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The Challenges of Adapting Five Nights at Freddy’s (2014-2022)
Across the Media
Muhammad Amierul Muzammel Amir, Nor Anira Haris
*
Faculty of Film, Theatre and Animation, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
*
Corresponding Author
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.51584/IJRIAS.2025.10100000190
Received: 10 November 2025; Accepted: 16 November 2025; Published: 22 November 2025
ABSTRACT
This study analyses the process of adaptation between a short story titled Into the Pit (2019) into the video
game Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit (2024), with a heavy focus on the narrative. It shows the struggles
faced by writers when adapting a text from a different medium; especially into a medium that is far more active
in terms of audience engagement (from conventional short story into a video game). According to modern
trends, many fans are dissatisfied with modern adaptations of original texts; often critiquing it for changing
elements present in the original text which further changed the meaning of the original media. This study
argues that the process of adaptation often includes changes that would affect the storyline and how audience
would receive the adaptations; oftentimes for the worse. The study itself also limits itself on the narrative and
plotlines of the texts; as the process of adaptation often impacts many other aspects such as characters and
characteristics, artistic elements, and (to an extreme extent) genres. Video game as a form of adaptation is also
something that is very new to the world of creative industries. As such, it is important that this study chooses a
new medium in order to establish ground rules for future video game adaptations as a baseline to follow.
Keywords: Five Nights at Freddy’s, horror, adaptation, video games, short story
INTRODUCTION
Adaptation is a form of art that has been practiced long ago; during the Victorians Era, they had a habit of
taking just about anything and adapting it to all sorts of directions; poems, novels, plays and others are all
adapted to and from one another mediums, says Hutcheon in her book (2013). Modern societies still inherit the
same habit, now with the additions of film, radio, and the wide varieties of electronic media like video games
and interactive videos has caused adaptation to run its course.
According to Uhry, as cited by Hutcheon, O’Flynn (2013), adaptation is a bit like redecorating. Similar to
when redecorating our living space, it does not necessarily imply that the original decoration is superior nor
inferior compared to the new decoration. Rather, it is simply a reorganisation or a rearrangement of the same
story, told from a different perspective or point of view. Hutcheon also mentioned in her theory of adaptation
how adaptation should not be regarded as a formal entity; and that it is also a process (2013). It shifts the focus
on the audience to how to engage with the stories in different mediums, remediating them.
Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNAF) is a point and click survival horror game developed and published by an
independent game developer, Scott Cawthon, which had its first game published on August 20 2014, and its
latest instalment on August 7 2024. The franchise in its current state has evolved from purely being a game
franchise into a multimedia franchise, containing 13 major video game titles, more than 25 book titles and a
feature length film. The focus of this study will be about the adaptation of the short story anthologies, titled
Into the Pit (2019) and its video game title, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit (2024).
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Table listing the major titles in the FNAF multimedia franchise.
Mainline Games
Spinoff Games
Short Story Anthologies
Novels & Other
Publications
FNAF (August 8,
2014)
FNAF World
(January 21,
2016)
Into the Pit (December 26,
2019)
FNAF: The Silver Eyes
(December 17, 2015)
Fetch (March 3, 2020)
FNAF 2 (November
11, 2014)
1:35 A.M. (May 5, 2020)
FNAF: The Twisted
Ones (June 27, 2017)
Step Closer (July 7, 2020)
FNAF 3 (March 2,
2015)
Bunny Call (September 1,
2020)
FNAF: Survival
Logbook (December 26,
2017)
Blackbird (December 29, 2020)
FNAF 4 (July 23,
2015)
FNAF: Special
Delivery
(November 25,
2019)
The Cliffs (March 2, 2021)
FNAF: The Fourth
Closer (June 26, 2018)
Gumdrop Angel (May 4, 2021)
FNAF: Sister
Location (October
7, 2016)
The Puppet Carver (July 6,
2021)
FNAF: The Ultimate
Guide (December 7,
2021)
Friendly Face (September 7,
2021)
Freddy Fazbear’s
Pizzeria Simulator
(December 4, 2017)
Prankster (November 2, 2021)
FNAF: Security Breach
Files (September 20,
2022, updated in April 2,
2024)
Felix the Shark (April 19, 2022)
Ultimate Custom
Night (June 27,
2018)
Lally’s Game (July 19, 2022)
FNAF Character
Encyclopedia (February
7, 2023)
HAPPS (September 20, 2022)
FNAF: Help
Wanted (May 28,
2019)
FNAF: Into the
Pit (August 7,
2024)
Somniphobia (December 6,
2022)
FNAF: The Official
Movie Novelization
(December 26, 2023)
Submechanophobia (December
27, 2022)
FNAF: Security
Breach (December
16, 2021)
The Bobbledots Conclusion
(March 7, 2023)
FNAF: VIP (August 3,
2024)
Nexie (May 2, 2023)
FNAF: The Week Before
(September 3, 2024)
FNAF: Help
Wanted 2
(December 14,
2023)
Tiger Rock (July 18, 2023)
FNAF: Return to the Pit
(December 24, 2024)
B7-2 (October 3, 2023)
FNAF: Return to the Pit
(December 24, 2024)
The original creator and developer of the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise, Cawthon began his career as a
game developer making self-funded Christian adventure games, with one of his earliest titles being Noah’s Ark
and The Pilgrim’s Progress; according to Marsh (2023). When he released a family-friendly game titled
Chipper & Sons Lumber Co. which was published in 2013, Cawthon received multiple criticisms on it; one
reviewer named Jim Sterling called it unintentionally “terrifying”, and that the characters – which were meant
to look cute – felt “soulless”, in an article written by Hernandez (2015). Cawthon then took the criticism to
heart, and according to an interview with IGM, he believes that he can make something that is scarier than the
terrifying aspect that was pointed out by Sterling (2014).
