The Dolls Let's Play #1 | Five Nights at Monkey's

Channel:

Mister Penguino

Subscribers:

108

Published on May 28, 2016 6:00:01 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOZbTz7zsCk

Game:

Five Nights at Freddy's (2014)

Category:

Let's Play

Duration: 16:07

66 views

1

I really can't stand exaggerated monkeys. Any of them. They are the worst.
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▼More about The Dolls!▼
http://store.steampowered.com/app/473670/
The old doll factory was legendary. For years it turned out simple toys that children loved, but technology made a change and kids wanted things with more gadgets and the factory fell into disrepair. Most of the toys were sent away, but some had been left behind. They were cracked and broken or deemed unsellable so they were left with the remains of the factory to gather dust and slowly decay.

However, a skillful toy business brought interest in the old style of toys and began production in the factory. They began to rebuild the old factory, bringing in new parts. Production began churning out shiny new dolls of every kind. The remnants of before were swept into closets or tucked under the old machinery, out of sight and out of mind. The owner said that competitors were behind the rumors that some of the construction workers had disappeared on projects after dark.

You've been hired to keep watch on the factory at night and see that the automatic machines stay running. As your boss walks out the door leaving you with your company issued flashlight, he says, "Oh, and don't worry about those noises. We're sure it's nothing."

Let's get this out of the way immediately: this is a complete rip-off of the original Five Nights at Freddy's formula. The setting is different, the dolls that appear seem to be at least somewhat randomized, and the game is overall a bit more predictable, but the entire format is almost exactly what Five Nights at Freddy's was. Down to even Phone Guy at the beginning giving you a rundown of what is going on in the warehouse/store/factory. You play by looking back and forth in an office, lighting up adjacent rooms and closing doors when there is something nearby, and looking at the rest of the facility using video cameras.

There are a few changes that make The Dolls a bit more complicated than Five Nights at Freddy's 1. The cameras are all moving, so you don't necessarily see everything you are looking for by flashing between cameras. In terms of increasing the tension, this works great. It makes the game feel a bit less based on skill and a bit more based on "did you happen to look at the right camera at the right time to see this side of the room". You have a huge clock sitting in front of you that is showing you time passing as opposed to just a digital clock that moves in increments of 10 minutes. This helps the player feel like time is actually moving and provides a satisfying sense of progression even when just sitting in the office waiting for the end to come.

Something that strikes me as really useful is the Training Shift that The Dolls starts you off with. It's just a shame that it is completely useless as a tutorial. Because the dolls that show up on any given try of any given night is completely randomized, there is no capacity to any tutorial. I might be running around looking for the monkey that was introduced on the "Training Shift" even if he isn't at all present in the next night. The difficulty curve is stacked against the player as they need to learn how to react to a random set of circumstances every time they try the shift. After watching the Rocking Chair Doll for the first few tries, I feel like I have a pretty good handle on where he is going to go, and possibly the timing he takes moving from place to place. That simply can't provide me with any comfort because I don't know if he will show up the next time I play.

Is The Dolls scary? Yes. There is a lot of stuff going on and I have no idea what is happening all the way up until I am attacked. Do I feel like I have any chance of winning? Currently no. Possibly after a few more tries I will feel more comfortable, but the randomness intrinsic to the game doesn't inspire any hope that I will be able to learn the proper systems to make it through the rest of the game.

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