bonus boss with Puppetmaster BB, where he reveals himself to be the villain. His role as antagonist isn’t important yet though).
Overall, FNaFb1 CC is a fantastic remake of the original. Removing all that made it annoying and instead adding genuinely fun and balanced features, FNaFb 1 CC acts as an easy replacement of the original, and should be played first if you're interested. FNaFb1 also has two side modes; its Q and W scenario. The Q scenario just lets you play as BB and is non canon, however the W scenario is much more interesting. I will go over it later.
Next is FNaFB2. It's similar to its predecessor in many ways; Freddy (now Toy) decided to go on a night of debauchery and invites all the animatronics in the pizzeria to join (including Golden Freddy this time!). Most everything I said about FNaFb 1 is true with this one, so instead I will focus on the unique things that make this game stand out.
First is the plot. This is where the series goes from Freddy says fuck to Freddy says fuck to Balloon Boy who is also God now for some reason. It's a stupid plot but it's enjoyable, but it hasn't truly picked up at this time yet.
The next is the combat. It's mostly the same, except for one key difference; the Withereds. In the original FNaFb2, you were dumped all 8 animatronics at the same time. Every turn in battle, you had to give commands to and account for all 8 animatronics, and as you could easily guess it was a nightmare, especially for the balancing. CC fixes this perfectly and adds a decent amount of extra depth to this game; allowing you to only use 4 animatronics, but being able to switch any of them out freely (outside of Toy Freddy of course). And my favorite part; when you switch, they get to go on that turn. You don't waste the turn. The amount of extra strategy this adds to bosses is great and makes some encounters, especially one in particular, really fun. Their HP, SP, and TP also stay the same when you switch, which allows for fun strategies like something I call a "Toy Chica Bomb", where you max out Toy Chica's TP as soon as possible before switching her out for someone else, and then when you're in a tricky situation, adding her back and having her use her move where she revives the entire party or fully buffs all of them. Shit like this is just incredibly satisfying to be able to be given the tools as a player to do, while also making boss fights more strategic. And speaking of bosses...
The boss fights in FNaFb2 CC are easily the best in the entire collection. All of them are incredibly well balanced, and one of them is genuinely one of my favorites of all time in any game. Some examples of great fights are Shadow Bonnie, who hides his health bar and makes the fight unpredictable and intense, Toy Freddy where you must face yourself and throws off your current strategy by taking away your permanent party member and making you rethink, and Giygas BB, with his incredibly simple but genius gimmick of the empty heads, which give BB an extra move based off one of the 4 original FNaFb 1 party members.
However, out of all of these, one stands above the rest, and of course that belongs to the Refurbs. After beating every single boss on Proud mode, the animatronics from FNaFb 1 suddenly appear during the credits for one final showdown. The whole fight is incredible. I have played many games where you fight other people who are apparently on your level, however they use none of the cheap tricks you can. The Refurbs change that, giving them access to both healing and reviving. This sounds terrible, but the fight is meticulously balanced so that it becomes fair, if challenging. You have to constantly attack the animatronics, while also making sure your party stays alive too. It's a long back and forth full of death, dietary guilt, and constant party member swapping, but after a long battle you can exhaust their resources and take the victory. Beating this boss for the first time after fighting them multiple times for 40 minutes each was one of the most satisfying moments in any turn based game I've played. A genuinely genius boss battle that I will view as a golden example as how to do a challenging superboss correctly in turn based games.
However, that is not all for FNaFb2. Starting with it, there was a very interesting way of storytelling added to the games; side modes. The side mode included in this game was the Afterstory, also known as the Save Import Scenario. In the original FNaFb2, if you placed a completed Night XXX save file from FNaFb1 into 2's save folder and loaded it in game, you'd unlock a special mode detailing the events after Night XXX. This is where the story goes off the rails. After Freddy and Co get completely yiffed by Golden Freddy, Freddy is left all alone with his teammates dead. However out of nowhere, Balloon Boy comes in with his time machine and picks up Freddy, taking him to the glorious 80's, aka the FNaFb 2 location. After some shenanigans with the lord Michael Jackson, 90's BB kills 80's BB, fucking up the timeline. BB then warps back to the future with the Puppet to fuck up FNaFb1 and possess the toys. Freddy escapes and explores the 80's, finding himself in a land of glorious vaporwave. He eventually encounters Golden Freddy, and take him 1-1. However, his allies suddenly appear from the sky and fight alongside him, and they eventually take Golden Freddy down in an epic rematch. Afterward, the gang catch up with BB in order to get back home, however after a dispute they are sent in between timelines. Eventually, they escape, but BB travels to the credits, trapping the animatronics in the cutscene and allowing for BB's escape. After the credits though, they find the FNaFb2 cast, and Freddy decided to take them on as an unwinnable superboss just to fuck with them. However, they both join forces after deciding to team up against BB after Freddy and Co obliterate them. They wander into his new golden palace, and face him, with each animatronic group facing him individually. Finally, the Freddys team up, leveling up every single turn, before delivering the final blow, killing BB and banishing him between timelines.
