Sister Location: FNAF's Disastrous Masterpiece

Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location drastically changed the state of the FNAF franchise - but why is the game so controversial? Today we explore the many elements of the game and why they may or may not have been good additions to the series.

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Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
0:58 The Gameplay
7:48 The Atmosphere
12:28 The Story
15:40 Conclusion

Music (in order):
1 Forbidden Nocturne
2 Demolition Inevitable
3 Venta Black
4 Crumbling Dreams
5 Drag Me To The Crusher
6 Watch Your Six
7 Turtle Crusher

#fnaf #sisterlocation #videoessay

[acehilmz]

i think sister location saved fnaf. one of the complaints at the time about that the series was that the game formula was too repetitive. it was such a fresh change, new game play, new faces and some of the most interesting designs we had ever seen. the game itself is not the best, however it changed the series for the best and boosted the hype. scott hated fnaf world, so i think he would have hated to end the series that way.

[Sleepy_Melodiess]

To be fair sister location is my favorite one, i really love everything about it, the characters, scenarios, atmosphete, context, events, story. And yeah! It's completely understandable to dislike it, it's flaws can define if you are into it or not. I wouldn't say SL sucks, but obviously not for everyone

[doublef]

my problem with Sister location is just a big cutscene with a bunch of quick-time events, once you watch Markiplier play it, you've had the full experience

[punusername]

I will say this, i love sister location for what it is, and it's a shame we never got to see expansions on it's aesthetic and theme (being normal games or fan games) i really don't get "sci-fi" vibes from it, always felt like those old 80's shows about the future-

[TheCactusGhost]

I find it interesting that you were the only person to connect Scrap Baby with the springlock suit in Sister Location. That phrase alone made me rethink some stuff I thought I knew about Fnaf lore. Aside from that this review hit all the points. The game had great atmosphere, jumpscares, story, and music (Venta Black OST is underrated) but strains in terms of gameplay aside from Custom Night. I think the unique changes in Sister Location gave new substance to the Fnaf genera but replaced the "game" part with story. Main nights aside from Night 4 could've been slightly altered or extended, Night 5 especially to give off that old Fnaf style without sacrificing the story. Good job on this review. You will go far.

[starryeyedmavis]

might be biased because its the game that introduced me to the series in the first place. but seriously the atmosphere, the story, the characters, the game did it amazingly, sure theres quite some flaws but in an overall view of it, its such a good game. people blame it for a lot of flaws the series as a whole has, even though they existed before the game. its really over-hated and im glad a lot of people like it. it's so well made and my favorite game ever. scott did a fantastic job with it.

[kashe]

i do think the gameplay is pretty lacking but i just can’t bring myself to dislike it. i love it so much. from an artistic perspective and story perspective, it’s sincerely one of my favorite fnaf games. the character designs are incredible and the atmosphere was new and refreshing, yet still creepy and unsettling. story-wise, it finally gave life to the characters we’d been following for so long. it gave these characters voices, personalities, motives, and intrigue. william, michael and elizabeth were not truly compelling characters before SL, they were hardly characters at all. i will always love sister location for bringing the aftons to life and making the lore what it is today, i think that’s so often overlooked when people discuss this game.

[minervoionni]

8:01 The “made the series too sci-fi” argument doesn’t just apply to the game’s atmosphere, I think. It’s about the addition of Remnant and complete tarnish of William Afton’s presence. Sister Location had such a massive impact on both established *and* future story, and it’s honestly just been going downhill since.

[as]

I'm not really involved with the fnaf community, so I've been able to form my own opinions in a sort of vacuum. I started watching other people's fnaf content very recently. I find it very interesting that everyone has such wildly different opinions on their favorite games and which ones they think are the best. Usually in fandom there's a sort of consensus, but not so much here lmao

Also justice for Ballora and Funtime Foxy. They're some of my favorites and they got absorbed into the hivemind too soon. 😔

[soomi]

Definitely will watch this later or after the premiere. Honestly, I love sister location tbh.
Though I really do get the criticisms on the game ngl. It feels like a game that doesn’t have a lot of replayability and maybe a set of things that could’ve been added in? but at the same time- I love it.

The story, music, atmosphere, and knowing we play as the only living kid of rabbit man is really cool!

[ElZikr]

I love all fnaf games tbh, but i do have to say, out of all games, Sister Location gave us a lot of lore when it came out.

(Also, SL's OST is one of my favorites in the franchise, like, why tf is watch your 6 so goddamm beautiful 💀)

[onlookerofthings]

The advanced animatronics aren't why Sister Location gets called too sci-fi. It adds illusion discs and Remnant and they make Afton more like a mad scientist than a serial killer (in my opinion at least).

