A new Five Nights at Freddy’s game has been released but, this time, instead of a stationary horror point-and-click, it’s a side-scrolling shooter. While this might seem out of the ordinary for the series, there’s actually a very good and noble reason this game exists.
Most will recognize Five Nights At Freddy’s from the many, many Twitch and YouTube streamers across the world who played it when it came out in 2014. The sudden boom in popularity of this jump-scare horror game then went on to spawn four main-series sequels, four spin-off games, and even three novels. It also made creator Scott Cawthon very rich.
One of these FNaF sequels was Five Nights at Freddy's World and within it was the mini-game "FNaF 57: Freddy in Space." The mini-game was intended as a joke at Five Nights At Freddy's somehow gaining over 50 additional sequels, and also an opportunity for Scott to make a Mega Man spoof.
And now, Scott has created another Five Nights At Freddy's spinoff game called Five Nights At Freddy’s: Freddy in Space 2. It's actually a sequel to the Freddy in Space mini-game found in FNaF World, which is maybe the first time a mini-game has spawned a full sequel.
Rather than just be a tribute to Mega Man, Freddy in Space 2 seems to be a tribute to every side-scrolling shooter ever made. There's definitely a lot of Contra, Mega Man, and Metal Slug in the way this game presents itself, and maybe a bit of Bionic Commando and Duke Nukem for good measure. Freddy even seems to be dressed up as Commander Keen, while Chica the Chicken is in Zero Suit Samus costume.
So why does this game exist? Well, it’s actually here so that Scott could devise a fun way to give to charity.
On December 3rd (the date that Freddy in Space 2 was released), Game Theory hosted a charity stream where MatPat played Freddy in Space 2. The total cash that MatPat collected in-game was then donated by Scott to St Jude Children's Research Hospital which researches new cancer treatments.
People had an entire day to play the game before the livestream, so MatPat had plenty of help finding all the secrets and Easter eggs. The hospital received a total of $500,000 from this game alone, and in total received $1.32 million from the larger stream that included several other YouTubers.
Just because the stream is over and the game has fulfilled its purpose doesn’t mean it’s gone forever. You can download it over on Game Jolt for free right now.
Source: Game Jolt, St Jude Children's Research Hospital