FNAF Games In Order (Chronological Story and Release Date)

In 2014, Scott Cawthon redefined the indie horror game genre with Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNAF). The video game gave players a sense of dread unlike anything they’d ever experienced, with scary animatronics trying to get inside your office and nothing but doors to stop them. After the first game’s success, Cawthon expanded the franchise and its lore by developing more sequels.
With the franchise releasing so many titles, you’re probably wondering how you should play them all. Here’s a FNAF games order guide so you can play the world-renowned horror franchise in the correct order.

FNAF Games In Release Order

As of today, FNAF has 8 main games and 6 official spin-off games, not to mention the countless fan games made out there. If you want to see how the franchise evolved over time, here’s the order of the FNAF games and spin-offs based on their release date (excluding the numerous fan games):

– 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)
– FNAF World (2016)
– Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location (2016)
– Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator (2017)
– Ultimate Custom Night (2018)
– Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted (2019)
– Five Nights at Freddy’s: Special Delivery (2019)
– Freddy in Space 2 (2019)
– Security Breach: Fury’s Rage (2021)
– Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach (2021)
– Youtooz Presents: Five Nights at Freddy’s (2022)

You can see how the franchise grew over time when you play the games in this order. The main games slowly transitioned from the first game’s point-and-click style to Help Wanted’s virtual reality experience and Security Breach’s free-roam gameplay. If you only want to play the FNAF games for the experience they give, then you cannot go wrong with this order.

FNAF Games In Chronological Order

Aside from the unsettling atmosphere and terrifying animatronics, FNAF also tells a dark story throughout the games. Although it’s not handed to the player directly, several plot points and hidden clues can be pieced together to better understand FNAF’s lore. Based on what was given to us, here’s the chronological order of the FNAF games that contribute to the overall story:

– Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 (Set in 1983)
– Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 (1987)
– Five Nights at Freddy’s (1993)
– Five Nights at Freddy’s Sister Location (1993)
– Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 (2023)
– Five Nights at Freddy’s Pizzeria Simulator (2023)
– Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted (After Pizzeria Simulator)
– Five Nights at Freddy’s: Special Delivery (Before Security Breach)
– Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach (Between 2024-2029)

This is the chronological order of the FNAF games, telling the story of the Afton family and the history of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. After analyzing them, you’ll see how the actions of William Afton, a.k.a. the Purple Guy, led to several key events and the birth of the series’ monstrous animatronics.

For a deeper look at FNAF’s lore, we suggest watching Game Theory’s Ultimate FNAF timeline video, which does a great job of putting its story altogether. And if you’re looking for more good places to start, here’s how to make your way through the many, many different DBZ movies.

READ NEXT: Gintama Watch Order: Episodes, Movies & OVAs