Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator is out now

Following a tease late last week, Five Nights at Freddy's creator Scott Cawthon has just released Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator. As the name implies, it's ostensibly a pizzeria simulator spin on the series, featuring a whimsical (and not scary) looking bear doling out pizzas to whimsical looking human characters.

Or at least, that's what the screenshot above and the Steam page indicates. Cawthon is describing this as a "Five Nights at Freddy's adventure with a lighter touch", though I'd be surprised if there wasn't something horrendous buried in there. Early Steam reviews are already warning potential players that the game "is not what it claims to be" and that we ought not to be "tricked by the screenshots and trailer". I don't want to inadvertently spoil anything by quoting more reviews, though.

If you want to find out for yourself, it's free: you might as well. ""I REFUSE to let an entire year go by without a game release, so I'm putting together something fun for all of you for the holidays," Cawthon said when he teased the game last week

The release of this game – which may or may not be what it appears to be – follows the cancellation in July of Five Nights at Freddy's 6. At the time, Cawthon said he wanted to work on something more "fun". "Maybe I’ll try my hand at a pizzeria tycoon game, who knows. The point is that it would be something for fun, and something for the fans."

Shaun Prescott

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.