The truth behind Five Nights at Freddy's is in a box the creator may never open

The Five Nights at Freddy's series is known for concealing its lore within mazes of perplexing riddles and hidden clues, always leaving just enough doubt that what you've uncovered might not be the truth. Many had hoped that FNaF4, purportedly the last in the series, would answer some unresolved questions. The good news is, "It does!" The bad news is, "uh … kind of."

Scott Cawthon, creator of the FNaF series, took to Steam this week to discuss the game's upcoming Halloween content patch, which will add challenges, cheats and extras. Cawthon also specifically calls out what he will not be including in the patch: the box. What's the big deal about a box, you ask? The box has haunted players since the game's unexpectedly premature release last month - it sits, locked, on the screen after you beat the game, but no matter what players do, they can't seem to open it. Decompiling the game's files suggests that the box is not even capable of being opened.

Cawthon writes on his game's Steam page that he's been amazed at how quickly his games have been dissected and analyzed, applauding fans for uncovering his secrets. "But then I released part 4, and somehow ... no one, not a single person, found the pieces. The story remains completely hidden," he says. "What's in the box? It's the pieces put together. But the bigger question is: would the community accept it that way? The fact that the pieces have remained elusive this time strikes me as incredible, and special, a fitting conclusion in some ways."

Even if this spurs players to really dive in and find the game's secrets, it doesn't sound like Cawthon will be giving the FNaF series an official conclusion. He writes: "I've decided that maybe some things are best left forgotten, forever." Kind of poetic for a game about killer animatronics, huh? And lest you give up hope, remember that this is the same game that was originally planned to have an October 31 release date, which was then bumped to August 8, but actually came out on July 24. Plans change.