10 Surprisingly Good Indie Horror Video Games Of 2016
5. Five Nights At Freddy's: Sister Location
LRD: Oct 7
One of the biggest meh releases of 2016, the fifth instalment in the rusty FNaF series was something no one needed, no one asked for, no one cared for, and yet not only is here today, but it possibly is one of the most interesting and underrated games of the year.
Before you roll your eyes and click the Next button, let’s be clear: for fans and people concerned about disentrailing the game's stubborn riddles, Sister Location proved to be as disappointing and useless as every other prequel-sequel-spinoff. Same goes to the ones who loved its former retro charm. Nevertheless, the product stands out as a kind of reformulation: it doesn’t explain a thing, because it doesn’t want to, and finally embraces altogether that condition of vagueness to be effectual and intriguing once again.
HandUnit, the new Phone Guy, and some cutscenes add lots of refreshing self-referential humour, cutting over-seriousness, but not stopping chilling moments from being less successful (quite the contrary). Also, the fact that you need to fulfill varied tasks of unpredictable nature recoups something lost long ago: the excitement of surviving each night, not just to pass by them to unveil another obscure minigame, but to accept the challenge, whatever it might be.
Is it a prequel? Is it a sequel? Is it an unattached storyline? Who cares? What’s important is that it is a slice of crisp, tasty gaming.