Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted Reviews
If we sound like a broken record criticising this VR conversion, that's because its central problem is so all-encompassing that it destroys the product. Sure, you could have fun with this if you're a committed fan of Five Nights at Freddy's and its lore, but we'd advise against it otherwise. As with many VR games, the immersion and novelty factor papers over the cracks of the limited gameplay. When that escapism is taken away, all that's left is a sub-par minigame collection that isn't even as good as the individual games it cribs from – and it's a lot more expensive, too. We get the impression that the sole reason this game exists is to capitalise on the fact that the Switch has such a large market share.
Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted is a good game at its core, but it suffers in the transition to Nintendo Switch.
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted is a great collection of FNaF titles for the series veteran looking for Switch versions, or for those searching out the additional bonus content, but the issues that come with the VR conversion, as well as the fact that the base games as a whole can easily lead to boredom and frustration for those not fully invested in the timeline and lore mean this is a niche collection for a niche audience.
Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted's port to the Nintendo Switch has proven to be a difficult one. The slippery controls render the game difficult to play, but I don't consider this a hit against the franchise. FNAF will continue to be a fan favorite, and I'm sure more games are planned for the future.
The straightforward short hit game style makes the case for itself and games like it. It's not completely revolutionary, but it successfully adapts the PC to VR game to the console and makes for a good time.
At its best, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted delivers the kind of jump scares and edge-of-your-seat tension the series is known for. But, minus a VR headset, it’s not a great way to experience Five Nights at Freddy’s, even factoring in the bonus games and the additional lore it imparts. Given that you can get the first three Five Nights games on Nintendo Switch in their original, superior incarnations, it’s hard to recommend Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted to anyone but FNAF completionists.
Five Nights at Freddy's Help Wanted is an amalgam of scenes and minigames from the 5 mainline FNAF games. Your overarching goal for each is to survive.
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted is a bad port. There isn’t really any other way to state it. While this concept sounds great and even works fine in the world of virtual reality, no thought or proper usage of the Switch makes Help Wanted feel broken and shallow.
Overall, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted can be a fun game in spite of its flaws. I imagine most players will want to play it in a darkened room for improved atmosphere, but you’ll get used to the jump scares fairly quickly. I like horror games, but I personally have no desire to play them in VR! So I really wasn’t too bothered by this version of the game not being in VR. If you really want to play this one in VR, you can get the original Steam version of the game, which also happens to be cheaper. The Nintendo Switch version is available on the eShop for $29.99. It is also available on Xbox One and PlayStation 4. I got through all of the normal mode levels and collected most of the Faz Tokens in around 10 hours or so, but there is a lot more content in hard mode. A few of the Faz Tokens and cassette tapes are hiding in hard mode too, so there is a bunch of additional gameplay beyond normal mode. Can you survive the night and avoid the rogue animatronics that are out to get you from the shadows?
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted succeeds in creating a world that fits the theme it is shooting for, it just unfortunately fails to do much with it. Mired by poor controls, and frustrating mechanics, the only way I can see anyone getting enjoyment out of this would be possibly as a quick party experience with a few friends.