“Five Nights at Freddy’s” is the quirky horror simulator about which all of your favorite YouTube Let’s Players have been shrieking like mad into their microphones. Now that it’s available on Steam, you’ll probably still be hearing about it for the next few months. Does “Five Nights at Freddy’s” live up to the hype and terror?

In “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” you have taken the position as the new night security at Freddy Fazbear’s, a Chuck E. Cheese knock off where animatronics play terrible songs to entertain kids while they stuff their faces with pizza. Here’s the catch: Freddy Fazbear and friends are pretty active at night. If they find you — and they will — they will mistake you for an exoskeleton and they will stuff you in a suit. Welcome to the worst minimum wage job in history.

To survive all five nights, you’re equipped with security cameras that allow you to view all five rooms in the establishment, lights to check your blind spots and emergency doors. All you have to do survive your midnight to 6 a.m. shift. Sounds easy, right?

Every hour you spend in the claustrophobic security room is filled with dread. You can’t shut the emergency doors and wish your problems away. Everything you do — flick the lights on, close the doors, check the camera — cost power. If you run out of power before 6 a.m., the power will go out and you’re fair game for Freddy and his pals.

The only thing you can do is manage your allotted power wisely every night as the game becomes increasingly more difficult as Freddy and pals become more restless. “Five Night’s at Freddy’s” uses sound design wisely. Instead of frequently checking the cameras for homicidal animatrons, learn the sound queues of every room.

Sudden music means that one of them has made it to the stage. The sounds of pots and pans clanking means that the duck is in the kitchen and closing in on you quickly. Once of the furry murderers come close to your doors, lock them down and pray they don’t hang around for long. When you’re down to 50 percent power and it’s only 2 a.m., your chances of survival are slim.

Every time you play “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” the animatronics behavior is randomized so there is no telling what each night has in store. Even if you feel the first two nights were successful, night three proves to be a significant challenge. Sometimes one of them will hang around your room doing nothing at all, only to distract you as the fox makes a beeline right towards you. Fear is subjective. If you don’t stick around for the scares, the challenge will be enough to engage you for hours.

The game doesn’t provide other game modes, so you might not find yourself returning to “Five Nights at Freddy’s” after you survive your five nights of terror. For $4.99, “Five Nights at Freddy’s” will hold you over until the bigger horror titles are released in October.

Platforms: PC

4/5