The festive season may not seem the most suitable time to release a horror game. But that does mean there’s little competition if you do. Steel Wool Studios has chosen to do just that with the PSVR 2-exclusive release of Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2. It is due next month, and here’s why you should be excited for Help Wanted 2.
Originally teased during Sony’s PlayStation Showcase in the summer, Steel Wool Studios have been fairly quiet since then. First up, we finally have a release date, confirmed for 14th December 2023. That puts Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2 at only three weeks out. Perfect for spending the holidays scaring yourself – or friends and family – with the latest instalment of the jump scare game.
Enjoying some Fazbear entertainment
Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise has been hugely popular since the get-go. It has spawned numerous videogames and most recently a Hollywood movie! It stars Josh Hutcherson in the lead security guard role – that you embody in the games – and has gone down a storm with audiences. Although critics have been less kind. If you’re a fan of the games and are excited for Help Wanted 2, then it’s certainly worth a watch.
Or you could play the first Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted from 2020. Released for PSVR, Meta Quest and PCVR, it perfectly embodied the tense horror whilst providing even bigger jump scares!
The upcoming sequel looks to better its predecessor in every way, however. The team has revealed that Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2 will feature six categories of minigames. These will be Backstage, Fazcade, Staff Only, Food Prep, and Ticket Booth. The final sixth one is a special category containing new VR versions of Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location.
Steel Wool Studios wants to ensure players are presented with an “extraordinary amount of possibilities”, so that each time they play they encounter something new. That could be helping with maintenance, taking food orders, or engaging in some arts and crafts. These activities should create a far more open gameplay experience. Although, that being said there will still be minigames that are more classically curated.
The PSVR 2 experience
All the categories including the revamped Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location benefit from custom VR gameplay, as you’d expect. But the next-gen features of PSVR 2 will add further highlights to the game.
Players will be able to enjoy haptic feedback from the DualSense controllers to feel every switch and handle. Whilst the 3D audio will fully immerse them in Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzaria, making every creak and spark terrifyingly come to life. And let’s not forget about the headset’s haptics for that added shock value!
The studio hasn’t left out PSVR 2’s eye tracking either. Cleverly employed to increase that sense of atmosphere, players should keep an eye out for the Mystic Hippo minigame. Pick a card and she’ll try to guess it, looking deep into a player’s soul. Or they can try to fool her with their eye-tracked powers. Sounds like fun doesn’t it? A minigame only PSVR 2 owners could enjoy.
Check out the latest gameplay trailer here to see Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2 in action.