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Understanding the Endings of FNAF Help Wanted 2

Exploring the two unique endings of Five Night at Freddy's Help Wanted 2 and their implications for the series
Understanding the Endings of FNAF Help Wanted 2

Highlights

  • Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted 2 introduces new characters and builds upon the events of previous games, setting the stage for future developments in the series.
  • The game features two distinct endings, each with its own implications for the story and characters. One ending sets the events of RUIN into motion, while the other reveals a potential connection to the Crying Child incident.
  • Players can also choose to leave the Pizza Place and its horrors behind, offering an alternative way to reach the credits and potentially avoid the grim fates depicted in the main endings.

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS for Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted 2 ahead. Proceed at your own risk.

Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted 2 is the latest mainline game in the Five Nights at Freddy's series, and the third entry released since the original Help Wanted re-established the franchise's canon. Unlike its predecessors, however, Help Wanted 2 was released without a clear protagonist, setting, or place on the timeline. As fans complete the title’s various mini-games and secret challenges, they can progress toward one of two endings. Both endings continue the series’ penchant for providing more questions than answers, but fans can discover some hidden details through a thorough exploration of each. These hidden details hold the key to explaining the true impact of Help Wanted 2’s two endings, as one points towards the series’ past, and the other towards the future.

Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted 2 firmly takes place between the events of Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach and FNAF: Security Breach RUIN, as it follows the final human employee of the Mega Pizza-Plex. This employee is slowly revealed to be the father of RUIN's main protagonist, Cassie, while concurrently hinting that he was the author of various collectible employee logs found throughout the main story of Security Breach. In Help Wanted 2, Cassie’s Dad can choose to collect two groups of 6 items as players complete the title’s many mini-games, one through normal gameplay, and the other through hidden challenges. Depending on which group of items is assembled, players will unlock one of Help Wanted 2’s two unique endings.

Help Wanted 2's Normal Ending Kicks off the Events of RUIN

As players complete Help Wanted 2’s core mini-games, mysterious gifts begin to appear on the Pizza Place’s Show-Stage. Upon opening the first gift, players are introduced to a new Fazbear Entertainment property, the Faz-Force, through an 80s-style trailer. The trailer depicts a group of themed mech figurines that combine into one massive entity, akin to Voltron or a Power Rangers Mega-Zord. Fans of the original Help Wanted were quick to notice something sinister about the trailer, as “assembling” a group of items unlocked the title’s true ending.

Upon completing all of Help Wanted 2’s mini-games, in both the digital reality of the V.A.N.N.I. mask and in reality, fans are presented with the final Faz-Force figurine. However, it is no cause for celebration. It is revealed that Cassie’s Dad has just caused history to repeat itself, as he has assembled disjointed pieces of the Glitchtrap virus, setting it free once more. In the original Help Wanted, Vanessa is tricked into doing the same, resulting in her consciousness becoming trapped inside the game and allowing Glitchtrap to possess her body. Following these events, Vanessa suddenly sees from the perspective of Freddy Fazbear on the Show-Stage. However, Cassie’s Dad is treated to a much more sinister fate.

After assembling the Faz-Force figurines, Glitchtrap emerges from a Mega-Pizzaplex Charging Station on the Pizza Place’s stage. Suddenly, Cassie’s Dad is surrounded and attacked by a group of Nightmare Security Bots, before the screen goes black. Moments later, he sees the boot-up screen of another Security Bot, before opening his eyes to a shocking sight, his daughter Cassie is right in front of him. Peering out from within a Security Bot in the now-Ruined Mega-Pizza Plex, Cassie’s Dad is approached by his daughter, before the bot hands her a V.A.N.N.I. mask. Unable to do anything, Cassie’s Dad watches his daughter accept the mask and place it on her face, sending her down the very path that he, himself, just failed to escape from, in one of the earliest events of 2023’s FNAF: Security Breach RUIN.

