Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach was released in December 2021 to mixed reception, with many fans of the franchise finding it underwhelming with weak gameplay and a lackluster narrative. However, the most egregious offense was the lack of payoff for fans tracking the FNaF franchise's deep and complicated lore. The Ruin DLC, set to release later this year, has the opportunity to realign that lore and transform Five Night at Freddy's: Security Breach into a launchpad for the franchise's future.
Announced in September 2020, Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach suffered multiple delays before launching at the very end of 2021. During that time, many theorized about how the title could tie into the series' immense lore, especially considering that so many fresh elements had arrived in the recently concluded Fazbear Frights book series. Once fans were hands-on with the game, however, they realized that these elements had no part in the game's narrative. Then, in May 2022, developer Steel Wool Studios revealed a teaser poster for the Five Nights at Freddy's Security Breach Ruin DLC, which appeared to pivot the title back toward the series' darker roots that could create a compelling narrative and realign with the series' lore.
Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach DLC - Horror Takes the Main Stage
Five Nights at Freddy's is best known for two things: its jumpscares and its complicated lore. Fans of the series are routinely left to defend themselves against an onslaught of mechanized terror in dark and mysterious locations. Part of what made Five Nights at Freddy's a success story is how those environments balance stress-inducing quiet and sudden, ear-shattering attacks from the series' cast of animatronics. In Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach, however, fans were presented with the Pizzaplex, a location brimming with colorful lights and sound, and animatronics that announced their presence long before they posed a threat. Excluding a few of the game's endings, a player could complete FNaF: Security Breach's story having only dealt with one or two slightly creepy situations.
Early trailers for Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach promised a terrifying experience before delivering quite the opposite. The Ruin DLC appears to correct this error, with the teaser poster promising a much darker Pizzaplex to explore. If Steel Wool wants to truly return to the series' roots, however, that location needs to be utilized better. The sights and sounds of the DLC need to turn the location into a never-ending sequence of darkly-lit corridors and muffled sounds. Gameplay should return to players being tasked with learning the animatronics' subtle "tells" as they navigate around them to reach the next location. Failure to do so should result in a rapid and terrifying jumpscare animation. If Steel Wool applies these features to the Pizzaplex at large, it'll set the stage for a lore-aligned narrative with significant repercussions.
Introduce Remnant and Agony
Five Nights at Freddy's has steadily introduced fans to the elements responsible for the series' paranormal events. Among the most important of these are Remnant and Agony. Remnant is described as a containable human soul that has attached to an inanimate object, such as a child's spirit possessing an animatronic. Between the video game series and novels, fans have had to keep track of various depictions of Remnant, such as a metallic liquid or floating collectible. Remnant was introduced to the video game series in Five Nights at Freddy's: Pizzeria Simulator, where it appears in blueprints for the Scooper and in previously scrapped schematics for Molten Freddy. It would later appear in both Five Nights at Freddy's: The Ultimate Guide and the Fazbear Frights books.
Agony is essentially Remnant's opposite in the Fazbear Frights novels and plays a central role in its many stories. Agony is said to be a powerful negative emotion that can haunt inanimate objects near sites of tragedy. As the Fazbear Frights series acted as the primary lead-up to the release of Security Breach, many fans believed it to be an integral part of the game's narrative. However, the game mentioned neither Remnant nor Agony, leaving them among the many dangling threads of Five Nights at Freddy's lore.
Steel Wool could easily add these elements into the Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach Ruin DLC, as the base game never fully detailed the Pizzaplex's history. Many of its inhabitants are hostile, only some of which appear controlled by the game's antagonists, Vanny and William Afton. By introducing a central tragedy, the DLC could complement any one of Five Night at Freddy's: Security Breach's many endings in a way that ties the title into the series' larger lore, making the game essential for fans once again.
Circus Baby
Another lore thread left dangling in both the video game and book series is the fate of Circus Baby. Baby debuted in Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location, where she acted as the player's guide before betraying them as part of the amalgamation animatronic Ennard. As detailed in the source code from developer Scott Cawthon's now dormant website SCOTTGAMES.COM, Baby later removed herself from Ennard, taking the form of Scrapbaby in Five Nights at Freddy's: Pizzeria Simulator and Ultimate Custom Night. The animatronic was shown to be destroyed along with many others in the final moments of Pizzeria Simulator, including series antagonist William Afton.
Circus Baby appears as a secondary antagonist in the novel The Fourth Closet and the main antagonist in the Fazbear Frights series, in the form of Eleanor. She was integral to many of the tales within Fazbear Frights and was left seemingly defeated by the book series' end. As the Fazbear Frights novels were written to signal truths of the series' deeper lore, many believed the books to be setting up Circus Baby as the true villain of Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach.
Fans let out a collective groan when the final objective for the "Canon Ending" of Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach revealed William Afton as the title's secret antagonist. Having "killed" Afton many times at this point in the series, players were tasked once again with burning Afton to complete the game. However, with Steel Wool dropping hints of an unknown figure controlling Fazbear Entertainment, it is entirely possible the developer could shift the focus to Circus Baby in the Ruin DLC. Since Afton appears to awaken mere moments before the game's end, Steel Wool could dismiss his involvement in much of the events that occur within the Pizzaplex. This leaves the Ruin DLC ample room to refocus on a stronger villain and connect Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach to the previously established lore and please longtime fans.
When the Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach Ruin DLC launches later this year, it could seal Security Breach's fate as either the series' most disappointing entry or the foundation for its future. If the DLC can find a way to tie up loose ends from the series' past, it could easily turn Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach into a satisfying title for new and old fans alike. By implementing the horror characteristics of previous entries in a way that affirms longtime lore implications, the Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach Ruin DLC could lead the series into a new era of terrifying possibilities.
Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The Ruin DLC is expected to launch later this year.