Boris and the Dark Survival

***"On the plus side, I got a new character I think people are going to love."***
- Henry Stein
This article may contain unmarked details of **spoilers**. If you wish not to read without spoiling yourself, play the game, watch the cartoon, or read the book first, depending on the article's topic.
*See Boris (disambiguation) or Dark (disambiguation) for other related uses.*

## Information

### Download(s)

Steam
Game Jolt
itch.io
Google Play
iOS

**"***A lone wolf struggles to survive the inky abyss of Joey Drew Studios in this top-down survival horror.***"**
— **Steam's summary.**

***Boris and the Dark Survival*** (abbreviated as ***BatDS***) is a standalone game and a side prequel to *Bendy and the Ink Machine*, developed by Joey Drew Studios Inc.. First revealed on February 5, 2020, the game was released on February 10, 2020, for PC platforms and Google Play, for the franchise's third anniversary by the price of $0.99, making it one of the cheapest games ever offered. It was later released for iOS on February 14, 2020. Whether it will be released for console still remains unclear. There have currently been 3 updates released for the game: The Wolf Trials, The Unleashed, and Symphony of Shadows.

## Summary

Play as Boris the Wolf, the cartoon companion of Bendy, as you hunt throughout the abandoned cartoon studio for the supplies Boris needs to keep going. You’re not alone! The monstrous Ink Demon stalks you at every turn. Beware the sound of his beating heart as he creeps up from behind and catches you in his dripping gaze. Nowhere is safe. Yet secrets lie in wait for those adventurous enough to seek them out.

* Outrun the Ink Demon or become his next victim.

* Scavenge for supplies and keep yourself on the move.

* Carefully watch your stamina and stop to eat every chance you get.

* Discover hidden unlockables stashed away in the shadows.

* Unveil more of the shadowy backstory of Joey Drew Studios.

Will you brave the evil lurking in the studio? Will you conquer this Dark Survival?

Boris is counting on you.

## Characters

### New

* Lost One (player)
* The Patron
* Emma LaMonte
* Nathan Arch
* Tessa
* Wilson
* Borkis

### Returning

* Buddy Boris
* Ink Demon
* Boris Clone
* Joey Drew
* Wally Franks
* Thomas Connor
* Sammy Lawrence
* Jack Fain
* Norman Polk/The Projectionist
* Twisted Alice
* Shawn Flynn
* Piper
* Striker
* Fisher

## Gameplay

In *Boris and the Dark Survival*, Buddy Boris has to take the Service Elevator down to find secrets, collect supplies, and find audio logs within the different levels of the studio while avoiding enemies.

When it comes to collecting supplies, Buddy Boris will only need to collect 6 of them at each level. These items include spoons, gears, bones, plungers, books, wrenches, and radios.

During each level, the Ink Demon is wandering around searching for Buddy Boris and will move closer to Buddy Boris whenever he makes a sound, like opening a locker or playing an audio log. If the Ink Demon ever sees Buddy Boris, he will immediately start chasing him. Buddy Boris can hide in one of the Little Miracle Stations to avoid getting caught.

The Ink Demon will spawn immediately except on Day 1 and Day 2. On Day 1 he spawns once the player picked up 4 supplies. On Day 2 he spawns in after the player picked up 1 supply item. Day 3 and on he spawns in at the start of the game.

Buddy Boris has the ability to run during the level, but this will decrease his stamina. Buddy Boris can refill his stamina by drinking Bacon Soup from one of the Tasty Eats Machines.

Once Buddy Boris collects all 6 supplies, the Ink Demon will start chasing him, regardless of how far away he is; in order to survive, Buddy Boris must run back to the service elevator to finish the level.

### The Hub

The main hub for the game is the Safehouse from *Bendy and the Ink Machine: Chapter 3*, as well as multiple other rooms that stem off of the hallway that comes just before the Exit Hallways in Chapter 3. These extra rooms include the Elevator Room, the Dungeons, the Restrooms, and the Golden Days Gallery.

