Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic Review
Rating – Recommend!
There’s something admirable about the tenaciousness of the Five Nights at Freddy’s series. Starting as a scrappy indie horror game in a world of Resident Evil’s, Dead Space’s, and The Evil Within’s, Freddy Fazbear and his murderous band struck at the right time, giving the series creator and many Let’s Play and theorizing YouTubers a goldmine. The franchise has become a juggernaut, constantly evolving with games, multiple book series, and now a second theatrical film on the horizon. The series and the titular Freddy Fazbear has also cemented themselves as a legitimate horror icon, alongside finally crossing over with Dead By Daylight, where the killer “Springtrap” sits beside other horror behemoths such as Nightmare on Elm’s Street’s Freddy Krueger, Child Play’s Chucky, Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s Leatherface and Alien’s, well Alien.
One of the franchise’s strongest points is its lore, it’s claws digging into those ranging from young children to adults, many from the very beginning. People wanted to understand why these animatronics went rogue. Is it possible to stop them? What year does this take place? Who is that purple-coloured man smiling at us? These questions plagued the fanbase for years, and whenever one was answered, three new ones popped up. The previous game, “Security Breach” and its free expansion DLC, “Ruin” introduced a brand-new animatronic: the Mimic, something that’s far more advanced than anything else we’ve seen in the series before, capable of changing its size and voice to mimic anything it encounters. A major criticism of the “Ruin” DLC was that fans who only followed the game’s storyline were left completely bewildered. Only those who had read the books could fill in the gaps, disappointing many fans due to the abrupt nature that this new villain was introduced and with little to no information of where it came from. Secret of the Mimic aims to resolve this, providing game-only players with deeper knowledge of the franchise’s newest villain, without directly retelling the book’s story.
It was immediately noticeable to me that Secret of the Mimic was designed with VR-friendliness from the start, almost like it was meant to be VR initially and changed to focus on the flat mode instead.
The game follows Fazbear Technician Arnold, threatened with being firing and repossession of their van unless they complete a task at the behest of their employer. They’re sent to Murray’s Costume Manor, a warehouse run by the eccentric inventor Edwin Murray. Murray, a contractor for Fazbear Entertainment who was tasked with creating them a new endoskeleton has disappeared. The objective isn’t to find Murray, but to reclaim the work he was doing (priorities I guess). It was immediately noticeable to me that Secret of the Mimic was designed with VR-friendliness from the start, almost like it was meant to be VR initially and changed to focus on the flat mode instead. Everything involves grabbing, pulling, or pushing. For example, opening the van door requires holding a trigger and moving the right stick in the motion to pull the handle down. Other examples include opening gates (moving a snib up, along, and down) and powering a generator (holding a trigger and moving the analog stick back and forth). One of the things that I think will be a lot of fun in a VR mode is the sections where you’re required to fix elevators, it has to be done a couple of times throughout the game, but I enjoyed them even in flat mode, so a VR mode seems like it’d be a lot more fun too. A VR update seems extremely likely and would undoubtedly enhance the horror experience.
After finding an entrance into Murray’s Costume Manor, you’re given a charming welcome show with the wide range of puppets and animatronics that Murray and his team have created, after this you reach the central hub, turn on the lights, and have your first encounter with the Mimic, also introducing the core gameplay loop: stay hidden, create distractions (throwing toy mice or activating audio-playing cardboard cut-outs), and if seen quickly hide in lockers if spotted.
A refreshing change is the Mimic’s speed; unlike in Security Breach, where you could easily outrun the animatronics if seen, the Mimic can and will catch you in seconds if you don’t hide. This significantly increases the tension. The game looks great; Steel Wool Studios have done a fantastic job with the costumes, they are varied and creative, embodying a wide range of animals as to avoid the repetitive feeling. The warehouse is a mess, costumes everywhere and pieces of design scribbles, order forms pinned everywhere. It really feels lived-in with multiple employees working simultaneously.
After exploring the hub area, you upgrade your “Data Diver” (your key to electronically gated doors). Further upgrades grant access to previously inaccessible areas, creating a Metroidvania feel. The upgrade process involves a minigame where you flip 0’s to 1’s with an arrow; initially unintuitive, it becomes simple. Which is unfortunately my feelings on other aspects of Secret of the Mimic, often it feels you’re given a task but no information on how to succeed, which to some might sound good as it’s avoiding handholding, but when the failure results in a jumpscare and having progress reset maybe 20-30 minutes back it can start to feel more like a slog. Upgrades to your Data Diver allow exploration of areas and doors previously inaccessible, leading to unique boss animatronics. These include Jackie (a jack-in-the-box animatronic), Big Top (a maestro resembling DJ Music Man from Security Breach), Nurse Dolly (a maintenance animatronic), and Tiger Rock (a seemingly supernatural being that teleports during the boss fight).
Each boss encounter involves a repetitive task (like carnival games or trash collection) followed by a chase sequence. The repetitive tasks keep you in a vulnerable position while the animatronic freely roams. While this gameplay loop is reminiscent of Outlast and Alien Isolation, I feel this system suits the helplessness characteristic of the Five Nights at Freddy’s series. The standout element during chase sequences is the music; while sparingly used elsewhere in the game they are always used in the chase sequences and it’s effective, each boss having unique chase music that really enhances the intensity.
Most of the lore is delivered through text or audio logs, telling you the story of how the Mimic came to be, the reason for it’s creation and how it turned into the murderous doppelganger that was encountered at the end of Ruin. This is where I think Secret of the Mimic is very successful, it shows us the high points of Edwin Murray and the extreme lows that he reaches with his personal and work life. The horrible things that he goes through and the lengths that he goes to try and cope with his grief and suffering, the story is ultimately a tragedy. It’s filled with regrets, loss of loved ones, shows the effect of a missing pillar of support and how paranoia can cripple people.
Technically, the game ran well on my PC (RTX 3080 and i9-10850k) at a solid 60fps on high settings, but not perfectly there were occasional performance spikes that made my PC sound like a jet engine, but would subside over time, I would also encounter shader/traversal stutter. While not game-breaking, this was disappointing, especially considering Security Breach had similar issues, although to a much more severe degree. I personally found the lack of manual saving to be problematic, having to entirely rely on autosaves especially as autosaves only trigger on major story progressions, or what feels unpredictably.
The lack of manual saving to be problematic, having to entirely rely on autosaves especially as autosaves only trigger on major story progressions, or what feels unpredictably
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic is certainly an enjoyable game, one that I don’t regret purchasing and playing through, I would gladly recommend to even the most casual horror game fan. Although it left me a lingering question: why? After completing the game, viewing all the endings and unlocking all achievements, I felt no closer to understanding the overall plot. Instead, it raised more questions about existing characters and the future of those introduced in Security Breach. I certainly enjoyed the overall tighter gameplay and stronger horror focus compared to Security Breach, but as a lore follower, it felt almost like changes and lore drops that are there just to keep it fresh for hardcore fans.
If this review piqued your interest in Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic, it can be found on PC through Epic Games Store and Steam and on console through PlayStation 5.