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Cawthon then published his next game, titled Five Nights at Freddy’s (2014) on Steam, which received huge
positive feedback; with the game being extremely popular among Let’s Play YouTubers; a subset of content
creators specialising in playing games. Cawthon then subsequently released a sequel to the game, titled Five
Nights at Freddy’s 2 (2014), Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 (2015), Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 (2015), and Five
Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location (2016) in the subsequent years. He then co-wrote a trilogy novel along with
Kira Breed-Wrisley called The Silver Eyes trilogy in the fall of 2016. After that, Cawthon published a few
more books and games; some of them being spin-offs of the mainline games and others being sequels of them;
one of them being titled Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit (2024), which was based off of a short story
sharing the same name.
In the earlier mainline games, players are often left in the dark when it comes to the storylines, only
occasionally hinted on the events happening implicitly through minigames or phone calls, whereas the books
would later give fans of the franchise important names. The stories told in the books takes place in a separate
continuity from the stories in the games, but is still considered as canon, as said by Cawthon in his The
Ultimate Guide’s (2021) book, “Many concepts first introduced in the novels later took hold in the games,
while concepts in the games were sometimes expanded on in the novels. As the franchise evolves, the stories in
the book series and the games derive from each other further, to the point the book could almost be considered
independent from the games. Then, Cawthon along with Mega Cat Studios published a game; this time based
off of their short story Into the Pit (2019) titled Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit (2024).
Both the short story and the game tells the story about a boy named Oswald, who entered a ball pit in a
pizzeria, only to travel in 1985; on the day where an animatronic called Spring Bonnie murdered 6 children.
Oswald then entered the ballpit once again to travel back to the present, but was followed by a man wearing a
rabbit costume who then pulled his father before replacing him. Oswald then ran away from his house to return
to the past pizzeria in order to rescue his father, and kill the rabbit man.
Problem Statement
According to a study by Hartati, Kustanti and Permanaludin on Application of an Adaptation Approach
Through Narrative Comparisons in the Novel and Film Twilight, adaptations often include additional stories or
alter existing ones in order to convey the setting more explicitly (2024). As a result, adaptations may end up
looking slightly different compared to its original text. Watkins also stated that there is a lot to be worked on
adaptations’ transformative narratives (2018). These changes in characterisation, messages and plot often leads
to dissatisfaction between the audiences; or even the author of the original text.
The short story Into the Pit’s medium practises the telling of the narrative, whereas the game does a job of
telling as well as showing it, giving the audience a wider scope to engage with the idea. The adaptation from
telling to showing is one of the most common forms of adaptation, usually from print to performance; said by
Hutcheon & O’Flynn, (2014). This form of adaptation allows fans of franchises such as Marvel or Japanese
light novels to engage with the medium differently.
As multimedia franchises expand, the adaptation of the Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNAF) into different formats;
such as films and novelisation brings its own unique challenges and opportunities. While the games rely on
players’ interactivity, fear and suspense to deliver the horror elements, as well as the narrative; these elements
must be reimagined so as to deliver the same elements in a more passive and less reactive format. Based on a
study on Application of an Adaptation, Hartati et al. said that adaptations of films often include additional
stories or alter available stories and context to convey the settings of the original texts more explicitly (2024).
