#this isnt even like an exhaustive swath of fnaf youtube but it's what i've personally gotten into

[starlit-mansion]

If i was recommending someone trying to get into the fnaf games exclusively through many hours of youtube videos, it would really have to be:

• Markiplier's playthroughs of all the mainline games (really the perfect mix of the feeling of all of them coming out from nowhere and becoming a phenomenon, a performer really groking how to play and expressing the terror of playing in a way that was actually pretty rare among first plays I've seen, and lots of entertaining bits that cut the tension)

• Dawko's Revisited series (a nice mix of skilled let's play and connecting a lot of the commonly accepted lore as it crops up in the game, with a lot of love for the series that i think really expresses the appreciation and bugbears that the current fandom has. Includes fanf world, an interesting failure that turns out to be surprisingly tonally in line with the later canon)

• Sagan Hawkes' Retrospective series (a collection of essay style recaps of not only the in-game universe, but the fan reactions and community stuff, with very good production value)

• Scruffy's two videos about the sound design in fnaf and how it builds and maintains tension, which are very beautifully animated and can and should be watched even by people who don't care about fnaf

• Pim Is Online's "FNaF 4 is a Horror Masterpiece" essay (includes a nice amount of history to set the table, and is a very nice argument in favor of the series in general and of the game that began the big wave of backlash towards the series in particular)

• Bonus Rec (Secret Sixth Night) - Andiematronic's "How to Make Your Own Spring Bonnie Suit" video (not really about the lore or anything, but an extremely good video that's both a cosplay tutorial and a semi-in character performance based on the events of Help Wanted, so it's a nice dessert after experiencing the game)