How to play the Five Nights at Freddy’s Games in Order

The horror franchise of Five Nights at Freddy, occasionally referred to as FNAF, has exploded in popularity with multiple titles released over the years. There are currently nine titles within the franchise, and trying to figure out which ones are canon, which aren’t, and what order to play them in can be difficult.

The good news is that players don’t necessarily need to complete all titles to understand the story of any singular title. For the most part, FNAF titles are self-referential and rarely stray into other titles within the franchise. If you’re looking for the full story arc of FNAF, however, you’ll want a deep dive in a specific order.

Five Nights at Freddy’s titles by release date

There are a total of nine canonical titles within the FNAF franchise. Here they are in release order:

• Five Nights at Freddy’s (2014)
• Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 (2014)
• Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 (2015)
• Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 (2015)
• Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location (2016)
• Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator (2017)
• Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted (2019)
• FNAF: Special Delivery (2019)
• Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach (2021)

Playing through the titles in the order in which they were released is one way to handle the influx of lore, and will also offer an appreciation for the advancements made by the studios in a technological sense. The release date, however, doesn’t necessarily convert to when the game is actually taking place in the timeline. In order to play through the franchise chronologically, we’ll need to use in-game lore to deduce the timeframe.

Related: Where to find the Chica Pinata collectible in FNAF: Security Breach

Five Nights at Freddy’s titles sorted chronologically

• Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 (1983)
• Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 (1987)
• Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location (early 1990s)
• Five Nights at Freddy’s (1993, post-Sister Location)
• Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 (2023)
• Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator (2023) — players should note that this title may spoil events from prior games.
• Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted — unknown date, but sets up Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach.
• Five Nights at Freddy’s: Special Delivery — as Help Wanted, the date isn’t referred to in this title, but should be played prior to Security Breach.
• Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach

If players are stymied between which of the two play styles to work through, it’s recommended to first complete the titles as they are presented chronologically, rather than by release date. In the future, as more content is currently in development, playing through them based on release date may offer a unique appreciation of the expanding lore and technology of the franchise as a whole.