Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location may be delayed because it's too sickening

For some people, myself included, creepy animatronics are sickening. Other people, including the multiple thousands who play Five Nights at Freddy's games, seem to be at least capable of tolerating them. But that might not be the case with the series' latest instalment, Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location, because creator Scott Cawthon is worried it goes too far.

"There are certain plot elements that are very dark, to the point where I sometimes feel sick. There would be no easy fix to this. I either release it Friday as it is, or I delay it by several months to completely rework the plot into something kid-friendly."

Making a game about murderous electronic animals "kid-friendly" seems like a challenge, to say the least, but Cawthon probably knows his audience better than I. At this stage he's still undecided about whether to delay it or not, and the statement doesn't hint at what the offending content might contain. If it's got anything to do with animatronics romance, I'm inclined to agree it's a step too far.

Scott Cawthon is known to act on whims: he released the RPG spinoff Five Nights at Freddy's World several months early last year, before removing it with the admission that it wasn't up to scratch. That game is now available free on Gamejolt.

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.