Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location

An interviewer is questioning William Afton, the creator of the game's animatronic characters as well as the main antagonist of the overall series, on certain design choices he has made when building the animatronics. William lists several features of Circus Baby, such as her ability to make ice cream, inflate balloons at her fingertips, and take song requests and dance to them. The interviewer is unsatisfied with this answer, as the features William mentioned were not what he was referring to.

Some time later, William Afton's son, Michael Afton[1] is a new employee of Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental, an underground facility and sister location to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, featuring animatronics that are rented out to children's birthday parties. These include new circus-themed variations of the original animatronics: Funtime Freddy, Bon Bon, and Funtime Foxy, as well as several new characters (Ballora, the Bidybabs, the Minireenas, and Circus Baby). These animatronics originated from another location named "Circus Baby's Pizza World", which had been shut down shortly before it was supposed to open due to "gas leaks".[2] As his first night starts, HandUnit (an A.I. who assists Michael) assigns him his daily tasks and explains that 'Circus Baby's' was formed in response to the success, and eventual closure, of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. On Night 2, the power goes out, and the player must hide from the animatronics in order reset the facility's circuit breakers. Circus Baby warns Michael to ignore the instructions given by HandUnit to avoid being killed by Ballora.

In a post-death minigame, Circus Baby extends a claw from her stomach and pulls a little girl (presumed to be William Afton's daughter, Elizabeth Afton) inside. It is implied that the animatronic is now possessed by the girl's soul.

On Night 3, the player is tasked with repairing Funtime Freddy. However, he is captured by Baby and wakes trapped in an animatronic suit on Night 4. He has been placed in an area known as the Scooping Room, which tears endoskeletons out of animatronics. After witnessing Ballora's endoskeleton being torn out by the Scooper, Michael is left to survive the night against the Minireenas. On Night 5, two technicians are found hanged, and Michael is instructed by Baby to destroy her body by sending it to the Scooping Room. However, it is soon discovered that Baby, along with the other animatronics, have combined their endoskeletons into a single mass known as Ennard, and wish to use Michael's human body as a disguise to escape the facility.

Two endings are possible. In the "Real Ending," Michael follows Baby's instructions and enters the Scooping Room, where the Scooper eviscerates and kills him; Ennard disguises itself in his skin and escapes. An alternate ending requires completing a minigame and disobeying Baby's instructions. Doing so will bring Michael to a small room, similar to the original Five Nights at Freddy's, in which he must fend off Ennard until 6:00 AM. Regardless, it will follow him home and appear in his room.

The Custom Night update includes additional cutscenes after the Real Ending; Michael's body gradually decomposes, forcing Ennard to abandon it and enter the sewers. After that, he is left on the ground, presumably dead, but is soon mysteriously reanimated. He then talks to his father about his time in the facility (noting that he found and freed "her", or Elizabeth, the girl possessing the Circus Baby animatronic), before setting out to find him. As this happens, the camera pans over to the burned-out ruins of Fazbear's Fright from the third game, from which Springtrap emerges.

The bulk of the gameplay in Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location does away with the survival aspect of previous games. Instead of remaining in one place and preventing the animatronic antagonists from attacking, the player must move from room to room in order to fulfill a series of narrative objectives that change during each of the five nights.

The post-death minigames return from Five Nights at Freddy's 2; when a game ends, the player may be given a chance to play an 8-bit mini game. In Sister Location, Circus Baby must give cupcakes to children and then bring an ice cream cone to a little girl, ending in the girl's death. Completing this minigame grants access to the Night 5 secret level; a near-recreation of the gameplay in the original Five Nights at Freddy's, bringing back survival gameplay.

Completing all five nights unlocks extra features: pictures and blueprints of the game's animatronics, their making-of, a map of the facility, and menu access to Circus Baby's cupcake minigame. As of the December 1, 2016 update, clearing all nights also unlocks the non-canon Custom Night mode, which is set in a modified version of the Night 5 secret room. The player can choose from several modes and difficulty settings, facing new animatronics, and must conserve both power and oxygen supplies in order to survive. Completing these modes allows the player to view a series of cutscenes that have been declared as part of the series canon; all except the last scene are in 8-bit resolution.

An achievement system exists in the form of four stars, obtained by unlocking both of the game's endings, completing the Circus Baby mini game, and completing the hardest difficulty on each custom night preset. Completing each custom night preset on each mode grants its own star in the specific custom night mode.

Like in all Five Nights at Freddy's games, failure to defend oneself from the hostile animatronic characters will result in a jumpscare.

In April 2016, Cawthon released a teaser image of the game on his website, entitled Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location, featuring a clown-like animatronic, revealed to be named "Circus Baby".[3] Several teaser images followed, revealing different characters and hints at their origins.[4]

The trailer for the game[5] was released on Cawthon's official YouTube page featuring new animatronics and a new location. The release date was later confirmed to be October 7, 2016.[4][6]

In August, a teaser image was posted on Cawthon's website with the words "Cancelled. Due to Leaks." This was initially taken to indicate that the game itself had been cancelled, due to one of the game's animatronics' voices being leaked, namely Ballora's. However, it was quickly revealed to be a part of the story line, as a fictional news article was found when the image was brightened, discussing how the in-game location had been closed due to "gas" leaks.[7]

On October 4, 2016, Cawthon posted on the Steam Community forums, stating that the game has a very dark story line, and that it might not be kid-friendly. For this, he said that he might work on the game for several more months, to make the game and its story more suitable for younger players,[8] which, however, turned out to be a hoax,[9] when he released the "mature" version on October 6, 2016. The official game was then released on Steam the following day.

On October 17, 2016, Cawthon announced on his website and the game's Steam page that a non-canon Custom Night will be added to the game in December, and that an update for it will be released prior to its original version.[10][11] It was released on December 1, 2016.

On December 22, 2016, a mobile port for Android devices was released on the Google Play Store.

On January 3, 2017, a mobile port for iOS devices was released on the App Store.

On June 18, 2020, a Nintendo Switch port was released on the Nintendo eShop.

On July 10, 2020, an Xbox One port was released.

On July 21, 2020, a PlayStation 4 port was released.

• Heather Masters as Circus Baby
• Andy Field as HandUnit
• Julie Shields as Computer Voice
• Michella Moss as Ballora
• Kellen Goff as Funtime Freddy
• Zehra Naqvi as Skin Baby
• Christopher McCullough as Vlad
• Bob Barnes as Narrator
• Amber Lee Connors as Clara
• PJ Heywood as William Afton & Michael Afton
• Jesse Adam as Angsty Teen
• Becky Shrimpton as Bon-Bon

Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location received mixed reviews from critics. Metacritic aggregated a score of 60 out of 100 for the game.[12] Destructoid rated the game 6/10,[13] while GameCrate rated it 7.50/10.[14] Shelby Watson of The All State gave the game a positive review, citing it to be comparable to the first game's quality, but unlike the first game, never allowing the player to operate the mechanics on muscle memory alone. She writes, "...[E]ach night is so different, it is impossible to get comfortable with the mechanics enough that it feels like second nature. The game changes so much, you are forced to adapt and are always on the edge of your seat, waiting for what is to come."[15] TechRaptor rated the game 9/10, calling it "Genuinely terrifying" with a "great storytelling" and praised the voice acting.[16] Andrew Middlemas from Metro praised the graphics and the sound design, saying "I came away very impressed with this game. It’s one I’ve tended to respect more than I’ve actually liked, but I really feel that is the strongest entry yet, certainly in terms of gameplay".[17]