Platform: Oculus VR

Developer: Steel Wool Studios

Publisher: ScottGames, Lionsgate Games

Release Date: May 28th, 2019

Genre: Survival Horror

Nerd Rating: 8.5 / 10

Reviewed by Rhutsczar

If you have been following we Baconneers for some time now, you know that there are a few of us here that are fans of the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise. While I have taken the mantle as of late, you can find almost every entry in the franchise so far among our indices. As fans of the franchise, when creator Scott Cawthon announced a virtual reality entry in the Five Nights at Freddy’s world, we were beyond skeptical. Our skepticisms were almost confirmed when Scott Cawthon would not be at the helm of the development process, instead recruiting developer Steel Wool Studios to craft the system. So did Five Nights at Freddy’s VR Help Wanted surprise us and found its worthy place in the story? You may have to read on to find out.

Apparently, Chica and her Cupcake thrive under the electric sky.

Upon first load up of the game, the player, while on a casual roller coaster ride, is given a rather brief description of their circumstances. Unsavory rumors have spread about Fazbear Entertainment due to a few completely non-factual outlier events (the events of the previous games), and Help Wanted is their satirical redemption story. As a beta tester, it is your job to play through the story and debug any mysterious occurrences that happen during your playthrough. However, this is just the surface level of the story. If you keep an eye out for the various collectible coins and glitches, you’ll be treated to the real meat of the story…but we’ll dive headfirst into that pool later.

If you have ever thought about how Five Nights at Freddy’s could work in virtual reality, you would be surprised at how enhanced the scares are. Most of the scenarios in Help Wanted are remastered virtual reality versions of the first 4 games, but the developers even sprinkled in a few minigames along the way to elevate your thyme (spice it up). Help Wanted‘s puzzle solving scenario “Vent Repair” gives players a breath of fresh air, even though Ennard is still terrifying. “Parts and Services” is fun and addictive, giving us a true idea of just how large and menacing our favorite four animatronics actually are. Help Wanted thrives in the “Night Terrors” and “Dark Rooms” with mostly original minigames (some influence from FNaF 4) that were carefully crafted to mess with your unsuspecting brain.

Bonnie really does have beautiful eyes.

While we didn’t think Five Nights at Freddy’s would be anything more than a gimmick once virtual reality was added, it works surprisingly well. While the base game was already scary the first go around, virtual reality makes it feel like you are actually in the security office, fending off the animatronics one by one. Just like with “Parts and Services”, these animatronics are taken to another level of horror and fear once they are invading your personal space instead of just lingering in your peripheral vision. The optimization that VR adds to the Five Nights at Freddy’s series makes us question why a virtual reality version hasn’t happened before 2019.

As it turns out, a virtual reality version of the original Five Nights at Freddy’s was the initial pitch made by Cawthon when he approached Steel Wool Studios. Steel Wool began production of the port, but due to a few scaling issues as well as general lack of content, the port was later scrapped with assets making their way into Help Wanted. One of the biggest problems during development was the decision to keep the original minimalist animations for each of the characters. As mentioned by Steel Wool character artist Rodney Brett, “That was part of the charm. So we struggled with whether we should keep that or whether we should create better animations for them. One of the reasons why I went with the latter was because in VR they came across as more silly then horrific.” These virtual reality enhancements elevated Help Wanted’s scares to a more visceral level, causing the already tense gameplay session to skyrocket.

You’ve met with a cruel fate haven’t you?

As we mentioned above, this wouldn’t be a Five Nights at Freddy’s game without plenty of delicious lore bits hiding just out of the frame. The various glitches that are hidden throughout each of the scenarios exist as virtual VCR tapes, which tell the real story that Fazbear Entertainment is actually trying to hide. As a beta tester from a newly contracted testing company, the player learns through these tapes that the original testing company just prior to you had many mysterious incidents around their sessions. For example, one overworked tester becomes corrupted, suffers delusions, and works himself to death. The tape creator explains that this is the result of a piece of malicious code given to them by their client, which, in-game, becomes a stylized version of Springtrap-Bonnie. As it turns out, she defragmented the code among the scatter tapes, and discovering them all unlocks the true ending and a rather disturbing fate. Once you have dis

While Scott Cawthon has always been incredibly detailed with his projects, I wouldn’t think that this attention would be given once the project was out of his hands. However, Steel Wool rose to the occasion with ease. While Help Wanted is definitely on the scarier side between the scary vs comedy balancing act that the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise consistently finds itself in, the little details sure as hell make up for it. For example, many prizes you receive for completing each scenario are toys or food based upon the franchise. Not only is this a brilliant set up for a merchandising campaign, but the food even has ingredient lists, nutrition facts, and marketing materials. When it comes to a particular line of toys, if you are not careful the player can swallow the toy completely. After a few tries, you can definitely guess what happens next.

Overall, Help Wanted proves that even Five Nights at Freddy’s can receive a fantastic virtual reality adaptation with the right studio behind the project. Steel Wool Studios are going to be a leading force in the independent virtual reality community. Not only do I say that Help Wanted is one of the best games in the FNaF franchise, but it could easily be one of the best virtual reality games in all of 2019 so far. If you want to play Five Nights at Freddy’s VR: Help Wanted you can currently play on Windows, Oculus, and PlayStation VR.