Help Wanted 2's Secret Ending Builds Upon the Past

Hidden within Help Wanted 2’s mini-games are six secret challenges, requiring fans to complete challenges ranging from the bizarre to the downright difficult. Upon completion of each of these secret challenges, they are rewarded with a doll, specifically a poppet, wearing the mask of a classic animatronic. Whereas Help Wanted 2’s normal ending saw fans assemble the Faz-Force, the title’s secret ending, a final mini-game, requires fans to assemble representations of the series’ original victims. Doing so sees Mystic Hippo, one of Help Wanted 2’s original animatronics, present players with a glitched coin. The coin allows fans to play the Princess Quest 4 arcade cabinet, bringing Cassie’s Dad to the very cusp of accomplishing his ultimate goal - freeing the Princess.

At first, players must use their VR hands to literally play the arcade cabinet, with one hand firmly on the joystick, and the other alternating between teleport and attack buttons. However, things quickly escalate, as players eventually guide the Princess to the very room in which they are playing. Upon making contact with the Princess, the task of completing her mission is passed to Cassie’s Dad, i.e. the player, resulting in him reaching through the arcade cabinet’s screen and grabbing a sword, before being transported into the world of Princess Quest itself. Players must then battle through the castle before stumbling on a familiar site - the gravestone puzzle from the series’ very first Princess Quest mini-game.

While the Princess Quest 4 puzzle appears similar to the original, each gravestone, featuring a specific number designation and lightable lantern, is now accompanied by one of the poppets that fans collected during their playthrough. Lighting the lanterns in any order unlocks the door to leave the area, but doing so in the correct order adds a bonus reveal to the mix. Should players correctly light the lanterns in order, the door to leave the area will open, and a stairway will open up in the ground. At the bottom of these stairs is a treasure chest, which, upon contact with players’ swords, opens to reveal a Bonnie Mask.

The Bonnie Mask leads Cassie’s Dad to remark “This looks familiar”, before players are forced to get back on the main path. However, this simple dialogue has a potentially enormous impact on the FNAF canon. Many fans believe this dialogue connects Cassie’s Dad with the Bonnie-mask-wearing teen from the Crying Child incident, one of FNAF’s most mysterious and far-reaching tragedies. Should this be confirmed, Cassie’s Dad would become an accomplice to one of the series’ inciting events and likely have played a yet-unidentified role in the events that have occurred in decades since.

Upon following the main path to its end, players meet the “Old Man” from the other Princess Quest cabinets and trade the V.A.N.N.I. mask for the Glitchtrap plush from Help Wanted, in which Vanessa did the opposite. Suddenly, the elevator from Sister Location appears, taking players down below the Castle. Before they can process what's going on, the elevator falls away to reveal that players are standing within a giant “claw machine” cabinet, with Moon acting as the retrieval unit, as Vanny looks in from outside. Players then give the plush to Moon, who drops it in the reward slot. Upon Vanny’s removal of the plush from the cabinet, it transforms back into a fully formed Glitchtrap, which Vanny then crushes between her hands. With Glitchtrap eradicated, Vanny waves at the player and departs. The Princess, Vanessa, is seemingly saved. However, the player is given no way to exit, and the credits fade into view as Cassie’s Dad remains trapped within the cabinet.

Help Wanted 2's Third Ending Offers Fans an Out

While not an official ending, Help Wanted 2 does feature a third way for players to reach the credits. Should players wish to simply leave the Pizza Place and its horrors behind, they can teleport to a spot near the Exit Door. Depending on the amount of space available to them in real life, fans can then literally walk themselves out. Upon clearing the doors and taking a few steps, the screen fades to black, and the credits roll.

Both of Help Wanted 2's official endings feature a grim fate for Cassie's Dad. The Normal Ending sees Glitchtrap, i.e. FNAF's Mimic, set the events of RUIN into motion, with the character forced to watch as Cassie heads down a dark path. The Secret Ending sees Vanessa freed and Glitchtrap destroyed, leaving Cassie's Dad trapped within the arcade cabinet. It remains to be seen what the Secret Ending could mean, seeing as RUIN was released months before Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted 2 presented an alternative. Fans who wish to learn more will need to stay tuned, as developer Steel Wool Studios is already hinting at big plans for the series in 2024.

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