The long-awaited Ruin DLC for Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach came out just last week, in which we play as a whole new character, Cassie, who must rescue her friend Gregory from the ruins of the now-abandoned Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex.  This free DLC is a lot more linear than the main game and introduces an AR Vanny mask, which allows you to see an alternate world.  But don’t wear it for too long.  Or else…

Like a lot of people, I had mixed feelings about Security Breach.  With all the glitches and other annoyances brought about by getting lost in a large building and frequently getting jumpscared by animatronics that are quite aggravating to avoid, I found much of the game to be a trial.  On the other hand, there were some really good parts of Security Breach, as well, and I loved that these animatronics (some new and some familiar faces who have been around since the franchise began) have finally been given personalities in a more story-driven adventure.  Fortunately, there was just enough love felt towards the game that I was very excited when Ruin was finally released.  And for free, no less! I’m pleased to say that Ruin fixes a lot of what the main game got wrong.

As stated earlier, the Pizzaplex is now in a state of ruins (hence the title), and it’s up to our new protagonist, Cassie, to rescue Gregory, who has gotten himself trapped in the sinkhole beneath Roxy Raceway.  While I often prefer more open games, I’m really glad that the DLC is far more linear, so you can’t really get lost like I frequently did in the main game.  The animatronics don’t patrol nearly as much, either, making avoiding them much easier, which is also an improvement over the main game’s frustrating stealth.

That doesn’t mean the game is easy or lacking in scares, though.  Early on, you receive a mask that looks suspiciously similar to the one worn by Vanny.  This mask allows you to see an AR world, which is required to find and deactivate all the security nodes scattered about the facility, which are otherwise invisible to the naked eye.  Things start to get scary, however, when you start to be stalked by a strange, rabbit-like creature called simply the Entity.  This creepy, virtual being is actually harmless itself, but if it catches you, it will alert other animatronics to your presence, and at this point, the odds of escape are low.

While your goals throughout the game don’t differ much, the game doesn’t feel repetitive, as the gameplay is changed up by exploring different kinds of locations, dealing with different threats, and having to contend with an AR inhibitor later on that either keeps you from removing or donning your mask, the former of which leads to some stressful encounters with the Entity.  There are also a couple of “mini-games” of sorts, for lack of a better word, that you’ll need to complete.  One is when you activate certain panels with your Faz-Wrench, where you must get the light to reach the blue section in 2-4 wires simultaneously.  Another simply requires you to connect 2-4 symbols without crossing any lines.  Both of these are pretty easy and shouldn’t cause any frustration, but there are a few occasions where you’ll be dealing with the added stress of solving these mini-games quickly to avoid an approaching threat.

The game is also far less glitchy than the main Security Breach was, although this is offset by some painfully long loading screens (1.5-2 minutes) and a whole lot of crashes, making it, frankly, a bit hard to claim that Ruin works better than the original.  The glitches are better.  The crashes are worse.  Now, keep in mind that I played this game on the PS4, probably the weakest piece of hardware the DLC is currently available on (good luck, Nintendo Switch…), which also accounted for the fact that my version of the game was far darker than the fancy-pants PC and PS5 version, which I heard was to cover up the lower-quality graphics.  (The increased darkness makes it harder to see, but it might also make the PS4 version of the game the scariest.)

I feel like the loading screens might be worse in the DLC, as I died a lot more in the main game, and I don’t remember having to sit around so long between attempts.  On the plus side, the DLC’s automatic saves (versus the main game’s manual ones) meant I rarely lost much progress when I died.  And since avoiding animatronics is less frustrating, at least deaths were far less frequent, as well.  Lastly, aside from one stray crash around the game’s mid-point, the crashing wasn’t an issue until Bonnie Bowl, where it might have happened about 5 times, triggered either by a jumpscare or the appearance of the Entity (so I guess my advice would be…just don’t die here).

The general atmosphere of Ruin is also scarier thanks to the inherent creepiness of abandoned buildings and the mangled animatronics that roam its halls.  I also thought the jumpscares were better this time around, as I feel like we saw more interaction between Cassie and her assailant.  Rather than just dying to an animatronic disrespecting your personal space and getting up close to your face, in Ruin, you can actually see Cassie struggle more against her attackers, made all the more terrifying when you see how strong they are in comparison to her.  The poor girl didn’t stand a chance!

Ruin also has multiple endings and secrets to find, though the ending I got was a cliffhanger and all the endings seem to create more questions than they answer.  I think some people were frustrated by this, although I feel like such an ending is expected from FNAF at this point, so it didn’t bother me too much.  I was also impressed with how they were able to add some emotional moments into the game this time.  I’ve already watched a certain part near the end multiple times, and it still manages to make me a little teary-eyed…

In general, Ruin was far superior to the main game, and aside from a few issues here and there, I really enjoyed my 7 hours with it (most people seemed to take 4 hours, but I’m a bit leisurely when it comes to my pacing…).  I really feel like this new DLC has gone a long way in rekindling my old love for a franchise that had started to become a bit too convoluted for my liking.  I feel like Steel Wool has really improved since Security Breach was originally released back in December of 2021, and now that my initial hesitance towards them has begun to wear off, I’m very interested to see where they take FNAF next.  In the words of Freddy, “Great job, superstar!”