Deciphering the Placement of FNAF Help Wanted 2 on the Canonized Timeline

Unveiling the deceptive setting of Help Wanted 2 and uncovering its position on the timeline through its central character.
Deciphering the Placement of FNAF Help Wanted 2 on the Canonized Timeline

Highlights

  • FNAF: Help Wanted 2 provides essential insights into the franchise's timeline, shedding light on the chronological sequence of events in Security Breach, RUIN, and the series' pivotal moments.
  • Despite its title, Help Wanted 2 is not a direct follow-up to FNAF: Help Wanted, introducing novel occurrences and experiences. Deceptive titles and misleading pre-release details have been a common practice in the franchise.
  • The protagonist of Help Wanted 2 is intricately linked to Cassie's Dad, a hitherto unseen figure in the series, firmly situating the game's events on the timeline. The conclusion of the game solidifies its placement between Security Breach and RUIN.

Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted 2 is the latest primary game in the FNAF series. Despite being a VR-exclusive title, Help Wanted 2 quickly establishes itself as one of the most groundbreaking, spine-chilling, and significant titles in the franchise, unveiling crucial information about developer Steel Wool Studio's re-established canon. Among its most noteworthy revelations is its clarification of the FNAF timeline, with various minigames and background details solidifying the events of FNAF: Security Breach, RUIN, and the series' triggering incidents in a specific order. Fans can relatively easily determine the placement of FNAF: Help Wanted 2 on the canonized timeline using various contextual clues.

Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted 2 continues the narrative of Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex, a location that has been the focus of two additional FNAF titles and an eight-part novel series, Tales from the Pizzaplex. Although many may assume that Help Wanted 2 is the sequel to FNAF: Help Wanted, fans are aware that such assumptions are misleading. Despite games in the series sharing similar titles or having titles with different subheadings, such as Five Nights at Freddy's Security Breach: RUIN, the franchise has a history of releasing mainline sequels with entirely new experiences and events under deceptive titles and misleading pre-release information. HW2 is the latest addition to these deceptions, with its true purpose being the introduction of fresh events to the FNAF timeline.

Help Wanted 2's First Half Presents a False Narrative

At the outset of FNAF: Help Wanted 2, players discover that the game's events unfold within Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place. However, it differs from its depiction in previous Steel Wool titles. Players are immersed in a fully operational Pizza Place, as seen in Pizzeria Simulator, and unlock additional characters, games, and merchandise as they complete minigames. The Pizza Place features numerous additions stemming from later events in the series, such as Fazbear Technician equipment, Fazerblasters, and allusions to unique animatronics and locales from Security Breach. However, everything changes halfway through the lighthearted minigames, when the player realizes they have been wearing a VANNI mask all along.

Upon finding a Fazwrench, which Mystic Hippo, an animatronic within the Pizza Place, claims should be familiar to the player, fans can navigate to a back room. The room houses a previously unseen Princess Quest IV arcade cabinet, a mask disrupter, and a peculiar poster stating,