Other than that, Colton pointed out that the biggest reasons for failure of adaptations are broken into three
pillars; the lack of Adherence, Ardour, and Dawdling (n.d.)
Thus, this study aims to investigate how the elements of horror and suspense within the narratives are adapted
across the media, and the effectiveness of these adaptations. As such, this study’s research objectives are
I. to identify the changes made when adapting the short story Into the Pit (2019) to Five Nights at
Freddy’s (FNAF): Into the Pit (2024) game based on Theory of Adaptation (2013) by Hutcheon.
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II. to analyse the effects of the alterations caused by the adaptation of the short story Into the Pit
(2019) to Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNAF): Into the Pit (2024) game to the storytelling.
The study will base its theory on Hutcheon’s Theory of Adaptation (2013) in order to identify the changes
made during the adaptation process of the short story into FNAF: Into the Pit (2024) video game. The first
research question is what are the challenges of adapting Into the Pit (2019) short story to FNAF: Into the Pit
(2024) video game and what are changed in between. Next, this study also aims to analyse and understand the
effects caused by said alterations earlier to the narrative of the story, as well as how it impacts the audiences’
engagement based on trends surrounding this title on social and mainstream media. Thus, the second research
question is how the effect of the alterations caused by the adaptation to the storytelling and audience
engagement.
The significance of this research is to shed light upon the process of adaptation of texts into separate mediums.
Audiences are extremely critical when it comes to the process of adapting their beloved stories into a new
medium, and thus often gets upset when the adaptations are not up to their vision. In an interview through
RogerEbert.com, it is stated by Forman that oftentimes adaptations of books that you enjoy, you would be let
down (2014). Some of the most critical adaptations are the movie Fantastic Four (2015), receiving a 4.3/10.0
rating on IMDb as well as Assassin’s Creed (2016), which received a rating of 5.6/10.0 on the same website.
Thus, it can be drawn from Forman’s analysis that many fans do not prefer adaptations as compared to the
original text.
This study limits itself to analysing the narrative and storyline of both Into the Pit (2019) and FNAF: Into the
Pit (2024). Thus, it will not focus on the analysis of characters like Oswald, nor the general settings of the
story, unless relevant to the research. The reasoning of this limitation is due to fans of the media mostly
critiquing adaptations on the plot of the stories; whether its exclusion of pre-existent content or addition of
unnecessary plot points.
The Concept of Adaptations
Comprehensive literature evaluations on subjects including studies and previous research on adaptations, the
Five Nights at Freddy's (FNAF) franchise, and adaptation theories will be carried out in order to deepen
comprehension of this research. According to Mariani’s journal on the process of adaptation in 2024,
adaptation has become a keyword for new ways of storytelling; told in an ever-expanding multimedia universe.
Adaptations rely heavily on new technologies, while also maintaining connections among old and new means
to create and consume texts. Mariani delves into the complexities of adapting a novel for the big screen;
discussing the choices and challenges that directors and screenwriters face in order to preserve the essence of
the source material when adapting. To sum up, Mariani’s article highlights the importance of staying faithful to
the characterisation and themes of the original text, while also being creative in visualising certain scenes into a
newer form of storytelling.
Afterward, Hartati, Kustanti & Permanaludin stated in 2024 that there are several terms associated when it
comes to adapting literary works; ecranisation, musicalisation, dramatisation and novelisation. They also stated
that translating a literary work into the screen involves converting a written language into a mix of audio-visual
language, using the adaptation of the novel Twilight (2008). This comes into relevance as video games also
utilise a visual-audio language, similar to film.
Other than novel-to-film adaptations, there are also adaptations from comic-to-film. According to Pratt in its
journal on compatibility and value of comic-to-film adaptations in 2024, comic-to-film adaptation is
inescapable in modern culture. In his journal, he delves into the challenges and opportunities when adapting
this medium. He also stated the four groupings of value in comics – the narrative, pictorial, historical, and the
referential which is relevant to adapting comics into film adaptation. These studies focus on the challenges and
adjustments that are to be made when adapting a novel or a comic into film. While different from adapting a
short story into a video game; the narrative aspect of video games parallels with the narrative of a film.
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Next, in Zhenhua Jia’s case study of The Great Gatsby’s (2013) adaptations published in 2024, her study
summarises the aesthetic characteristics and limitations of adaptations when it comes from classic literature
into a more insightful modern narration on the screen. The article also discussed how the adaptation managed
to capture the spirit of the original text all while facing the limitations caused by the differences between
literary and cinematic mediums. This journal proved useful for this study as it presents some of the limitations
caused by the differences of the mediums.
