The series is centered on the story of a fictional restaurant named Freddy Fazbear 's Pizza, a pastiche of restaurants like Chuck E. Cheese's and ShowBiz Pizza Place. The first three games involve the player working as a nighttime security guard, in which they must utilize several tools, most notably checking security cameras, to survive against animatronic characters, which become mobile and homicidal after-hours. The fourth game, which uses different gameplay mechanics from its predecessors, takes place in the house of a child who must defend against nightmarish versions of the animatronics by closing doors and fleeing on foot. The fifth game takes place in a maintenance facility owned by a sister company of Freddy Fazbear 's Pizza. The player character is a technician instead of a night guard, who must do different tasks each night as told by an AI voice heard in the game. In the sixth game, the player acts as the owner of a pizzeria which they must decorate with payable items, and must also work the night shift for their pizzeria, which plays similarly to previous games.
The series has gained widespread popularity since its release. Two novel adaptations, Five Nights at Freddy's : The Silver Eyes and Five Nights at Freddy's : The Twisted Ones, were released on December 17, 2015 and June 27, 2017, respectively. A guidebook for the series, Five Nights at Freddy's : The Freddy Files, was released on August 29, 2017, with an activity book titled Five Nights at Freddy’s: Survival Logbook being released on December 26, 2017.