In my opinion, the Afterstory is peak FNaFb. It is easily the funniest for me, with great lines from every character. They all have great timing and execution, and the whole trapped in the credits sequence is amazing. The boss fights are all really solid too, especially the final boss where you fight with each character group individually. Seeing XXX Freddy level up to 20 too was also just an amazing moment. While I love what comes after, I think Afterstory just hits all the high points of the series for me.
And finally, we have FNaFb3. This is easily the biggest of the three, while also easily being the most unique. And in terms of the CC, it's the game that has been touched up the most. Most of the changes for CC up to this point have been, in my opinion, just better than the original all around, however with FNaFb3, there are enough changes and additions to the point where I can easily understand a preference between one or the other. This is going to be a long one, so let's get into it.
Unlike with FNaFb2, I cannot fully gloss over similar aspects with FNaFb1, as so much has changed. So, I'll start from the beginning. This game has three acts; Act 1, Act 2, And Act 3 (also known as "Finale" in CC). These acts all shift up the gameplay of FNaFb3 considerably. Obviously, I will start with Act 1.
In the first genre defining change that will shake the foundation of gaming as a whole, you play as “not Freddy”, aka Springtrap. Springtrap is very unique as a party member, as he has two turns. And likewise, due to this, he never gains any party members. For the entirety of Act 1, you are completely alone. I personally love this feature. It completely recontextualizes how you do fights, and the limited two turns you're given makes the way you strategize and tackle battles entirely different. Springtrap was easily my most favorite character to play as, as he's given just enough tool variety to be really fun while not being too boring or too easy. I have no clue how they did it but they struck the balance perfectly.
The gameplay has received some notable changes. You go after the Phantoms in a linear format this time, with each having a special mechanic similar to the Cameras of past games. There’s also the aforementioned double turns, which gives combat a completely new feel. However outside of that, the gameplay is pretty similar to what I described for previous games.
The true first difference comes from enemies. In random encounters, the devs decided to add new enemies. I always found these new additions really strange and out of place, as they break away from the common theme of pizzeria items and instead go for random shit like kids in ghost costumes and… Freddy Freaker? I’m going to be honest, I do not understand why they added these at all. It’s overall pretty minor but it feels like the devs were just fucking around, which is strange in a game that’s surprisingly airtight and faithful to the originals.
The next major change comes in the form of bosses. I already mentioned the phantoms beforehand, but there’s also an entire new group of optional bosses. Most of these bosses are alright but generally unremarkable. However, there is one pretty great one; Scraptrap. If you beat all of the FFPS, begin the vent act and get to the office, you’ll discover him. Scraptrap is a pretty difficult fight, made all the more stressful by the fact that there is no save point. You can retry the fight after death, but if you quit the game you have to go through Ennard all over again. Scraptrap is pretty much just Springtrap, copying down his exact moves and using his same strategies. You have to be very liberal with your buffs and debuffs, as he will punish you for using both. My suggested strategy is to attempt to get him asleep, and then to apply buffs and debuffs, use that charge move and attack for massive damage. You’ll have to play defensively to cover the lowered defense but it’s worth it. Also always know that you can guard on your second attack to pretty much guard every turn, but I found that overkill.
Next is the story. This is when it starts to get good. At the end, you learn that Springtrap has been helping to revive Balloon Boy this whole time, and it ends like that. It’s a sudden ending, but it’s far from the end.
You start Act 2 with a cutscene. Golden Freddy is driving through the rain. Chipper calls and asks him to take down Springtrap and Phantom Balloon Boy. This part is unironically really fucking cool. A banger begins playing as you walk through the building to take down an old friend. As you walk, you see cutscenes of your past, revealing that Golden Freddy and Springtrap used to be friends. However, one day Springtrap decided to have a night of debauchery, in which he refused Golden Freddy from going. This sparked Golden Freddy’s hate of being uninvited to nights of debauchery.
The gameplay here is pretty unique too. Golden Freddy is another solo fighter, however he has a very unique ability; summoning. With enough TP, he can summon one of many party streamers to help him fight. Each party streamer has different moves which can be useful in different situations. Sadly however, the act isn’t long enough, nor are the fights interesting enough to let this moveset shine. You basically fight the same set of cameras from the first 2 games but with some differences.
At the end, you take on Springtrap and Phantom Balloon Boy. It’s a long and tough battle. Balloon Boy straight up leaves half way through, so don’t waste your time on him. This fight is sorta neat as there’s a move limit. After enough turns, the building will collapse and you will die, so make sure to kill Springtrap as fast as possible. In the end, the building burns to the ground and in the end you both seemingly go down in the fire together… or do they?