Genres of Horror
I also did some reading on the horror aesthetics in order to garner more of an understanding of this study. In a
book titled Horror Film Aesthetics: Creating the Visual Language of Fear written by Sipos, cinematic tools
such as acting, costumes, sound design and lighting play heavily into creating horror on the screen (2010).
Sipos also stated that horror is an elusive genre to be defined; how some horror shows could be misconstrued
as science fiction, dark fantasy or even suspense depending on the stories told and the current popular trend.
Caroll’s article on the nature of horror, which was published in 1987 is also another article that I read in order
to understand this genre more. Compared to Sipos, Caroll focuses more on the horror associated with texts such
as Stoker’s Dracula or Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. According to Caroll, this sort of horror; which he
coined as “art-horror” focuses more on the fictitious style of horror over something realistic such as a loose
serial killer or a natural disaster.
Five Nights at Freddy’s Text and Franchise
For the FNAF, I have read several journal articles based on the multimedia franchise. One of the articles that I
have read is Hannah Capstick’s study on FNAF’s approach to music, sound and their relationship with
immersion. This study relates to one of my objectives which was to analyse audience engagements and
immersiveness in video games compared to a short story. Capstick argues that the concept of “Global Music
Box” aims to understand the many elements in a video game collectively to create an immersive experience.
Next, Hovland in his study on the transmedial symbiosis between FNAF’s different narratives explores how the
franchise helps connect its multimedia franchise through transmedial storytelling and adaptation (2024). He
argues that the franchise uses game mechanics that are fragmented and puzzle-like to allow players to speculate
and fill the narrative gaps, while also having other installments that are more narrative driven. Examples of
these narrative driven media are FNAF: Security Breach (2021) and the books. These titles, while in different
continuity, share parallel to one another, allowing one medium’s concepts and lore to influence the other.
I also did some extended reading on a journal which was written by Yujie Ji and Yixuan Zhao. The journal is
an analysis on FNAF’s narrative and explores the storytelling and narrative strategies used by them. According
to them, FNAF utilises techniques such as cryptic storytelling and meta narrative in order to deliver their
stories, referencing titles such as FNAF: Help Wanted (2019). Ji and Zhao also pointed out that FNAF’s
storytelling often requires players to actively uncover the lore, rather than receiving it by Cawthon.
Game Reviews and Sales Data
In order to see the effect of this adaptation to the audience, this study will be using two sites called Steam and
Gamalytic in order to draw conclusions. Steam is the largest online-gaming platform in the world, averaging at
132 million users per month, with 69 million users logging onto Steam on a daily basis (Backlinko, 2025).
Steam is used in order to analyse the reviews left by users who have bought and played the game FNAF: Into
the Pit (2024) in order to draw conclusions in regards to player satisfaction. Meanwhile, Gamalytic is a
provider of real-time game statistics. Gamalytic serves as a market intelligence platform, providing analytics
and insights for Steam games, offering data on game sales, revenue, and player demographics.
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Image showing the review chart for the game Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit (2024)
As shown above, the overall review for the game FNAF: Into the Pit (2024) seems to be overwhelmingly
positive, from a total of 9,134 users (as of June 19, 2025). Many of the users praised the horror aspect of the
game, claiming that the jumpscare were extremely immersive and had an extremely fun and intuitive
gameplay. Many of the people who also rated it well quoted it as a very beautiful love letter to the franchise;
considering this is Mega Cat’s first game within the FNAF franchise. However, some of the bad reviews of the
game stated that the game has a horrible gameplay loop as well as the locking of the various endings behind
‘tedious’ easter eggs. The gameplay loop was criticised by quite a few of the users, while also mentioning that
the game’s replayability is lacking.
According to Gamalytic, FNAF: Into the Pit (2024) sold a total of 164.5 thousand copies on Steam, as of June
18th. This averages to 522.2 copies sold each day only on Steam, with the game’s gross revenue being
somewhere between 1.9 million to 3.9 million US Dollars. In comparison, Amazon, which is the largest
international e-commerce company, has close to 13 thousand reviews of the original Into the Pit (2019) short
story compilation. Though the usage of reviews is not entirely accurate, Amazon requires their reviewers to
purchase the product before giving it a review, so it is safe to say that on a minimum 13 thousand copies were
sold at least on Amazon. According to these datas, there is an upward trend of 1265.4% increase in sales of
FNAF: Into the Pit (2024) compared to the original short story Into the Pit (2019).
