Five Nights at Freddy’s started with a security office and some deeply unsuitable children’s entertainers. It now spans games, books and films, but they don’t all follow the same timeline. But trying to unfurl everything is about as easy as getting out of an animatronic suit.
Some share a continuity, others tell alternative stories, and several connections remain disputed. Here’s how the main pieces fit together.
What’s the Difference Between Canon and Continuity?
Canon and continuity aren’t interchangeable. A work can belong to FNAF’s official storytelling without sharing the games’ history.
Scott Cawthon used this distinction when discussing The Silver Eyes. The novel was canon, but its story followed a separate continuity. Familiar characters and concepts therefore don’t guarantee identical events or backstories.
It’s a bit confusing, but it seems to work for the series.
Which FNAF Games Follow the Main Story?
The central game narrative includes:
- Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location
- Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator
- Ultimate Custom Night
- Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted
- Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach and its Ruin DLC
- Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2
- Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic
Release order differs from chronological order, while individual scenes and endings can require interpretation. Something explicitly shown in a game carries more weight than a theory connecting several ambiguous clues.
Are the FNAF Books in the Games’ Timeline?
The books need judging by series rather than treating them as one enormous lore instruction manual.
You see, the original novel trilogy follows a separate continuity. Read The Silver Eyes, The Twisted Ones and The Fourth Closet in that order. Their revelations apply to those versions of the characters first.
Fazbear Frights has connections to the games, but the entire anthology shouldn’t be presented as one confirmed game timeline. Cawthon distinguished directly connected stories from others. “StitchlineGames”, which places the Stitchwraith epilogues and related stories within the games’ continuity, remains a disputed interpretation.
Tales from the Pizzaplex has a more explicit connection to the newer games. Scholastic describes it as taking place in their world, although that doesn’t confirm every date or character identity proposed by fans.
Are the FNAF Films Connected to the Games?
The films follow their own continuity. The first introduces Mike, Abby and Vanessa through relationships that differ from the games, while Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 continues that film storyline.
A film revelation therefore doesn’t automatically rewrite a game character’s history.
What About Into the Pit and Interactive Books?
Into the Pit exists as a short story, game and interactive retelling. Becoming a game doesn’t automatically settle its place in the main continuity.
Meanwhile, Scholastic explicitly presents The Week Before as a prequel to the first game. Its branching outcomes still represent alternatives, rather than events that all happened.
The useful rule is to check which continuity a claim concerns and whether it’s established or inferred. Otherwise, you’ll end up forcing several different William Aftons into the same diary.
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