Plot
Matt is a game developer working on
Springtrap's Revenge, a new cutting-edge VR game and the next installment in the popular
Five Nights at Freddy’s series. His role is creating and refining Springtrap’s AI, which he did lots of research to perfect. Matt had previously gotten his dream life, marrying his college sweetheart and getting his dream job, but he soon found himself bored with his relationship. When his wife suggested starting a family, Matt tried as many excuses as possible to prevent that. When his wife found him messaging someone else, their marriage ended in divorce just a year after their one-year anniversary. Since then, Matt has had a string of girlfriends, but none of the relationships last over three months. He uses the rage from these breakups to help create Springtrap.
With the early glitches of the game worked out, Matt gets to play-test the game. In it, he has to escape a maze while being hunted by Springtrap. Matt dies to Springtrap twice in the same area, causing him to throw and destroy things in his cubicle. Infuriated that he’s losing to his own creation, he tries one more time and loses again. Matt, knowing he is in control and is the absolute ruler of the game’s world, programs it so Springtrap wanders the game alone at night and speeds up the game’s time frame by one thousand so one minute in the real world is one thousand for Springtrap. Satisfied, he returns home to his friend and roommate Jason.
After a mostly sleepless night, Matt is excited to return to work and check on Springtrap. He puts on the headset and notices that Springtrap is nowhere to be seen. Matt opens the game’s data log and discovers that Springtrap spawned a new version of himself, which immediately killed the old version. As this cycle continued, the murders grew in violence until half a million versions of himself were spawned and murdered. Matt searches the code and discovers Springtrap’s programming is fractured. Unable to delete the damaged program normally, he enters the game and finds Springtrap’s lifeless body. Matt goes to close the rabbit’s eyelids and, upon making physical contact, feels a sharp sting combined with a mild electrical jolt.
Later, Jason insists on going on a double date. Matt doesn’t think his date would be a perfect match, and he thinks he’s proven wrong when the two girls show up but is disappointed to see the blonde and athletic woman is Jason’s girlfriend. The other woman he thinks is just too plain compared to Jason’s date, and at the restaurant Matt attempts to date her instead. Matt tells stories about his life and accomplishments, and when left alone with her he asks for her number. Jason’s girlfriend refuses and, annoyed by Matt thinks is another delusional woman, storms off. He wakes up feeling queasy and throws up all his food. Matt goes to work and finds little success in repairing the game. He tells the head of his department he’ll be ready to present by Friday, and he goes to a nearby dive bar. Matt spots
Pac-Man in the corner, which gives him the idea to simply program a new Springtrap into the game.
Meanwhile, an unemployed man named Gene hacks into the company's computer and gets an early copy of
Springtrap's Revenge. He finds Springtrap's body and nudges it with his foot, but nothing happens. Confused, Gene looks at the game’s code and discovers that Springtrap had been extracted from the game by a program called "It's_a_boy.exe." While on another date at a steakhouse, Matt is incredibly hungry and eats as much as he can. His ravenous eating causes a scene, and his date leaves early. That night, Matt looks in the mirror and notices how bloated his belly is, but since his face is still handsome he thinks nothing of it. The next day, he throws up but still feels bloated and wonders if he has a virus.
At work, Matt’s coworker is concerned but he brushes her suggestions off as the meeting starts. With the game releasing in two weeks, reviews from early screening copies are mixed. The main issue every review agrees on is that the AI design of Springtrap is sloppy and subpar to the game’s standards. Matt snaps and accuses his supervisor of making those claims up, and he drives home enraged. He stops to eat fast food and returns home to Jason packing. Jason reveals that his girlfriend told him what Matt did, and he’ll be back in the morning to get his stuff. Blaming Springtrap for his misfortune, Matt drinks a beer and gets a headache. When he massages his head he feels a hard knot pushing against his scalp. Isolated and misunderstood, Matt cries for the first time in his adult life.
As Matt’s getting ready for another date, he’s unable to fasten his pants. He finds a pair that barely fits and arrives at the bar incredibly bloated and sweaty. Matt is disappointed when he discovers his date is chunkier than her profile picture used to be, seemingly having gained twenty-five pounds. The two barely talk when Matt begins to leave due to the pressure in his abdomen, and after telling his date she’s bigger she points out how bloated Matt is and calls him a hypocrite. The buttons on his shirt pop off as he leaves, and at home the pressure in his stomach and the pain from the weird knot gets worse. His shirts feel uncomfortable, and when he takes it off he sees movement underneath his belly. Desperate to get it out, Matt grabs the largest, sharpest kitchen knife and cuts open his stomach. He watches as a perfectly formed Springtrap the size of a healthy, newborn infant pulls itself out of the incision. This Springtrap, looking more real and organic, places Matt’s head on its lap, and as it strokes his cheek he hears the word
Daddy.
Thinking Matt is at work, Jason arrives around ten a.m. only to find his corpse in a blood-drenched kitchen. He calls the police, who question him about Matt’s relationship with others. Jason doesn’t believe anyone would have wanted Matt dead, and asks why someone would do this to themselves. The police officer tells Jason stuff like this isn’t totally unusual in his line of work, and then he notices something. Putting on a rubber glove, the officer picks up a clump of green and fuzzy fur covered in slime. The officer and Jason don’t know what it is, so the officer wipes it away with a paper towel.