Summary
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2is the newest mainline game in theFNAFseries. Despite being aVR-exclusive title,Help Wanted 2quickly makes a case for its role as one of the most groundbreaking, terrifying, and important titles in the franchise, revealing crucial information about developer Steel Wool Studio’s re-established canon. Among its most significant reveals is its clarification of theFNAFtimeline, with various minigames and background details cementing the events ofFNAF: Security Breach,RUIN, and the series' inciting incidents in a specific order. Using various context clues, fans can rather easily determine whereFNAF: Help Wanted 2lands on the canonized timeline.
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2continues the story of Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex, a location that has been the focus of two additionalFNAFtitles and an eight-part novel series,Tales from the Pizzaplex. While many may assume thatHelp Wanted 2is the sequel toFNAF: Help Wanted, fans know better than to assume such things. Despite games in the series having similar titles or sharing titles with different subheadings, such asFive Nights at Freddy’s Security Breach: RUIN, the series has a long history of releasing mainline sequels with brand-new experiences and events through the use of deceptive titles and misleading pre-release information.HW2is the latest of these deceptions, as its true purpose is to introduce brand-new events to theFNAFtimeline.
Help Wanted 2’s First Half Introduces a False Narrative
Upon startingFNAF: Help Wanted 2,it is revealed that the game’s events take place withinFreddy Fazbear’s Pizza Place. However, it does not appear as it does in previous Steel Wool titles. Instead [layers are dropped into a fully operational Pizza Place, as seen in Pizzeria Simulator, and unlock additional characters, games, and merchandise as they complete minigames. That being said, the Pizza Place features myriad additions that stem from much later events in the series, such as Fazbear Technician equipment, Fazerblasters, and references toSecurity Breach’s unique animatronics and locals. However, everything changes about halfway through completing its lighthearted minigames, when the player discovers they’ve been wearing a VANNI mask the whole time.
Upon finding a Fazwrench, which Mystic Hippo,an animatronic within the Pizza Place, says should look familiar to the player, fans can make their way to a back room, which houses a previously unseen Princess Quest IV arcade cabinet, a mask disrupter, and a strange poster, which states, “Clocking out? Take off your mask.” Upon reaching for their face, players can remove the mask, revealing that they are in the Pizza Place as it appears inSecurity BreachandRUIN. Upon digging deeper, fans can connect this room with Security Logs found throughoutSecurity Breach, in which an employee begs for one more night in the Pizza Plex, as his discovery that the Princess Quest cabinets are responsible for the Pizza Plex’s glitches leads to his obsession in freeing the Princess. It is this very character whom players are now playing as, with the ultimate goal being the completion of Princess Quest IV.
The True Identity of Help Wanted 2’s Protagonist Firmly Places Its Events on the Timeline
In addition toSecurity Breach’s collectible logs, various in-game context clues help to connectHelp Wanted 2’s protagonistwith a hereto unseen figure from the series. Throughout various minigames, animatronics refer to the player as someone with kids, someone whom they’ve seen before, and the very last human worker at the Mega Pizzaplex. It is also revealed that they have a fondness for Bonnie. There is a single character in all ofFNAFthat shares these traits and has also worked specifically as a Fazbear Technician - Cassie’s Dad.
ThroughoutRUINplayers discover hints that Cassie’s Dad has disappeared, including a note he left before his fateful return to the PIzza Plex. InHelp Wanted 2players discover just what Cassie’s Dad was up to, and how he disappeared. While the game features multiple endings, it is the normal ending that cements Cassie’s Dad’s fate and reveals the title’s place on the timeline. Upon collectingthe pieces of Glitchtrapthrough Faz Force action figures, much like Vanny did with the tapes in the originalHelp Wanted, Cassie’s Dad is overtaken by the Glitchtrap virus, before seeing through the eyes of an animatronic some unknown time later.
To the horror of fans, it is revealed that Cassie’s Dad is trapped withinthe Mask Bot fromRUIN, the very entity that hands the VANNI mask to Cassie. In the game’s final moments, Cassie’s Dad is forced to watch as his daughter falls into the very same trap that he failed to escape. This ending cementsHelp Wanted 2’s main events sometime betweenSecurity BreachandRUINon the canonical timeline. With its place on the timeline established, fans have the answers to a few more of the series' overarching questions.
While the title’s ending ties a bow on its major events and place on the timeline, fans who have spent ample time exploringFive Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2have been left with more questions than answers. Various hidden collectibles and secret minigame endings hint at a brand-new event on the timeline. While still wrapped in mystery, this event effectively predates anything ever depicted intheFNAFseries. This has led fans to speculate that the series' next title will explore the franchise’s inciting event, the mysterious Fall-Fest 1970.
Five Nights at Freddy’s
Five Nights at Freddy’s is a first-person survival horror and resource management game from Scott Cawthorn that raced to popularity thanks to its creepy animatronic enemies and its array of panic-inducing jumpscares. Bringing life to a cavalcade of well-known characters like Freddy Fazbear, Chica, Foxy, Bonnie, and more, Five Nights at Freddy’s has seen immense success, spinoffs, and fan games.
