The Joy of Creation: Reborn

A reimagined classic comes to life better than ever in The Joy of Creation: Reborn. Don’t let the cutesy title deceive you: this game is as terrifying as they come. Featuring the same cast of deadly characters from one of the most popular survival horror franchises out there, this is a mod that horror fans might want to keep on their radar.

While at first glance The Joy of Creation: Reborn might look like just another Five Nights At Freddy’s fan game, the truth is that this is a unique horror experience that redefines the formula of the original title.

Open-ended survival

The original Five Nights At Freddy’s took a severely underutilized niche (a genuinely frightening horror game for young players) and revitalized an entire genre because of it. The Joy of Creation: Reborn seeks to do the same thing, but, in this case, taking the first game and giving it so much more gameplay potential.

At their core, the games in Freddy Fazbear’s repertoire have never been all that engaging from a gameplay perspective. On the other hand, The Joy of Creation: Reborn is a fully-fledged survival horror game, featuring re-imagined versions of the characters from the Five Nights At Freddy’s saga.

These new characters – which essentially are skeletal versions of the signature animatronics from the mainstream series – are known as the Ignited. While they might look even more frightening than their standard counterparts, most of the differences in the Ignited’s behavior are minimal – most of the changes can be seen in lore-specific trivia and the like, which just so happens to be one of the aspects that long-time FNaF fans love most about the series.

Real Frights

One of the most disappointing aspects of the earliest entries in the FNaF franchise has always been the simplified presentation and lackluster visuals. In essence, these games have always been presented in a pre-rendered manner that never makes use of real-time gameplay to deliver its jumpscares.

The Joy of Creation: Reborn takes the series into an entirely new and exciting open-ended structure thanks to the powerful Unreal Engine 4. Some die-hard fans of FNaF, however, might see these changes as going against the well-established gameplay of the series.

Regardless of the gameplay, there’s no denying that the visuals of The Joy of Creation: Reborn are leagues above what we’ve seen from FNaF, and this also applies to the game’s gameplay mechanics and overall presentation.

All that said, it’s worth keeping in mind that this is a title that was developed by FNaF fans for FNaF fans. While you don’t need to be immensely knowledgeable about the lore of the mainline series to keep up with what’s presented in The Joy of Creation: Reborn, some knowledge of who Freddy Fazbear is might come in handy if you’re planning on playing this title.

Pros

• Great visuals distance themselves from the series’ trademark pre-rendered look
• Genuinely scary
• New designs for fan-favorite characters

Cons

• The gameplay can feel a bit bland at times
• Some performance issues