Time traveling ballpits, Faz-goo, they all started from Sister Location's tone shift

[oddgirl]

Sister location is my favourite Fnaf game. And for many reasons:
• The *animatronics* have an incredible design. In my opinion, the best ones. They look more advanced and modern than the glamrock ones xd

• The best *moments* : The most *suspense* moments are in the breaker room, when freddy is fixed, and ballora's room.
And the *iconic* ones, it's the secret room (Ennard's boss fight) and when he gets to Michael's room. Unfortunately, they're not canon.
Not forgetting Michael's speech

• "Scifi": I think giving a scientific explanation to the Paranormal was the best thing that could have happened. Honestly, I would have liked to see William have more of a "mad scientist" concept than just "I'm JeAlouS of mY bEst frieNd"...

• *Characters* : Characters like Ennard (who is one of my favourites ones) is wasted. Honestly, they could have been a new danger to Fazbear's employees and people, but it didn't happen...
Circus baby was hardly seen. We didn't feel like she was a physical threat. Which is a shame. Only in fnaf 6 with that claw, with which, it was the same one that caught her... Insane
And funtime freddy scares me, he sounds like a psycho clown lol

[UnluckySuperstition]

I think sister location is an instance of an established franchise changing things up to done in the right way. It's (at least to me) the closest game in the franchise to a purely story driven narrative adventure (where the story was prioritized over gameplay and replayability) but I personally really like that because both the voice acting, the new lore and mysteries established, and the overall miserable atmosphere of impending doom makes it a good story. It feels a lot more... Realistic in a sense, because instead of being like previous games where you're a guard that has two large doors or an office to hide in and defend yourself like in the other games, instead you have a complete fabrication of safety. You're essentially a glorified and underpaid handy man that's being forced to go into dangerous areas completely exposed and defenseless to deal with the problems presented, you have no true defense at all after leaving the main lobby with the shock buttons (which get disabled by either baby or the other animatronics anyway)- other than the reliance on your own intuition, and listening skills (and Baby's 'help' later on).
The secret dialogue where you can go back into baby's office area and hide under the desk for her to start talking to you again was really interesting and I personally loved how the VA expressed the story. And the game used it's most frustrating elements of dying and having to redo entire sections, just to pull the rug out from under players and piss them off only to realize shortly after it was a fake out. (That doesn't necessarily justify the frustrating long winded Foxy section being the way it is, but it was nice that they willingly used an aspect of the game they knew was frustrating to actively continue the story)

I think the extra night where you defy baby's directions was also a very good addition as it gives the people who exclusively loved the first two games gameplay system a treat for prodding around the game, and one last scare with Enard breaking into your house to get you anyway (so.. no good endings _/(0-0)\_ )

Anyway, as a viewer who finds the games and the story really interesting but has never played the games myself, that's just my take on it. And again, voice acting means everything if you have it in a game, of it's good, it can compensate and add a lot to a story or a game, if it's bad- it most definitely detracts and it can detract alot or ruin an experience if it's bad enough. Sister location had _reqlly_ good voice acting. And I truly believe that if the VAs were actually bad, Sister location would be significantly worse off, if not disregarded entirely.

[acrazyrabbit]

EYYY IT'S MY POSTER! thx alot for using it in the thumbnail dude

[maddiek]

Sister location felt scary to me in a way I hadn’t experienced since fnaf 1, and haven’t really felt since. I can’t put my finger on exactly WHY that is, my best guess is just how dark both these games are (as in the lighting) and how this obscures the animatronics from full view. Ballora and Funtime foxy crawling around in the room with you actually gives me goosebumps, and their jumpscares GET me. Getting out of that dark elevator and having to crawl through a dark vent when you know what lies just outside freaks me out.

I feel like no animatronic designs have fully captured the creepiness of the original fnaf animatronics, not even the vr remakes, but sister location got close

[ryanprower]

From what I understand, the reason people consider the game to too far into sci-fi here is because of how they tried to make possession into a science with the Scalable Creation of Ulterior Presence device stored and used in the Scooping Room.

[icreatethingzz]

I honestly find Sister Location's change in mechanics and structure really fun. I know some people won't like it for that exact reason, but to each their own.

[trancebunnysunny]

pure aesthetics makes this game amazing for me, i enjoy it personally, so it’s nice to see some people like it :]

[hityo]

Man, that thumbnail is hypnotizingly amazing