The Choosing of Theories and Theoretical Framework
Linda Hutcheon’s Theory of Adaptation (2013) explains the concept of adaptations; that they are not just a
copy or a repetition of the original text. Rather, an adaptation is a reimagining of it. Hutcheon comments that
adaptations’ purpose is to repurpose and reimagine the original text in order to cater to a new context, audience
or medium. She also pointed out the importance of the relationship between the two texts as adaptations can be
seen as a form of critique or revision of the original work. An example of adaptation being made as a form of
critique is David Edgar’s stage adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby (1838-39) which was originally made by
Charles Dickens. Edgars’ play was called “a play that critiqued Dickens’ form of social morality”; says Innis
(1993). Hence, Hutcheon’s theory focuses on the importance of adapting, as well as maintaining relationship
with the original text.
The second theory that I read is Julie Sanders’ Adaptation and Appropriation (2016) book. In it, Sanders
focuses on the cultural, social and political implications of a form of adaptation. She examines how adaptations
not only are shaped by current societal norms and values, but also are capable of shaping it. Lastly, I also do a
little bit of reading about a study on the two theories, which was written by Paul Edwards. Paul focuses on
Hutcheon’s theory of adaptation in his study, while using the latter as a useful measure of how adaptation can
be bracketed, as well as how far it can be stretched (2007). Reading this study helps me to understand the two
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theories better, which brought me to the conclusion of using Hutcheon’s theory over Sander. From that a
theoretical framework for this study was construed as such:
Graphic showing the principles of intertextuality within the theory of adaptation.
The presented theoretical framework showcases the ten principles of intertextuality within the theory of
adaptation, whe principle of transformation alters or changes texts whole, partially or abstract.
Modification principle changes or amend the text. Parallel maintains the similarities of the text indirectly. Next,
excerpt includes a portion of the original text or episode in the adapted work. Expansion widens or enlarges the
texts into a larger foundation, and existence manifests elements that do not exist in the original text. Haplology
removes, abandons and excludes portions of the original text selectively without changing the messages.
Defamiliarization changes elements read in order to become something different. Demystification goes against
the original texts using radical features, while conversion inverts the idea and structure of the text without
being too radical or drastic.
However, in an adaptation process, not all 10 principles will be utilised. Oftentimes principles such as
demystification, existence or expansion are often not used. As such, this study will also exclude some
principles accordingly so as to not clutter or muddle the focus of this study. This study will focus on the five
principles as such; defamiliarization, haplology, modification, parallel, and transformation as these five are a
lot more present within this adaptation of texts.
Theory of Adaptation
Principle of Intertextuality
Transformation
[Transferring,
altering or
changing of texts
from one to
another as a
whole, partially
or abstract]
Modification
[Modification,
change, or
amendment in a
text]
Parallel
[Containing
similarities and
parallelism but
indirectly]
Excerpt
[A portion of text
or episode
included in the
work]
Expansion
[Widening or
enlarging towards
the text]
Existence
[Manifesting non-
existent elements]
Haplology
[Removal,
abandonment and
exclusion used
selectively]
Defamiliarization
[Elements read is
changed to
become
something
different]
Demystification
[Going against
the original text
using a more
radical features]
Conversion
[Inverting the
hypogram
without being too
radical or drastic]
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Research Design
Chart showcasing the research design of this study
This study begins with identifying the issue of adaptations, where alteration or modification would often lead
to changes in meaning of texts by Hartati et al. (2024). Based on Hutcheon’s Theory of Adaptation (2013), the
focus of this study is to first and foremost identify the challenges in adapting the original text Into the Pit
(2019) short story into the video game Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNAF): Into the Pit (2024), before analysing
the effects of these alterations and modifications to the storytelling and audience engagement according to
Hutcheon's Theory of Adaptation (2013).
The next step is identifying the changes made in FNAF: Into the Pit (2024) compared to the short story Into the
Pit (2019). Identification of these changes will be made based on the ten principles of intertextuality;
transformation, modification, parallel, excerpt, expansion, existence, haplology, defamiliarization,
demystification, and conversion. However, not all ten principles will be utilised for this study, as principles
such as demystification are not utilised during the process of adaptation. The principle of existence is also not
going to be used as this adaptation is a very close adaptation and does not add a lot of brand new elements to
the story in FNAF: Into the Pit (2024) when compared to the original text.
The choosing of the two texts, Into the Pit (2019) short story and FNAF: Into the Pit (2024) are made as
FNAF: Into the Pit (2024) is a direct adaptation of the short story in the franchise. While there are other texts
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adapted within the FNAF franchise, texts like FNAF: The Silver Eyes trilogies (2015-2018) are less direct
adaptations and are more outdated to be used for study. Thus, this research will focus only on Into the Pit
(2019) short story and FNAF: Into the Pit (2024) video game in order to identify the challenges of adapting the
story.