That’s it for FNaFb3. You may be thinking “That’s it?”, but trust me, we still have some ways to go. Before that though, there is something I must cover. Remember beforehand where I mentioned the W scenario in FNaFb1? Well, this scenario is also known as the Vile scenario.
Back at the pizzeria, we find a new character; Vile (who might be familiar to Megaman X fans). He has one goal; to find his father and get revenge. The mode itself in gameplay is pretty uninteresting; you’re basically blasting through FNaFb1 with a super overpowered character. The real meat of this mode comes from the lore reveals.
Scattered around the pizzeria are books, which tell a story. A story of a sought out man, who after being forced to care for a child from a woman who he hated, he decided to do the unthinkable. The child is sent to the past and lives a life on his own. However, after losing his wife to, and I quote, “a kratt racing dinosaur in a game of poker”, his life fell apart. After this, he began to hunt down his father for abandoning him when he needed him most. He was able to build his own time travel machine, finding himself in a dystopia wasteland where humans were no more. To this day, he is still hunting for his father. If it wasn’t obvious, this story is about Vile. His father? We’ll just have to see…
But anyways, the scenario ends with Vile taking down different phantoms created from his memories. He realizes that his father was not here, and decided to check out a different era. While this scenario is pretty absurd and obviously based on a multitude of inside jokes that I could never understand, it’s still pretty interesting. The story is unironically intriguing and I was curious what would happen next. And speaking of that…
Finally, after so much time, we reach the end. The Finale, or Act 3. This act is incredibly long, and brings everything to a close. It has both the highest highs and the lowest lows. The act also has very unique gameplay compared to the rest of the series. However, there is a bit of a prelude before this act kicks into full gear, so I'll start with that.
The act takes place just after the Afterstory. Freddy is alone in the Delorean, and decides that he wants to take the ultimate vacation, and so begins to locate Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy. After obtaining them all, they proceed to have the ultimate vacation, however, on their last stop, Freddy comes to a terrible sight; Vapor Land has lost all of its wave. Freddy grieves the loss of his washed out glory land. Realizing that the Delorean ran out of gas, Freddy and Co (minus Bonnie who fell off) travel to the ruins of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.
Freddy uses a large button on the wall he installed to bring back all his money, however it ends up getting scattered everywhere. While picking it up, Vile suddenly appears at the pizzeria. Believing Freddy to be his father, there’s a short chase sequence before they fight.
This fight is pretty neat, however there’s something beforehand I’d like to point out; the music. This is the first time the games have used actual “real” music rather than video game music, and God did they make an incredible choice. I was already a fan of The Fall of Troy as I had listened to them for the first time a few months prior after a recommendation, so hearing one of their songs here was surprising and awesome. Maybe it’s just because of its use in a fight, but I think the song is genuinely one of, if not my favorite song of all time. It hits most of my tastes in a perfect way. I highly recommend you go listen to it; “Mouths Like Sidewinder Missiles'’ by The Fall of Troy, you wont regret it (And also listen to the rest of the Doppelganger album, it has some gems).
Anyways, the rest of the fight is standard, at least in terms of the boss. The interesting part once again comes from the lore. Midway through the fight, Freddy has an epiphany and leaves. After a few turns, he comes back with who would’ve guessed, Toy Freddy. It’s revealed that he was the father, and that Vile was his and Splash Woman’s bastard child. Vile is obviously pissed by this, but Toy Freddy shows pretty much no remorse. After the fight, Vile dies. Freddy and Co face Balloon Boy in the office, however he is invincible. So, Freddy and Co go on a quest through dungeons inside the Past and Future respectively in order to turn on the generators, enter the office, and defeat Balloon Boy. Before we get into that though, I want to go over some wide sweep changes and additions.
The first notable change in gameplay is the party. You’re finally back to 4 party members! And not only that, but party member switching is back! You’re limited to just 4 at the start, however as you explore the dungeons (which we’ll get to later), you’ll discover more and more new party members from various points along the series. All these characters hold their original movesets, and can be used in combat in any combination (Freddy always has to be there though).
The second change comes within the map itself. FNaFb has always been very unique in where you play; you’re isolated to a single, pretty small building. There’s no real outside to explore and despite the fact that you can pretty much go anywhere, the tiny size of the maps means you’re always gonna be following the intended path. Act 3 takes the series in an entirely new direction by turning it into a full on dungeon crawler, with many floors, puzzles and characters to find. Exploring is actually pretty fun, and I thought all the puzzles were well made. There’s a total of two dungeons, one set in the Past and one in the Future, which you switch between to explore further in each. I love this system as I am an avid fan of dungeon crawlers, however, there is one major issue I have, which I will get to soon.
