FNAF: Secret of the Mimic Seems More Like Poppy Playtime: Secret of the Mimic

Despite being the newest release in the franchise, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic feels less like a classic FNAF game and more like another indie game it helped inspire, Poppy Playtime. Though the first Five Nights at Freddy’s relied on a nightly gameplay loop, jumpscares, and teased details of a story, the franchise has expanded in the decade since with new styles and genres, like VR, RPG, and free-roam. However, while this has helped keep FNAF feeling fresh at the potential cost of losing its identity, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic might have finally paid that price.

Thanks to early gaming content creators, such as Markiplier, CoryxKenshin, and MatPat, FNAF‘s surge in popularity arguably led to a revolution of indie horror games based on children’s entertainment, products, and more, much like FNAF‘s source of inspiration, Chuck E. Cheese. But while players continue to debate whether it’s fair or accurate to claim these like-minded games copied FNAF, it seems that FNAF: Secret of the Mimic has fallen into thte same trap, As a far cry from FNAF‘s hour-by-hour, night-by-night gameplay fending off animatronics, FNAF: Secret of the Mimic seems closer to Poppy Playtime, one of its “clones,” instead of the games in its own franchise.

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FNAF: Secret of the Mimic Plays Less Like FNAF and More Like Poppy Playtime

What initially started as Scott Cawthon’s response to Chipper & Sons Lumber Co.‘s negative feedback, one solo developer’s experiment in horror gaming has grown into the collaborative FNAF franchise spanning multiple genres and mediums, including spin-off games, novels, and live-action films. However, after Cawthon scaled back his involvement with FNAF following backlash over political donations he had made, development of future games seems to have fallen to Steel Wood Studio. But with each new game from the studio, like FNAF: Help Wanted, its sequel, FNAF: Security Breach, and now FNAF: Secret of the Mimic, its gameplay and storytelling have become increasingly removed from the series’ heyday.

While FNAF: Secret of the Mimic is not a direct sequel to FNAF: Security Breach or its Ruin DLC, it could be considered its successor as they share the same free-roam, stealth, and puzzle-solving gameplay – and most importantly, the titular Mimic antagonist. But while FNAF: Secret of the Mimic breaks from the same FNAF traditions as its predecessor, it may have done so in ways that bear a striking resemblance to Poppy Playtime. Between the setting, gameplay, and even some story beats, it seems like FNAF: Secret of the Mimic potentially took more inspiration from Poppy Playtime than it did from the FNAF series at large.

FNAF: Secret of the Mimic’s Similarities to Poppy Playtime are Hard to Ignore

Unlike most FNAF games set in or associated with a Fazbear Entertainment location, Poppy Playtime takes place in a factory that experiments on and transforms children into monstrous “toys.” While it could have been argued that Poppy Playtime copied FNAF‘s lore about slain children possessing animatronics, it might not be as egregious as FNAF: Secret of the Mimic‘s setting and its ties to FNAF‘s origins: a factory that researches, manufactures, and sells monstrous animatronics. It even features near-identical gameplay sequences, such as the player crashing through the factory’s lower levels or being pursued through its vents and shafts.

Beyond these settings and despite FNAF‘s creative potential for new animatronics, FNAF: Secret of the Mimic appears to take inspiration from Poppy Playtime‘s monsters instead. For instance, while the Jackie animatronic share the same stretchable limbs as Poppy Playtime‘s Mommy Long Legs, the similarities become more obvious as FNAF: Secret of the Mimic‘s scripted chases with Jackie, right down to its arms extending ahead of players as they make their escape. Moreover, though the Mimic itself debuted first in FNAF: Security Breach, its characterization, motivations, and even deceit when pretending to be an ally, like Ollie or Fazbear Dispatch, closely parallel Poppy Playtime‘s Prototype.