Changes between original and adapted text
The first key difference of the short story Into the Pit (2019) and the adaptation Five Nights at Freddy’s
(FNAF): Into the Pit (2024) are the exposition of the stories. The story begins on the last day of school before
the summer holiday in the short story. We are exposed to the town that Oswald resides in, and the state of it.
We are also told about Oswald’s friend, Ben who moved away from the town, leaving him by himself.
Meanwhile, the video game brings us straight into the middle of summer holiday, where Oswald’s father is
driving to Jeff’s Pizza to drop him off as he heads to his part time job, where the two of them had a small bet
whether there is still a dead possum on the crossroad. Any mentions of Ben within the short story was removed
in the video game adaptation, outside of item interactions.
The rising action of the video game adaptation vastly differs from the original text. In Into the Pit, Oswald and
his father had a fight where Oswald complained about his parents’ financial status, and how his friend Ben gets
to have a vacation at a beach, while he is stuck in Jeff’s Pizza, with just enough money for a slice of the most
basic pizza. He then decided to play a prank on his father by hiding in a disgusting and abandoned ball pit in
Jeff’s Pizza. While hiding in it, Oswald finds himself travelling to the past; way before Jeff owned the pizza
place, and the place was called Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. In the video game, Oswald jumped into the ball pit
within the first few minutes of the game, planning to prank his father who was late to pick him up. While in the
past, the video game moves further into the story by means of Oswald playing hide and seek, before stumbling
upon a scene of carnage as a creature similar to a rabbit animatronic goes around kidnapping children.
In Into the Pit (2019), Oswald spent a few days hanging out in 1985, hanging out with his new friends Chip
and Mike. The climax of the story then happens on one day, when he jumped into the ball pit, he came to
Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza that had erupted in chaos, with kids and parents running around and a man wearing a
yellow rabbit costume seemingly responsible for the murder and chaos. As the rabbit man chased him, Oswald
jumped back into the ballpit, attempting to return to the present, where he is confronted by his father. Before
being able to answer his father’s scolding, the rabbit man appeared from the ballpit as well before dragging his
father into the ballpit, and utilised a hypnosis technology to mask himself as Oswald’s father. The game’s
climax arrived as Oswald realised his father had been swapped by the rabbit and was watching his every move
every night. The rabbit would chase Oswald around the house in order to kill him, and Oswald is forced to
sneak out of his home to return back to the ball pit and find his father.
The falling action of both stories are roughly similar, with Oswald returning to the ball pit at night to find his
father. The only differences between the two are the duration in which Oswald’s action takes place. In the short
story, Oswald sneaked to the ball pit after the first day back to school after hearing some quotes of
encouragement by his new friend. That night, he tiptoed out of his house before diving into the ball pit and
counting to one hundred. Meanwhile, the game’s adaptation takes place over five days, with Oswald sneaking
out every night to the ball pit, attempting to find his father who was hidden in a hidden room. Every night,
Oswald would find other children who were trapped by the rabbit and help free them.
The ending of the stories are the biggest outliers in terms of differences. While in the original short story,
Oswald would find his father’s feet under the ball pit and struggles to pull his father up from the ball pit. Once
he’s pulled him up, the rabbit jumped on him, biting Oswald on the arm before getting knocked by him. The
rabbit would then get strangled by the ropes around the ball pit, ultimately killing him. Oswald then finally had
his chance to apologise to his father for ‘attempting to prank him’ and getting his father knocked out in the ball
pit. The two of them make amends with each other and leave Jeff’s Pizza in peace. However, in the game’s
version there are four separate endings, depending on the way you play the games. Below are all the endings
achievable within the game:-
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Table showcasing the different endings in the FNAF : Into the Pit (2024) video game.
Ending
Name
What Am I
Ending
See Ya Dad
Ending
Pit-y Party Ending
Jeff? Ending
Family Fun Night Ending
The
Ending
Oswald
wakes up on
the stage,
with the
other
animatronics
blocking the
doors. He
then slowly
forgets his
name and his
existence.
Oswald
leaves the
Freddy’s
pizzeria in
the past
without his
father; now
being lost
and
confused.
Oswald manages
to save his dad
from the Party
Room, but the
rabbit jumps back
from the ball pit,
pulling Oswald
back in. Oswald
then wakes up tied
to a chair in the
Party Room, with
the rabbit laughing
as the door swings
open.