If there’s one thing that didn’t change too much, it’s the combat. It’s pretty much everything you’d expect up to this point, outside of the party member changes stated earlier. The biggest change is the lack of a level system. You still need to fight to get tokens, however every character starts at their highest level. This might be my biggest problem with Act 3. The dungeons are fun to explore, but combat feels genuinely pointless. Tokens are still useful, but it just feels pointless at that point. I would’ve greatly preferred if you had to level everyone up again, it would be fun. And sadly, despite loving the dungeons, they’re not good enough to carry the gameplay single handedly. I found myself bored around half way through. It sucks too since adding levels is such an easy fix, but whatever.
Speaking of combat though, the bosses are alright this time around. Most of the dungeon bosses are nothing notable. The real interest comes from the trinkets. Around the dungeon, you can pick up trinkets which can be brought to Toy Freddy. Each trinket will bring you to a different time period to fight a superboss. These fights are neat little things and have some nice jokes, but the fights themselves are kinda meh. I remember just trying to get through them because most of them are pretty slow.
There’s also one last big notable change. At the end of the Future dungeon, there’s a completely new boss; Dreadbear. The fight is surprisingly tough, but eventually you take him down and get him as a party member.
After beating the two dungeons, you’re at the end. This is it for not only the Act, not only for the game, but the entire franchise. Pick the best party members you’ve got and head into the office and face Balloon Boy. Balloon Boy reveals his true intention; to become God. All he has to do is breach time itself.
I’m gonna be honest, the fights that come next and the scene beforehand I described were a lot more impactful and emotional for me than I expected. I’ve never been particularly close with this series, however it’s been with me for years. I’ve been playing these games for 7 years now, nearly as long as the main FNaF series. I’ve replayed them countless times, however I was never able to truly finish it. So after all this time, seeing it all come to a close is just incredible. Freddy saying some stupid sterotypical JRPG shit about saving the universe and stopping BB genuinely threw me back. Starting the fight and hearing that music, paired with the original FNaFb 1 team I decided to start with for dramatic effect, hyped me up so much. However, the greatest part came after I scanned Hybrid B.B, where it simply read “No regrets. No turnbacks. Defeat BB”. The sense of finality from this fight, not just in the game, but for me and my connection to this series was absolutely insane. I don’t think there’s another game series currently that can top the rush I felt during this finale. The fact that a stupid game where Freddy says fuck can have this much impact on me is something that has to be commended highly.
Anyways, after Hybrid BB, you fight Balloon Boy’s final form. This fight is probably the hardest required fight in the series, taking a lot of time and strategy. It’s not over yet though. BB reveals that the fight was a ruse, and that it gave him just enough time to reach the portal to become God, and hops in.
Realizing what must be done, Freddy sends himself in to fight alone. He orders Toy Freddy to take the crew away. Toy Freddy meets with his old friend, Namine from Kingdom Hearts, and has her draw the crew, causing them to forget who Freddy is.
In between time, Freddy and Balloon Boy meet. BB has ascended to Godhood, absorbing the power of all the previous BBs across time that Freddy and co have killed. And at the same time, he has discovered something. A new universe, similar to theirs but free from debauchery; the original FNaF universe. He plans to break into it, and absorb all those who live there.
Freddy and Balloon Boy have one final fight. BB continuously kills Freddy, however he does not give in. Eventually, Freddy reflects one of BB’s attacks to his dismay, and hears the cry of the world’s heart. Using everything he has, Freddy takes down BB once and for all, using Savior’s Inhale to end it for good. And after that, it’s over. Freddy is gone, his fate left open. None of his friends will remember who he was, outside of Toy Freddy. His accomplishments will be forgotten for the rest of time, with no one knowing the great sacrifice he made. The end.
In spite of its flaws, Act 3 is an amazing end to the series. It’s cheesy, stereotypical, sad and funny, and I couldn't imagine it ending any other way. It’s worth replaying just for the ending alone.
And with that, the series is over. There were a few extra things I didn’t mention here, but those are either currently not a part of CC or are just canceled games that never finished. It’s sad to see it go, but this series is something special. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fan game reach the amount of further fan games spinning off the fan games than I have seen with FNaFb. This series clearly clicks in a way with a lot of people, including myself. I wouldn’t have gotten into RPG Maker 4 years ago if I never played these games.
If you don’t think you could get past the humor or premise of these games, then it’s probably not for you. FNaFb requires an acquired taste of sorts to enjoy to its fullest. Turn based RPGs is one of the more controversial genres, and the FNaF series has never been too respected by most people. However, if you can get past that and want to enjoy some of the best RPG combat and battles I’ve ever experienced, as well as some genuinely funny dialogue, please give this game a shot. While I never expect this game to receive the respect I think it deserves, especially since it barely even respects itself, I hope my review can make you think twice about ignoring this game and chopping it up to be just another FNaF fangame, because it is so much more than that.