With 96% positive Steam reviews, the new Five Nights at Freddy's game is being called the best in the horror series' 10 year history - here's why I'm not surprised

Five Nights at Freddy's: Into the Pit, the latest entry in the popular horror series, has garnered critical acclaim and has been dubbed as one of the best games in the franchise, thanks to its pixel art, return to horror roots, and adaptation of the Fazbear Frights book series.

The retro-styled Five Nights at Freddy's: Into the Pit just launched on Steam this week and it's already one of the highest rated in the series' 10 year history. Frankly, I'm not surprised.

As soon as I found out the retro maestros over at Mega Cat Studios were handling the first pixel art Five Nights at Freddy's game, I knew the project was in mighty good hands. The beloved studio is known for developing and publishing bangers for retro consoles like the NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis, although its most recent releases have been on PC. 

I was just raving about the new Sega Genesis shoot 'em up ZPF that Mega Cat is publishing, and I fully expected the studio to do its thing on Five Nights at Freddy's: Into the Pit. Well, now it's released as part of the series' 10th anniversary and already has an 'Overwhelmingly Positive' Steam rating; out of the more than 2,000 reviews currently on Steam, 96% of them are positive. 

Flicking through the user reviews, I'm seeing a whole lot of 'best game in the series' comments, which is really something else for a franchise that's spawned 10 mainline entries and a bunch of spinoffs.

Another thing that really excites me personally is all the chatter in the reviews about Into the Pit bringing Five Nights at Freddy's back to its horror roots. Even the Steam description places a lot of emphasis on the horror elements, promising a "heart-pounding adventure" and "five nights of terror in this chilling adventure game."

The story is an adaptation of the first volume of the Fazbear Frights series of books based on the Five Nights at Freddy's universe. It centers around a 10-year-old boy named Oswald who visits an abandoned Freddy's Fazbear's Pizza and is transported back to 1985 in an alternate timeline where Spring Bonnie murders six children. Oswald's father rescues him but gets trapped in this alternate timeline himself, and Oswald has to go back and save him.

Like any Five Nights at Freddy's game, you'll need to evade the clutches of killer animatronic creatures and solve puzzles to escape the pizzeria with your life. In it, you'll "uncover secrets that span decades" and your actions will lead you to one of multiple possible endings. 

I'm going to reserve any personal assessment on the game until I've played more of it, but I will say it's the first time I've been excited about a new Five Nights at Freddy's game in many years, and I hope Mega Cat's attachment to the franchise extends beyond this release.

Five Nights at Freddy's: Into the Pit is available now on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

Turn off the lights and play something from our list of the best horror games tonight.