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Fans of Five Nights at Freddy’s are also wildly familiar with the novels woven into the series. One of the most prolific of these novels is Into The Pit, written by series creator Scott Cawthon with Elley Cooper. It contains three stories set within the franchise’s universe. The first of these stories, eponymously titled Into The Pit, was released as a video game on the tenth anniversary of the franchise’s inception.
As one of the series’ longtime fans, I jumped at the opportunity to play the game, and I’m excited to say that it’s an installment that will surely bring new and old fans back into the franchise. Are you ready to jump into the dirty ball pit of a desecrated pizza joint and jump out into the infamous Freddy’s Pizza in 1985? I thought I was too.
Story: Aren’t Those Balls… Dirty?
The story follows Oswald, whose father drops him off at Jeff’s Pizza every day over the summer as he cannot afford childcare while school is out. Upset at the situation, Oswald decides to play a prank on his father by jumping into an abandoned ball pit that spins out in his father being possessed by a Yellow Rabbit animatronic from when the restaurant used to be Freddy’s Pizza. Saving his father becomes Oswald’s sole purpose for returning to the pizzeria over the next five days and facing the evil animatronics that lay waiting back in 1985.
Although this is one of the many series spin-offs, it is completely playable by itself, without ever knowing anything about Freddy, Bonnie, or the others. I’m also impressed at how the game doesn’t hold your hand with respect to explanations and simply throws story beats your way. You don’t need to know why these animatronics are the way that they are to run away, hide, and fight for your life. There really isn’t any time to learn that information anyway. Only the important parts of the story are put in the forefront.
I also very much enjoyed the fact that the game is incredibly straightforward, focusing exclusively on what is happening with Oswald. Yes, other characters are affected, but it’s Oswald’s story that we are playing through, and nothing else matters. I think the approach also made the game the perfect length of four to five hours.
Talented Pixelated Artistry
I absolutely adore the way the game looks. Pixel artistry isn’t new, but I have never seen it animated so well and intricately as in Into The Pit. Even background characters have forced me to stop, call my wife, and show her how cool an animation of someone chewing on pizza is. I’ve never done that before, and that’s because I’ve never been so impressed with movement smoothness and liveness in anything that involves pixel art.
The backgrounds of each area are also incredibly well done, and they are doing a great job of being discreet and demure while also being ostentatious to those who are diehard fans. Concerning the idea of the game not holding your hand, there are plenty of moments where you aren’t aware of what you should interact with next because of how well they mesh with the background. This can be a bit frustrating; however, I would be lying if I didn’t get that sense of accomplishment every time I moved forward.
Save My Dad At All Costs… Even Death!
Into The Pit features very basic gameplay that makes the horror concept all the more terrifying. You quite literally only have your movement controls and an interaction key as you climb into vents and scare animatronics using the blinding light of a flashlight to the eyes. The rest of the gameplay is akin to point-and-click adventure games where you must interact with your surroundings to pick them up and use them. The simplicity is terrifying, especially given the visible game area when you’re running; you won’t see Chica until she’s already in front of you!
Only one thing bothered me about the gameplay: the randomness of some of the solutions. I’ll admit that some tasks took me longer than the norm because I was merely interacting with everything to see if I happened to miss anything. It wasn’t ideal, but it did help me explore different rooms, earn achievements, and unknowingly earn stars for different endings. The biggest gameplay factor was probably the sound. However, I’ll put that in its own category for dissecting.
Maybe I Turned Down The Volume Once or Twice
Sound is a huge aspect of the gameplay in Into The Pit. The beginning of the game recommends wearing headphones, and there’s a great reason for that. Although you are more than welcome to walk from room to room, running away from danger as you see it, you can also listen carefully to the footsteps outside your door. You could even do the opposite, attracting enemies by making loud noises. Some items can help you at the expense of being loud enough for others to hear.
On the other hand, with your headphones glued to your ears, Mega Cat Studios takes advantage of this with well-timed jump scares and loud sounds. I’ll admit that I had my finger on the volume control throughout my experience, but these moments also helped define the game as more horror-leaning. I also felt that these moments were well-placed and never over-saturated the experience. There were several scenes that I will remember for a long time simply because of the sound design.
I’ll Jump Into That Dirty Pit Again
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into The Pit is an incredible entry to the franchise. It’s both a great game and an artistic endeavor in the realms of art and sound design. I highly recommend this game to those who have been speculating about playing any mainline games but want to be a part of the community. I’d also recommend it to those who want a short and sweet experience packed with the perfect amount of content. It’s a completely different experience that combines everything good about the franchise without repeating what we have come to know about it.
(The review code was provided to The Nerd Stash by Mega Cat Studios)
Five Nights at Freddy's: Into The Pit (Reviewed on PC)
An incredible adaptation of the eponymous short story that isn't without it's minute faults, making it one of the best installments to the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise.
The Good
- Perfect length for a game based on a short story.
- Gorgeous use of sound effects.
The Bad
- Lots of progress can be lost due to no manual save feature.
- Some solutions seem a bit random.
