Love it or hate it, there’s no denying that “Five Nights at Freddy’s” has become a merchandising empire. In just over two years, this solo effort from indie developer Scott Cawthon has spawned five games (and a sixth spin-off game), a novel (which is now being made into a film), multiple toy lines, a series of Halloween costumes, and clothing items available at multiple stores, including Hot Topic, JC Penney, and Walmart. It’s come a long way, despite being a series which was initially very divisive among the horror gaming community. Last week, the fifth game in the main series (and sixth game overall) was released, “Five Nights At Freddy’s: Sister Location.”

“Sister Location” is a much more narrative-driven game than the previous “Five Nights At Freddy’s” titles. “Sister Location” uses the same basic premise as the previous games in the series (excepting 4), that the player is the night watchman at a pizza joint with animatronic mascots. However, “Sister Location” takes this in a very different direction. In the rest of the series. Whereas “Five Nights” 1-4 were all about finding out about things that had already happened, “Sister Location” puts the player into a situation which is currently unfolding. Also unlike the other games, the robots will actually communicate with the player, adding a whole new level of humanity to their situation. A core element of the story comes from the increasing conflict between what the robots are telling the players and the instructions from the owners of the restaurant. While the story is still pretty dark, I felt it didn’t quite live up to the standard of the previous games. Instead, I felt like designer Scott Cawthon was more focused on creating a shocking ending than properly exploring the really dark material around the game’s edges.

“Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location” looks amazing. This should really come as no surprise, since the series has always looked amazing. However, once again, there are some pretty big changes at play in “Sister Location.” Previously, the animatronics were mostly still and were usually only seen in motion when they killed the player. Here, however, they are seen moving around quite a lot. I like that each robot has its own particular style of movement. For instance Ballora the ballerina gracefully glides around in a perpetual pirouette, whereas Foxy the fox is in a state of constant frenzied twitching. The new animatronic designs are great too; all of them have a segmented faceplate, making them look even creepier than they used to.

The sound design is pretty solid, too. The robot voices are a really nice add-on to the game, and really make a couple of scenes way creepier than they would otherwise have been. Not to mention that the acting for the voiced lines is really solid (especially the actor who plays Freddy). The music is almost non-existent, as is series tradition. Instead, there is a heavy reliance on sound effects, especially ones which you’re not sure exactly how significant they are. It could just be background noise, but it could be Foxy moving in close, getting ready for the kill.

“Sister Location” represents a radical change in gameplay for the “Five Nights at Freddy’s” series. Rather than being confined to a single location, the player moves through the restaurant. Also, you don’t simply try to avoid the robots. Instead, you’ll also have to do things like deliver electric shocks to them, restore power to the facility, and even perform maintenance on one of the animatronics. While there are some problems (the movement in particular can feel a bit awkward and occasionally pointless), the change really helps this game not feel like it’s just retreading the same ground as all the others. And a quick side note: while attention is never really drawn to it, the way in which the player moves through Foxy and Ballora’s rooms are pretty much red light green light and blind man’s bluff respectively; however since this is really just incidental to the larger game, it works in a way that it doesn’t for Francisca.

“Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location” is a worthy addition to the series. Its changes help breathe new life into the franchise, but at its core it still understands what makes the previous games work and retains that as well. The game isn’t without its problems, though. It’s far easier than the other FNaF games, and the story never feels like it explores anywhere near all that it has to offer. But even though it’s not perfect, “Sister Location” is still a great game.