Best Order for Playing All Five Nights at Freddy’s Games

The first Five Nights at Freddy’s kicked off a series that would grow to have a cult following and a community dedicated to looking through the smallest details to put together the lore of the franchise. But if you’re just discovering the series, here’s the best order for playing all Five Nights at Freddy’s games.

You have two main options when it comes to the best FNAF playing order depending on the experience you want to get from your run: release order and chronological order. I actually recommend playing in release order followed by chronological order. This gives you the feeling of unraveling the lore of FNAF followed by putting the events together in the order they happened.

Release Order of FNAF Games

Playing FNAF games in their order of release gives you the initial experience of slowly learning about the horrors that led to Freddy Fazbear’s closing. It’s also best to start with the earliest gameplay mechanics and build on them, especially since each game adds new features and functionality. If you want to play in release order, then it looks something like this:

• FNAF 1
• FNAF 2
• FNAF 3
• FNAF 4
• Sister Location
• Pizzeria Simulator
• Ultimate Custom Night
• Help Wanted
• Security Breach
• Ruin
• Help Wanted 2.

I would consider Pizzeria Simulator, Ultimate Custom Night, and both Help Wanted games to be more optional in terms of story. You learn some lore bits, but the gameplay is pretty different compared to the others. So, going through them is really up to you and how detailed of a lore experience you want. If the gameplay really doesn’t appeal to you, though, you can probably skip them and not miss out on a huge amount.

Chronological Order of FNAF Games

I consider a chronological run of FNAF to basically be the story mode version. Once you have the background of the games in release order, each game feels more impactful when played in chronological order. You could go straight to playing the series in chronological order and experience events in the order they occurred. The biggest drawback is that nobody outside the creators knows with certainty which order the games go in. However, I think we’ve gotten pretty close. It looks something like this:

• FNAF 4
• FNAF 2
• Sister Location
• FNAF 1
• FNAF 3
• Pizzeria Simulator
• Ultimate Custom Night
• Help Wanted
• Security Breach
• Help Wanted 2
• Ruin

The order became more chronological as more games were released, so the last half of each list has a lot of overlap. But like with the release order, I still see Pizzeria Simulator, Ultimate Custom Night, and both Help Wanted games as optional. You get extra lore, but you don’t need it for a fulfilling experience.

And that’s the best order for playing all Five Nights at Freddy’s games. If you want to mix up your FNAF fun, check out content like the 10 best FNAF fan games to try or the 5 best FNAF Roblox games.