A trailer has officially dropped for “Five Nights at Freddy’s – Secret of the Mimic” an anticipated next instalment in the franchise and it has sparked crazy reactions among fans. The game will be released on the 13th of June 2025 and will be available to play normally and on VR. It strays from the usual characters we know and love, to focus on a section of the lore that is more known to those deep rooted in the franchise and the books especially. Here’s a partial breakdown of the trailer including some background and things you may have missed.

Firstly, the trailer displayed at State of Play will be linked below to provide context of everything in this article.

For those unfamiliar, The Mimic is a staple of the “Tales from the Pizza plex” series. The story of this animatronic has been increasingly becoming more popular among fans along with the man behind it all – his name was Edwin, he made The Mimic, it was difficult to put all the pieces together and unfortunately something went wrong. He was developing this advanced technology to try and take care of his son due to Edwin being too busy after being bought out by Fazbear Entertainment to make animatronics for them. During development of The Mimic, Edwins's son – David, ran out in the road in pursuit of his ball and was fatally struck by a car. Following this Edwin took his anger and frustration out on the developing animatronic by beating it with a metal rod infecting it with agony (a physical energy source in the FNAF universe) and making The Mimic violent (as it learned to copy what it perceived). That is a brief summary of the story for the players who are more familiar with the old lore – if you desire more, I’d highly suggest checking out the books especially the Pizzaplex ones.

Image: Tales from the Pizzaplex book collection (Scott Cawthon)

In terms of the upcoming game, the objective will be to retrieve the work that Edwin was producing from his abandoned factory after he went missing – including The Mimic. The timeline placement of the instalment is also confirmed though the “Fredbear’s Family Diner” posters which are also present in the trailer putting the game in the late 70s – just as the books do.

The first major notable thing about the trailer is the array of costumes present, some we’ve seen before such as the elephant from Security Breach: Ruin and Jackie from her cameo in Help Wanted 2. This seems to confirm that the mimic will be able to jump between bodies in a sense, but the familiar faces don't stop there with a major part of the trailer showing a prototype of DJ Music Man falling through the roof. Another familiarity to some is the subtle Tiger Rock appearance which is once again great news to the book lovers.

Image: Costumes from the trailer (Steel Wool Studios)

In a partial clip from the trailer a robot – seemingly a security bot – is present and next to it is a gift, players who had access such as Dawko claimed that it wasn't present beforehand which seems to suggest that collectibles gifts in the style of Security Breach will be returning to the delight of those who enjoy being a completionist during video games.

Overall, the community seems to be hyped over this sudden trailer drop but as always there's disputes. Some are claiming this is too far from FNAF to be under the same name and are claiming “I shouldn't need to read a book for a games lore”, but ultimately many are looking forward to it such as Dawko who screamed at the top of his lungs the second the Steel Wool logo came on screen, or many others who are just eager to put more visuals behind the “Jackie's Box” music video which has become a major meme over recent months currently sitting on over one million more views than the actual trailer.

It'll be interesting to see if the game can live up to its hype, it's definitely a new style while also using gameplay similar to Security Breach. With the backing of the intense fans who love the books not messing this project up is absolutely vital, especially if Steel Wool want to be trusted with future FNAF creations. The next move for the franchise is unknown in terms of games but the “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” movie is set to come out later this year and the fandom is alive as ever.

FNAF Secret of the Mimic - Analysis and Background