I did not want to sleep anyway. I am not scared. You are scared. Did you hear footsteps? Dear god, are they getting closer? The creepy animatronic bunny will never find me under the bed.

Game Title: Five Nights at Freddy’s : Into the Pit

Developer & Publisher: Mega Cat Studios

Release date: August 8, 2024

OS: Windows, Xbox, PS4&PS5, Nintendo Switch

Review Platform: Steam 

Price: $19.99

What Is It 

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit is a third-person horror adventure game set in the FNAF universe. It is reminiscent of old school LucasArt or Sierra point-and-click adventure games, which were some of the first games I played on PC, way back in the long ago. It combines a pixelated point and click adventure with horror. You would think horror would not work with throw-back visuals, but somehow it does and quite effectively at that.

The Mostly Good

Story

The story opens with the child protagonist, Oswald, getting dropped off at the local pizza joint by his dad. Oswald seems a bit of a brat towards his father, who is doing the best he can trying to make ends meet. Oswald, being the nine year old that he is, is less than understanding. When the game began, I had no sympathy for this kid; within a relatively short period of time, that all changed when I was experiencing his anxiety along with him. Although, I guess it was only my own anxiety since Oswald is a cartoon on my screen. My job was navigating him to safety, while solving puzzles, and avoiding being brutally murdered by a possessed animatronic bunny. It sounds much easier than it was. The kid falls down a lot and breathes pretty heavily, making him a loud and slow target.

Controls

Controls are pretty basic and worked well. I played on both a desktop PC using KBM and a Rog Ally, which employs an Xbox style controller. I usually have a preference but both were responsive and intuitive. It was easy to switch back and forth between the two devices and honestly both work great.

Horror 

How can a pixelated visuals cause such fear, such horror, such anxiety? Well, it can do so by providing outstanding atmospheric audio. Mega Cat Studios knocked it out of the park with the sound effects. I (Oswald) spent so much time hiding just listening, because in order to know how to avoid the psycho bunny, it was necessary. Footsteps and doors opening and closing are good indicators of how close you are to being bunny food. Hiding is sometimes your only option to avoid detection, but even then you have to do it just right or else…Highly recommend wearing a headset for this game to ensure you hear everything. It is important to hear all the audio cues to ensure Oswald’s life is longer than nine years.  

I don’t want to give too much away, but there are jump scares. I am not a huge fan of this tactic, but for Into the Pit, it helps to put the player on edge and keeps them there. I spent 90% of the game anxious, convinced Oswald, that kid that I once thought of as a spoiled brat (an hour ago), was going to bite it every single time he walked through a door, whether I heard any noise or not.

I feel employing a child as the protagonist is what really put me on edge. Sure, if an adult get ripped apart by a psycho bunny, I would be ok with it, but a kid? Not so much. No doubt the developers are very aware of what impact the choice of using a juvenile instead of an adult would have on players.

Puzzles

Besides running and hiding, puzzles aplenty can be found in Into the Pit. None are overly taxing and all are logical. There are no “combine an orange with a gum wrapper and some chalk to create biofuel to power the helicopter made of cheese” puzzles to be found here (sad MacGyver noises). However, some require going back and forth to different areas (again, do not want to give away too much) to complete. This, of course, means there are times you are more vulnerable to psycho bunny attacks than others, but I enjoyed working these out. I felt very accomplished when my brain was able to ascertain where to go and what to do (my brain is not always known for doing the smart thing).

Not All Is Well

Difficulty

While the game is not overly difficult as there is an easier setting to play on, which is more about narrative (If the narrative was all about killing you), it is still somewhat tricky to time things accurately. Often I would be sure I heard the psycho bunny move off and go through another door, only to go into that room to have him standing right there waiting for me. Perhaps psychotic animatronic bunnies are cleverer than I give them credit for. Using audio cues to gauge the location of the enemy is very important and if those cues are not accurate, it can be frustrating.

Saves

Into the Pit employs automatic saves. This mechanic has always been a bone of contention for me. While I do not mind if there are automatic saves, I do mind if there is not a way to manually save gameplay. There were many times after either dying or closing the game down because life gets in the way sometimes, that I would hop back in to find I was much further back than I would have liked to be. I then had to repeat an entire series of actions to catch up to where I had been. All this could have been avoided with manual saves.

Conclusion

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit is not a long game, but it is a memorable one. I have never played anything else from the series, but when I saw this was a pixelated adventure that was a horror, I was immediately drawn to it. I now hide behind doors or try to scramble under my bed when I hear footsteps in the hall. I need one of those big travel trunks (ok, maybe not big, I can likely fit in a child sized one) to jump into whenever I hear the mechanical moans wafting up the stairs. I am dreaming of a giant psycho bunny face looming over me. This game has made me incredibly paranoid and that is a good thing. It means it did its job well.

Yay Or Nay

Definitely a Yay. I am a lover of both retro style games and horror. Mega Cat Studio succeeds in combining the two into something short and sweet (sweet if you are into psycho bunnies). Very much recommend this, and not just to share my newfound fear of animatronic bunnies with others. The game is very good and worth a look if you are into both point and click and horror games. Seriously, it is kind of scary, even if it’s all in my own mind. Wait, what was that? Did you hear that? It’s standing behind me isn’t it….

“Oh it’s just a harmless little bunny, isn’t it?“

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit gets an A- from me. It’s very well done with a few minor grievances that are easy to overlook.