Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach didn’t just shake up the franchise with its bold shift into free roam territory—it also fumbled its landing with a launch that was, frankly, a buggy mess. But where others saw flaws, the speedrunning community saw opportunity. With gameplay features hidden beneath 79 gigabytes of pizza grease and barely a gigabyte of functional mechanics, this game practically begged to be broken. What followed was a masterclass in exploiting chaos.

The journey began with low expectations and a side-eye to a random Twitter user defending the developers’ transparency. “Cut them some slack,” they said, because the devs were upfront about the unfinished state of the game. That logic may not fly in most industries, but in speedrunning, an unstable release is a golden ticket to discovery. So, in the spirit of pioneering digital dysfunction, I grabbed a copy and dove in.

After spending what felt like a small eternity installing the game—99% of which was just installation time—I was finally ready. First run: completed off stream in one shot. Confidence high, glitches ready to be abused, I took it to a live audience.

Initial Setup: Silence Is Speed

Step one? Kill the dialogue volume. That’s not a preference—it’s a strat. The game assumes if it can’t hear the dialogue, there’s no dialogue to play. Cutscenes? Skipped. Efficiency? Maximized. Freddy, bless him, couldn’t keep up. Settings would auto-flip, but once the white woman jump scare was triggered through precise positioning at the window, I spun around and collected the watch from Freddy. I tried to cancel the dialogue prompt with a double-tap on TAB, but a fast finger misfire slowed the door sequence. Minor setback.

Then came the curtain clip—an easy yet essential out-of-bounds maneuver. Jumping repeatedly in a cozy corner while pressing against the wall lets you scale the curtain and fall into the void. At first it’s disorienting, but once your eyes adjust to the digital abyss, navigation becomes second nature. Head to the warehouse, jump onto some conveniently placed bags, then leap across dividers and fences. Hug the opposite side of the railing to dodge barriers—an oversight that clearly wasn’t tested.

Laser Dome & The Hiccup Jump

Now armed with a laser gun, the next major goal is the dome. Jumping over the elevator rail lands you in the arena, the run’s biggest bottleneck. Timing the divider jumps is critical, and hiccups—literal ones, caused by in-game stuttering—can eat your input at the worst possible moment. It’s rage-inducing, but not run-ending unless it compounds.

My early live attempts clocked in around 5:09. Not bad for a second-ever run. But the title of this grind was “Beating the Game in Under 5 Minutes.” So of course, more attempts were demanded. Chat was hungry, and donations triggered a subtle alarm that meant one thing: go again.

Grinding for Glory

Throughout the night, I whittled down my time. The biggest time saver? Landing the hiccup jump on the first try. Whether due to out-of-bounds loading quirks or just poor optimization, this jump can make or break a run. And break them it did—many times. But persistence paid off. Eventually I nailed the elevator on my first go and breezed through the divider jumps on my second, saving precious seconds.

That run would have landed me 14th place—at the time. The leaderboard moves fast, and I’ve since dropped, but the knowledge gained was invaluable. I know better routes now, smoother movement paths, tighter jump timing. There’s still more to squeeze out of this game, and I’m coming for it.

Conclusion: Anyone Can Try

If you’re wondering if it’s really that easy—the answer is yes. My second attempt ever got under five minutes. Within 10 more, I’d cut off nearly a full minute. This isn’t some inaccessible elite-only route. You can try it too. Pick up the game, mute the dialogue, clip the curtain, hug the walls, and see how far into the void you can go. The leaderboard is waiting.

Just don’t ask Freddy for help. His programming can’t handle the pressure.

“Gregory… why did you have to speedrun? You’ve killed me.”

See you on the other side of the glitch.