FNAF: Secret Of The Mimic
The next mainline title for the beloved horror series is Five Nights at Freddy’s:Secret of the Mimic. This new game is a sequel to Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach and its DLC, Ruin, by Steel Wool Studios. So far, details on Secret of the Mimic have been sparse, but a short demo at select conventions in 2024 and a teaser trailer have revealed key aspects of what fans can expect from the sequel when it releases in 2025.
As per the title, Secret of the Mimic will explore the villain last seen in Ruin, the Mimic, and potentially explain how the Fazbear Entertainment brand evolved into such a successful business by showing its origins in the 1970s. Secret of the Mimic will also introduce a brand new enemy animatronic, a jack-in-the-box named Jackie, whose clown styling and accompanying music create striking parallels to past villains in the Five Nights at Freddy’s series. Like Security Breach and Ruin, this sequel will be another free-roam survival horror game that allows players to explore their surroundings with more freedom than other mainline entries in the series.
Secret of the Mimic Is Releasing In 2025
The Latter Half Of The Year Is More Likely
While there’s no specific release date for Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic yet, the first official trailer for the game did confirm it would release in 2025. Since both Security Breach and Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2 came out in December of their respective release years, it’s possible Secret of the Mimic will also come out near the end of the year to continue that pattern. There’s no indication yet when an official announcement for the release date will come, but it will likely also be in the latter half of the year.
Unfortunately, Steel Wool Studios and Scott Cawthon, the creator of the series, have been radio silent on Secret of the Mimic since the first trailer came out. Since most information on upcoming FNAF games is usually kept close to the chest, it does make sense that this upcoming game would get the same treatment, especially since there was already a gameplay demo at PAX West 2024 for fans to get a sneak peek.
Secret Of The Mimic Trailer & Story Details
A New Animatronic, Retro Setting, And Origin Story
Not much is known about the story of Secret of the Mimic, beyond what was revealed in the short teaser trailer dropped by Steel Wool Studios in August 2024. The description posted below the video reads, “To see the future sometimes you need to understand the past.” That hint, alongside the retro-style carpet and film shown in the teaser, indicates that the game will take place in a past decade like the 1970s.
FNAF as a series has recently been opting to go back into the past rather than further in the future, since Mega Cat Studios’ potentially canon Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pitwas set partially in the mid-1980s. Security Breach and its DLC, Ruin, were both set in the near future, so it’s likely that the developers don’t want to continue setting the series too far into the future. Since the Mimic will be the focus of the game, perhaps this game will explain its origins and the building of the Pizza Plex and its vast underground sections to elaborate on some of the messy lore of Security Breach.
The only character shown in the teaser trailer was an unnamed jack-in-the-box, later revealed to be called Jackie. Jackie is a clown-like animatronic, with white makeup, red hair, and glowing yellow eyes. As her toy box is wound up throughout the trailer, the song that plays is the same one from when The Puppet’s music box is wound up in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, which may hint to a connection between the two characters. The Puppet is an incredibly important FNAF character for the series' lore, so any sort of connection could be important.
More information has come out about Jackie since the first trailer, as she was added for a small cameo in an update to Help Wanted 2.With that small appearance, players got a better look at Jackie’s full model rather than just her face. It seems that Jackie may be attached to her box, lacking a bottom half beyond her skirt. However, she does have extremely long arms that may make up for a lack of feet. Her clown aesthetic continues with her white and red dress and classic yellow clown hat, which draws similarities to the look of Circus Baby from Sister Location.
Secret Of The Mimic Gameplay Details
Another Free-Roam Title For The Horror Series
Like Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach and its DLC, Ruin, the next title by Steel Wool Studios will also be a free-roam survival game. A short demo was available in both VR and standard gameplay style to attendees of PAX West 2024 and at Fantastic Fest 2024, but no official information was released online. The demo, according to attendees of the two conventions, was a short chase by Jackie through two different areas in a large building.
The two areas were a manager’s office and a factory-like setting with a series of crawlspaces and catwalks. To navigate these spaces and escape Jackie, players had to pull levers and push buttons to activate the surrounding machinery. The style of gameplay could be similar to when Gregory has to work with the button and camera systems to keep enemies like Roxy and Monty out of the security office.
The most notable parts of the demo for Five Nights at Freddy's: Secret of the Mimicare the connections to Ruin, the DLC for Security Breach that featured a new protagonist exploring a dilapidated Pizza Plex. As players flee Jackie, they see the elephant and crow suits from the Mimic’s room in Ruin in good condition, but equally empty and lifeless. Other hints in the demo include supplies for a Fredbear’s Family Diner, which means players may discover how the Fazbear Entertainment franchise grew into a giant Pizza Plex.
Source: Steel Wool Studios/YouTube
- Video Game(s)
- Five Nights at Freddy's, Five Nights at Freddy's 2, Five Nights at Freddy's 3, Five Nights at Freddy's 4, Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted, Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach, Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2
- Created by
- Scott Cawthon
- First Film
- Five Nights at Freddy's
- Character(s)
- Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie (FNAF), Chica (FNAF), Foxy (FNAF), Springtrap (FNAF), Balloon Boy (FNAF), Mike Schmidt
Five Nights at Freddy's is a multimedia horror franchise created by Scott Cawthon that began with the first entry in the video game series, Five Nights at Freddy's. The core story of the franchise focuses on a pizza franchise known as "Freddy Fazbear's Pizza," a kid-friendly entertainment center with animatronic hosts. The stores are closed when the animatronics begin to go berserk, slaying some of their guests. However, for most entries, a security guard is tasked with observing them at night, completely unaware of the horrible history behind the mysterious, murderous robots.