Oswald manages to save
his dad from the Party
Room, but the rabbit
jumps back from the
ball pit and bites
Oswald’s arm before
getting stuck on the ball
pit’s net and seemingly
dies. Oswald and his
father leaves the
establishment before
Jeff enters the ball pit to
investigate. The rabbit
then comes back to life
and kills Jeff.
Oswald manages to save his
dad from the Party Room, but
the rabbit jumps back from
the ball pit and bites Oswald’s
arm before getting stuck on
the ball pit’s net and dies.
Oswald and his father then
leaves the establishment. Jeff
then sells all of the decrepit
arcade machines and
renovates Jeff’s Pizza, where
Oswald and his parents would
later revisit.
As shown above, the endings to the video game all differ on the choices and actions made by the player during
their playthroughs. This is by far the biggest thing separating the two versions. However, many fans consider
the Family Fun Night ending to be the canonical (i.e. a general law, rule, principle, or criterion by which
something is judged, Oxford English Dictionary, n.d.) ending as it serves as the best ending and goes in line to
the events in the short story version.
Reasonings for the changes
All of these changes were made due to the difficulties and/or feedbacks received from the original short story
when adapting it into the game, and this section will now utilise the 5 principles of intertextuality from
Hutcheon’s theory of adaptation in order to justify the changes between the two versions. This section will also
discuss all five principles separately within their own subtopics.
i. Haplology
Haplology refers to removal, abandonment and exclusion from the original texts which is used
selectively when adapting the text. In Into the Pit (2019), there are a few elements which were
removed during the adaptation process.
In the beginning of the story, one of the elements removed was Ben. Ben was Oswald’s friend who
moved away from the town they resided in, and served as the source of conflict within Oswald’s
mind. Ben, whose family’s finances turned out better after leaving the town. This drastically changes
the motive of Oswald jumping into the ball pit in the first place; from him originally letting out
frustration on his dad and family for being not well off, to him wanting to play a tiny prank on his
father. A probable reason for this removal may be the overall lack of impact Ben brings to the story;
where the writer believes they could utilise a different stimulus to move the story forward.
ii. Transformation
The next principle is transformation; where writers would alter the text from one to another whether
whole, partially or abstract. This can be seen used multiple times, one of them being the mention of
the dead possum. While being an extremely minor point, the placement of the dead possum sets the
bleak situation the town is currently in. In the video game adaptation, the dead possum is instead
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used as a betting competition between Oswald and his father, in order to create a narrative where the
two of them are close enough to be joking with each other.
Another element that was changed in the original text was the scene when Oswald returned home
from his first day back in school. He was helping the yellow rabbit to clean out the house, in an
attempt to pretend everything was normal in his life before figuring out a way to save his real father.
This was changed in the video game into a quest taking places around the town which gives the
player and Oswald hints in order to progress the story. This is likely changed in order to stimulate
the players and not bore them.
iii. Modification
Modification refers to amendments made to the original texts, usually with the intent of improving
upon the context or delivery of said texts. In the video game, the relationship of Oswald alongside
his friends from the past Chip and Mike were amended to take place over a single day instead. The
likely reasoning for this is to move forward the plot faster than the original story, emphasising the
survival horror aspect of the game and the core theming of Five Nights at Freddy’s game; taking
place over five separate nights.
Other than that, the video game also refined the endings to the game, especially with the Jeff? and
the Family Fun Night ending, where they further clarified the fate of the yellow rabbit. In the short
story, though the yellow rabbit was heavily implied to have died due to strangulation, the ending was
somewhat still left up to interpretation, and the video game simply amended it, portraying a clearer
ending.
iv. Parallel
A clear example of parallels within the two versions of this story can be seen within the character of
Gabrielle. In the short story, she is a girl who recently moved into the town and talked with Oswald.
Oswald helped Gabrielle to fend away some bullies before chatting with her. Gabrielle, who likes to
read about Greek Mythologies, told Oswald that Greek Myths and Sci-Fi stories aren’t that different
from each other; both of them telling a story about being brave against impossible odds. This then
fuels Oswald to save his father, and serves as motivation for him to slam into the yellow rabbit and
save his father.
