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For the clearest first-time story run, play the Five Nights at Freddy’s games in this order: Secret of the Mimic, FNaF 4, Sister Location, FNaF 2, FNaF 1, FNaF 3, Pizzeria Simulator, Ultimate Custom Night, Help Wanted, optional Special Delivery, Security Breach, Help Wanted 2, and Ruin. Play Into the Pit separately rather than inserting it into the main timeline.
The best-supported story order is: Secret of the Mimic → FNaF 4 → Sister Location → FNaF 2 → FNaF 1 → FNaF 3 → Pizzeria Simulator → Ultimate Custom Night → Help Wanted → Special Delivery (optional) → Security Breach → Help Wanted 2 → Ruin.
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This is a practical chronological play order, not an official, immutable timeline. Five Nights at Freddy’s never received one complete, date-stamped chronology for every game, and several placements are inferred from clues, endings, and story context. The dates below therefore distinguish confirmed relative positions from commonly accepted—but not always proven—calendar years.
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The Five Nights at Freddy’s games in chronological order
| Story order | Game | Approximate placement | How certain is it? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic | Early timeline, commonly placed around the 1970s | Early setting is supported; exact year is not confirmed |
| 2 | Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 | 1983 for the minigame storyline | Minigame placement is widely accepted; nightmare timing is debated |
| 3 | Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location | After the early Afton-family events and before the original game | Useful practical placement, but no universally accepted year |
| 4 | Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 | 1987 | Strongly supported by in-game evidence |
| 5 | Five Nights at Freddy’s | Commonly placed in 1993 | Evidence-based inference rather than a plainly printed date |
| 6 | Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 | About 30 years after the original restaurant closes; commonly 2023 | The 30-year interval is explicit; the calendar year is inferred |
| 7 | Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator | After FNaF 3 | Story placement is strong; an exact year is unnecessary |
| 8 | Ultimate Custom Night | After Pizzeria Simulator | Best treated as a post-fire epilogue or limbo sequence |
| 9 | Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted | After the original fire-era storyline | Later corporate project; exact date is not the important question |
| 10 | Five Nights at Freddy’s AR: Special Delivery | Probably between Help Wanted and the Pizzaplex era | Optional and less securely placed |
| 11 | Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach | Later Pizzaplex and Glamrock era | Firmly after the Help Wanted-era transition |
| 12 | Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2 | Best played after Security Breach and before Ruin | Practical order; individual minigames may represent different moments |
| 13 | Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach – Ruin | After Security Breach; recommended after Help Wanted 2 | Direct sequel relationship is firm; its exact relation to every HW2 sequence is debated |
Why this is not the same as release order
The numbered titles are not chronological labels. FNaF 4 was the fourth major numbered release, but its child-centered minigames take place near the beginning of the story. Likewise, Secret of the Mimic is a modern release that belongs at the earliest point in this play order.
For a first-time player, chronological order emphasizes the evolving story. Release order, however, preserves the way the mysteries were originally revealed. Players who want to experience the franchise as its audience did should use the release-order list later in this guide instead.
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Start with Secret of the Mimic. Its setting is Edwin Murray’s abandoned workshop, Murray’s Costume Manor, where the early Mimic prototype was developed. Fazbear Entertainment is attempting to recover the technology, making the game a story about the origins of an important later threat rather than another visit to the familiar restaurant.
The safest date is early in the timeline. Community timeline work often places it around the 1970s, but the official store description does not establish a precise calendar year. Treat the decade as an approximation, not settled canon.
2. Five Nights at Freddy’s 4
Next, play Five Nights at Freddy’s 4, particularly for its minigame storyline. The minigames are generally placed around 1983 and follow a frightened child during the era of Fredbear’s Family Diner. They provide the early Afton-family context that makes the later games easier to interpret.
The bedroom survival sections need a qualification. Their relationship to the 1983 minigames is disputed: the nightmare nights may be retrospective, symbolic, or connected to events at a different point. The practical order is therefore based primarily on the minigames. Do not assume that every playable night is taking place on the same date as the child’s scenes.
3. Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location
Place Sister Location after the early Afton-family material and before the original Five Nights at Freddy’s. It introduces Circus Baby, the Funtime animatronics, and Michael Afton’s later role, so playing it here gives those characters context before the chronology reaches the classic Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza games.
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This is one of the useful placements that is not fully date-confirmed. The game does not provide a universally accepted year for its main playable shift. Its position in the practical order is more reliable than any exact date attached to it.
4. Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 — 1987
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 follows in 1987. The restaurant has reopened with newer Toy animatronics, facial-recognition technology, and a guard who replaces or follows a previous employee. The game’s internal clues support the 1987 placement, although the store description itself is more useful for establishing the restaurant’s situation than for independently dating every minigame.
This entry is a prequel despite being released after the original game. Its newer animatronics and references to earlier incidents are the reason it belongs before the first overnight shift at the older Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.
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5. Five Nights at Freddy’s — commonly 1993
Now play the original Five Nights at Freddy’s. The player is a night guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, where the animatronics become dangerous after hours. It comes after the events of FNaF 2 in the commonly used timeline.
The game is usually placed in 1993, but that year is an evidence-based chronology placement rather than a date plainly printed on the official store page. The important point for a first playthrough is the sequence: the newer Toy-era restaurant has already ended, and the older animatronics are now part of the night guard’s ordeal.
6. Five Nights at Freddy’s 3
Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 takes place approximately 30 years after the closure of the original Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. The setting is Fazbear’s Fright, a horror attraction built around the company’s grim history. That relative interval is the firm part of the placement; fans commonly translate it into a date around 2023.
Play this after the first game because its premise depends on the earlier restaurant tragedies becoming old, nearly forgotten history that can be repackaged as entertainment.
7. Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator
Despite its management-game presentation, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator belongs after FNaF 3. It begins as a restaurant-building and management experience, then becomes a major continuation of the earlier Fazbear and Afton story.
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For chronology purposes, this is the major endpoint of the original Afton-era arc. Its position after FNaF 3 is more useful than trying to assign it a disputed calendar year. Play through the management sections rather than treating them as unrelated side content: the restaurant premise is part of the game’s narrative function.
8. Ultimate Custom Night
Play Ultimate Custom Night immediately after Pizzeria Simulator if you are following the story rather than simply sampling the challenge modes. It is primarily a customizable survival game, so its menus and character roster should not be read as a normal sequence of physical events.
Its ending and dialogue are commonly interpreted as occurring after the fire and punishment associated with Pizzeria Simulator. The most useful label is post-Pizzeria Simulator epilogue or limbo sequence. It can be played mechanically at any time, but this position gives its story material the clearest context.
9. Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted
Help Wanted follows the original fire-era storyline. It is framed as a virtual Fazbear experience containing both classic and original minigames. The game recreates material associated with FNaF 1, FNaF 2, FNaF 3, FNaF 4, and Sister Location, which is why it may feel like a greatest-hits collection even though it belongs later in the story.
Chronologically, the important development is that a later corporate project is turning the franchise’s earlier incidents into entertainment and attempting to control the company’s public narrative. In other words, the repeated older scenarios are representations within a later virtual experience, not proof that the player has traveled back to those original nights.
10. Five Nights at Freddy’s AR: Special Delivery — optional
Five Nights at Freddy’s AR: Special Delivery is best placed between Help Wanted and Security Breach. Its story is generally interpreted as following the emergence of the digital threat associated with the Help Wanted era and preceding the Pizzaplex period.
Mark this entry as probable, not fully confirmed. It was a mobile augmented-reality spin-off, and it is no longer officially available, so it should not block a first-time playthrough. If you cannot access it, read a reliable story summary or continue to Security Breach; the main chronology remains understandable without it.
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Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach begins the modern Pizzaplex and Glamrock phase of the practical order. Gregory is trapped overnight inside Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex, where Glamrock Freddy becomes his unexpected ally while the other attractions turn dangerous.
The game was released on December 16, 2021, but its fictional events take place much later than the early diner and restaurant games. Place it after Help Wanted and the optional Special Delivery entry, not according to its release year.
If you are choosing one modern paid game after understanding the timeline, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach is the base game for the Pizzaplex storyline. Check the platform and edition before buying, especially if you also intend to play Ruin, which requires the base game.
12. Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2
For a first-time narrative run, play Help Wanted 2 after Security Breach. It presents the player as a new Fazbear employee undertaking training and management-style scenarios, but its minigames do not necessarily all represent one uninterrupted calendar period.
Some scenarios may be memories, simulations, training exercises, or events connected to different moments around the Pizzaplex storyline. The exact placement relative to Ruin remains debated. Playing Help Wanted 2 before Ruin is nevertheless the most coherent practical choice because it preserves later Pizzaplex and mask-related context before the DLC’s revelations.
