The player assumes the role of a newly-hired employee at Fazbear's Fright, a horror-themed attraction inspired by Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, the family restaurant that closed thirty years prior. During the week before the attraction's official opening, the employee must watch over the facility from a security office each night from 12 a.m. to 6 a.m., using a network of surveillance cameras placed in rooms and air vents. They must monitor the status of three operating systems – cameras, audio, and ventilation – and reboot them whenever they begin to malfunction. Camera problems cause the camera feeds to become obscured by static, and if ventilation fails, the employee's vision begins to blackout. The employee may also see hallucinatory "phantom" animatronics that resemble animatronics from the restaurant franchise, which can cause system malfunctions, but cannot directly harm the player.
On the second night, the staff at Fazbear's Fright uncovers an older, deteriorated, rabbit-like animatronic named Springtrap; the employee must thereafter prevent it from entering the office and killing them. The team also found a series of instructional cassette tapes, recorded by Phone Guy from the first game. The second night's tape instructs employees on how to operate springlock suits, which can function as both an animatronic and a costume for humans. The third night's tape discusses a "safe room", an additional emergency room which "is not included in the digital map layouts programmed in the animatronics or the security system. This room is hidden to customers, invisible to animatronics, and is always off-camera".
However, recordings on later nights discourage the use of the suits. The recording on the fourth night states the suits are no longer considered suitable for employees following "an unfortunate incident at the sister location involving multiple and simultaneous springlock failures." To replace the faulty suits, the recording states that temporary costumes would be provided, although questions about their appropriateness should be avoided. The recording which plays during the fifth night reminds employees that the safe room is for employees only, and that customers should never be taken there. Also, after discovering that one of the special suits was "noticeably moved," it reminds employees that the suits are considered unsafe to wear.
A screenshot of a minigame playable outside the main "nights"
Atari-style minigames that are playable between nights provi