In the video game, Gabrielle serves a similar role, as a motivator for Oswald, giving him the same
speech about being brave. But other than that, Gabrielle also gave a notebook by her grandfather,
which contained gameplay and lore clues to the animatronics running rampant in the past, as Oswald
travels back and forth through time to save his father. This parallel helps the player as well to learn
the way to navigate around the animatronics which serves as hostile entities, preventing them from
completing the game.
v. Defamiliarization
Lastly, defamiliarization changes contexts given in the original text in order to bring something new
to the adaptations. A simple example of defamiliarization would be the introduction of musics and
ambient noises in the game, which further fuels the immersive experience of the players. Other than
that, the video game also introduced a survival mechanic, where the yellow rabbit would chase
Oswald around his house, jumpscaring him and the players whenever Oswald was caught. This
further defamiliarise players from the original short story by introducing a more real sense of danger,
where the lead is not actually invincible from the plot.
Other than that, the introduction of the animatronics into the gameplay of FNAF: Into the Pit (2024)
also serves as a form of defamiliarization; making the players navigate around the obstacle in order
to give them more of a challenge. Finally, the change of games such as Skee-Ball, Ms. Pac-Man,
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Donkey Kong, Frogger, and Galaga into original titled minigames, based off of the in-universe lores
and past games. The main reasoning for this defamiliarization is the fact that all of the originally
mentioned games are of IPs unrelated to Scott Cawthon or any of the Five Nights at Freddy’s
franchise. As such, Scott Cawthon and Mega Cat Studios do not have the rights to portray any of
those games within their video games.
To sum up this section, Mega Cat Studios did a number of changes from the original text in order to
accommodate the new video game medium of the story of Into the Pit (2019). The next section will further
discuss the effects caused by these alterations to the story’s narrative.
Effects of the alterations to the storytelling
As changes were made to the stories during the process of the adaptation, so does the result of the story. The
original short story of Into the Pit (2019) serves as a short story that initially helped branch the franchise of
Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNAF). Meanwhile, the video game adaptation serves as a tie-in to the previous
games, despite coming from a separate universe. In terms of the storytelling of both versions, FNAF: Into
the Pit (2024) changes fairly little compared to the original text, retaining the overall plot line while refining
and changing some of the minor details such as the timeline progression, clarity and refining of the ending, as
well as the reduction of irrelevant characters, like Ben. As such, both versions retain a similar theme, message,
and cast of characters. Other than that, the only things that were notably changed are the change of the games
mentioned in the short story as mentioned in the previous chapter in order to not infringe on said IP. However,
the exclusions of these game titles does not affect anything in terms of the storytelling negatively.
When it comes to the pacing of the story, the adaptation allows the beginning of the story to move a lot faster;
and slows down only after the first night has passed. This allows the game to establish a sense of danger and
fear within the players, before slowly exposing to us a way to defeat the yellow rabbit. The new endings also
serve as a way to bridge the medium; allowing players to perform their own choices within the story, and
giving them more sense of immersion.
All in all, the core messaging of the story of Into the Pit (2019) is still the same when being adapted into
FNAF: Into the Pit (2024); which is to become brave when faced with an insurmountable obstacle. While
changing its purpose from expansion of the universe, the new adaptation manages to retain the same core
messaging as the original text.
CONCLUSION
To conclude, this study explored the challenges and transformations that were made in the process of adapting
the short story Into the Pit (2019) into the video game Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNAF): Into the Pit (2024).
Using the theory of adaptation by Hutcheon (2013), this study highlights adaptation as a complex process of
reinterpretation that must accounts for the adapted medium, as well as the expectations of its audience.
The analysis of this study managed to identify the process of adaptations in this two media using the five key
principles of adaptation; haplology, transformation, modification, parallel, and defamiliarization, all of which
were present throughout the process of adaptation. These principles explained the reasoning to the exclusion or
addition of certain narrative elements, such as the removal of Oswald’s friend, Ben (haplology). Elements that
were transformed are also done so as to help recontextualise the initial narrative elements on a new medium as
a video game; a requirement in order to increase the immersiveness of the survival horror genre. Popular horror
elements such as jumpscares, ambient noises and survival mechanics were introduced so as to create a sense of
threat with the antagonist of the story; the yellow rabbit, thus increasing the sense of fear. Despite these
introductions, the FNAF: Into the Pit (2024) video game retained the original story’s message about bravery in
the face of impossibility, proving that core themes can still be retained even in the restructuring of narratives.
Ultimately, this research proves that adaptation is equally a creative and strategic process. Changes does not
always equal a betrayal of the source material; but can be a necessary requirement to align with the new
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mediums. The successful adaptation of the short story Into the Pit (2019) illustrates how fidelity to the theme
and emotional core can coexist with innovations of the new version of medias. As a transmedia franchise like
FNAF continue to evolve, it is vital that creators and critics both understands how adaptations work so as to
reshape storytelling and narrative.
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