13. Security Breach – Ruin
Finish the recommended main order with Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach – Ruin. This is a direct story DLC for Security Breach, not a separate era or unrelated spin-off. Cassie enters the abandoned ruins of the Mega Pizzaplex while trying to find Gregory and escape.
The direct-sequel relationship is firm. The only major ordering caution is its relationship to individual Help Wanted 2 sequences. For that reason, the clean first-playthrough route is Security Breach, then Help Wanted 2, then Ruin. Remember that Ruin requires the Security Breach base game.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Where Into the Pit fits
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit belongs in a separate category rather than at number 14 in the main timeline. Its official premise has Oswald moving between time periods through a ball pit, and the game draws from the broader Fazbear fiction instead of functioning as a straightforward continuation of the principal game plot.
Play it after the main order if you want to explore another version of the franchise’s mythology. Do not use its time-travel premise to rearrange the numbered games, the Pizzaplex games, or the Mimic storyline.
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Chronological order versus release order
Here is the compact release-order comparison. These are release years, not the years in which the fictional events occur.
| Release order | Game | Release year |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Five Nights at Freddy’s | 2014 |
| 2 | Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 | 2014 |
| 3 | Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 | 2015 |
| 4 | Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 | 2015 |
| 5 | Sister Location | 2016 |
| 6 | Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator | 2017 |
| 7 | Ultimate Custom Night | 2018 |
| 8 | Help Wanted | 2019 |
| 9 | Security Breach | 2021 |
| 10 | Security Breach – Ruin | 2023 |
| 11 | Help Wanted 2 | 2023 |
| 12 | Into the Pit | 2024 |
| 13 | Secret of the Mimic | 2025 |
Choose chronological order when you want the earliest known events first and a clear progression from the Mimic’s beginnings to the Pizzaplex era. Choose release order when you want the mysteries, retcons, and gameplay changes to unfold as the original audience experienced them. Neither choice eliminates every ambiguity, particularly around FNaF 4, Sister Location, Ultimate Custom Night, and Help Wanted 2.
What not to include in this game order
- The books: They should not be inserted into the game sequence. They use separate continuities or have adaptation relationships to the games.
- The films: The movies are adaptations, not missing chapters in the game timeline.
- Fan-made projects: They do not belong in an official-release chronology.
Those works can be valuable for exploring Fazbear’s wider ideas, but mixing them into the game list makes uncertain relationships look like established chronology.
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Where to play and buy the games
Platform check: Availability, editions, and DLC requirements can vary by platform and region. Use the official game storefronts to verify the current version before purchasing. Buy the Security Breach base game before attempting Ruin; treat Special Delivery as optional because it is no longer officially available.
You do not need a guidebook, collectible, or merchandise to understand the chronology. The games themselves—and, where necessary, a reputable explanation of unavailable spin-off material—are enough for this play order.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 really the fourth game chronologically?
No. The number refers to release branding, not story chronology. Its minigames are generally placed around 1983, making it one of the earliest main-continuity games. The timing of its nightmare sections remains debated.
Is this the official FNaF timeline?
No. There is no single official, date-stamped chronology covering every game. Some placements are strongly supported, such as FNaF 2 in 1987 and FNaF 3 occurring about 30 years after the original restaurant closes, while other years are inferred.
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No. It is an optional mobile spin-off with a less secure timeline placement, generally positioned between Help Wanted and Security Breach. It is also no longer officially available, so it should not prevent you from continuing through the main order.
Should I play Help Wanted 2 before Security Breach: Ruin?
Play Help Wanted 2 before Ruin for the clearest first-time narrative route. The exact position of every Help Wanted 2 minigame is debated because some may be simulations, memories, or training scenarios, but this order preserves useful Pizzaplex and mask-related context.
Where does Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit fit?
Keep it separate from the main game chronology. Into the Pit involves travel between time periods through a ball pit and draws from the broader Fazbear fiction, so it is better treated as an optional adaptation-style entry after the main order.
The Bottom Line
Bottom line: Play Secret of the Mimic, FNaF 4, Sister Location, FNaF 2, FNaF 1, FNaF 3, Pizzeria Simulator, Ultimate Custom Night, Help Wanted, optional Special Delivery, Security Breach, Help Wanted 2, and finally Ruin. Treat the dates as a mixture of confirmed clues and informed fan timeline work—not as one official, complete calendar.
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