Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic – Everything We Know

After eagerly anticipating a DLC for their last game, Help Wanted 2, fans were in for a surprise when Steel Wool Studios decided to unveil a brand new title. On day six of FNAF’s eight-day-long 10th-anniversary celebrations, Steel Wool Studios stunned the community by announcing their upcoming game, Secret of the Mimic. While details remain scarce, it’s clear that this new title will delve into the deep and mysterious lore that Five Nights at Freddy’s is known for. Here’s everything we know about Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic.

What is Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic?

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic marks the newest entry in the Five Nights at Freddy’s series. Developed by Steel Wool Studios, the game is yet to launch officially. It’s slated for release in 2025, so fans will need to wait a few months to experience its gameplay. It will be the eleventh installation in the decade-old series and the fourth Five Nights at Freddy’s game from Steel Wool Studios. The game’s announcement was instead an unexpected one. In this year’s anniversary celebrations, many fans anticipated a DLC for Steel Wool’s 2023 game, Help Wanted 2. 

Story

Steel Wool Studios have yet to reveal Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic’s storyline or give a backstory. However, from the teaser trailer released at the game’s announcement, there’s a lot to pick specifically on the game’s lore. And that’s not anything new for the series. Even the most recent instalments in the franchise came with new elements in the series’ lore. RUIN was the first to introduce Mimic, the scary animatronic character playing the main antagonist in the modern Five Nights at Freddy’s games. It’s, however, a character that comes in much earlier in the Tales of the Pizzaplex novels associated with the game. 

Mimic’s influence in the Five Nights at Freddy’s series has steadily grown. However, this trend is set to continue in the upcoming title, where Mimic will once again take centre stage as the main antagonist. In Secret of the Mimic, there’s a strong possibility that the character will shed light on some of the critical and still mysterious elements of the series’ lore, particularly the oldest and most obscure details. If the game successfully expands on the story beyond canon origins, it could establish a concrete framework for the entire FNAF franchise. Moreover, this would provide fans with a deeper understanding of the game’s intricate lore, events, characters, and overall context.

The secret of the Mimic leaves some aspects of the backstory and setting intriguingly ambiguous.  Additionally, as the teaser trailer nears its end, the camera transitions to a mysterious reel winding up, followed by a flash of white light with text that’s easy to miss. This brief flash is the only hint that the game could be set in 1979, potentially marking the earliest events in the entire Five Nights at Freddy’s series. However, it’s worth noting that the Help Wanted 2 teaser, featuring a Fall Fest 1970 poster, similarly led fans to speculate about its setting, which turned out to be misleading. So, while Secret of the Mimic might connect its story to 1979, whether it takes place in that year remains uncertain.

Gameplay

The gameplay of Secret of the Mimic is likely set in 1979, making it nine years away from the first seen Fall Fest. The game seems to carry the gameplay style of the recent modern iterations in the ever-growing series. Only that it appears to take fans back in time. Help Wanted featured many scary clown and carnival drawings from Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator. Help Wanted 2 then came with a series of animatronics and minigames with a carnival theme. Secret of the Mimics now has a clown-like animatronic who seems even more scary. The laugh this animatronic clown lets out in the trailer will haunt or thrill you if you love horror films or video games. 

But even though the game comes after eleven mainline releases, it’s more of a prequel to the other titles. Besides, the caption ‘To see the future, sometimes you need to understand the past’ only affirms that the game’s event precedes what we’ve seen in the other FNAF games. The hotel overlook of a brown and orange carpet is also relatively new, along with the Mimic’s design with a redhead. The antagonist is nothing close to what we saw in RUIN at the Pizzaplex’s basement. How the real action plays out is yet to come out, but you will be playing against the clown-like animatronic that appears in the trailer. You could even encounter more as the game progresses. 

Development

Video games developer Steel Wool hasn’t been in a hurry to rustle up their upcoming release. Subsequently, they haven’t had any game since Help Wanted 2 in December 2023. It’s still unclear how long they have been working on Secret of the Mimic. Perhaps they are buying some time after Mega Cat Studio’s game, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit, launched only a day after their announcement. 

Trailer

Steel Wool Studios announced Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic on August 6, 2024, with a teaser trailer. Although it’s a rather short video lasting no more than 0:43 minutes, there’s much detail to draw from the events. But still, only those who’ve followed through the Five Nights at Freddy’s previous games can easily piece the details together. You can, however, see the clown-like animatronic emerging from the box. It will give you a glimpse of the dread to expect once the game releases. 

Release Date & Platforms

Only a release window of 2025 was announced when Steel Wool unveiled the game.  However, the developer appears to follow a pattern of releases, which could see the game drop in December 2025. Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach dropped in December 2021, with Help wanted 2 coming in December 2023. 

So, what’s your take on the upcoming video game release, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic? Let us know your thoughts here on our socials or down in the comments.