### Collectables

In addition to the supplies that Boris collects each day, numerous other collectibles can be found within the randomly generated levels. These collectibles can add little extras to the game, while some can trigger cutscenes and new levels.

There are 7 scraps that Boris can find inside the lockers. These scraps are used to create the wall art that is seen in the Safehouse in Chapter 3 of BATIM. Once he finds all 7, it triggers the following cutscene: *“Suddenly… Boris saw a glimpse of the man he used to be… and then it was gone.”* This means that Boris was using the scraps to try picturing his former human self.

Boris has 1 of 6 “Tunes” in the Safehouse, with the other 5 being collectible inside the lockers. Collecting each Tune will give Boris a different song he can listen to while in the safehouse. Boris also knows 1 of 5 dances that he does while listening to a tune. There are 4 of Emma LaMonte’s Dance Blueprints that Boris can find in the toilets. Collecting each Dance Blueprint will give Boris a new dance while listening to his tunes.

Boris can also find his favourite bone in one of the lockers. After finding it, the bone will be on the table in the Safehouse, and Boris has the option of carrying it in his mouth during a level.

There are 6 Odd Fuses that Boris can find inside the lockers. Collecting all 6 will unlock a Pachinko Machine that Boris can use. If the player beats Wally’s high score of 15, then a secret audio log of Joey Drew will appear.

There are 5 tapes that Boris can find inside the bodies of dead Boris clones. These tapes can be played in a tape player located in the 1st Dungeon, and they contain messages from a mysterious woman named Milla Legna, who talks about how she’s locked inside the dungeon, scared of the monsters in the studio. After collecting the 5 tapes, Boris has to find the key that Milla hid in the studio for whoever would come to save her. Once finding the key and unlocking the dungeon, it triggers the following cutscene: *“Boris found the poor soul who was trapped in the darkness… but Milla was a lie… She was in truth a twisted angel, named Alice...luring Boris to his doom. So Boris Ran.”* Following the cutscene, a new level starts (See Levels section).

There are 5 padlock keys that Boris can find inside the lockers. The keys are used to unlock the cage in the 2nd Dungeon. Once all the keys have been collected the Butcher Gang breaks out and the Butcher Gang level has been unlocked.

There are also some papers called “Lost Papers” that Boris can collect. They are pieces of paper with a handprint from one of the Lost Ones. Once all the papers are collected, the player can choose to play as a Lost One by using the Ink Chooser.

There are 4 Candles that Boris can find inside the lockers. After finding the 4 candles, Boris has to find Sammy’s Mask. Once the player finds Sammy’s Mask and goes back into the men's restroom, the screen will go black and they will hear Sammy say *“Our lord is calling. Are you a believer?”* Then Sammy will be unlocked as a playable character which the player can switch between by using the Ink Chooser. Sammy can’t run. His stamina is instead used up by teleporting through the cracks in the walls.

### Audio Logs

Audio Logs from former employees can be found around the randomly generated levels. The original release of the game had 4 audio logs from Jack Fain, Norman Polk, Thomas Connor, and Wally Franks. The Wolf Trials update added an audio log from Shawn Flynn and a 2nd log from Wally Franks.

In the main Hub, there are 5 tapes that can be collected from Milla Legna, a secret tape from Joey Drew that can be unlocked from the minigame (see Collectables section), an audio log from Emma LaMonte, and a secret tape from the mysterious entity from the BATDR trailers (later revealed to be Wilson Arch), which can be unlocked by playing the instruments in order as they are seen painted on the wall above the candles.

### Level Generation

The levels in the game are randomly generated (See the link to know how) with Little Miracle Stations, Tasty Eats Machines, lockers, audio logs, and supplies put in different places each time. In addition to the randomly generated Ink Demon levels, there are 5 secret levels.

ALICE\_FLOOR: Following the cutscene that takes place after unlocking the 1st Dungeon, a new level starts with Twisted Alice as the antagonist. Alice is a lot faster than Bendy when she sees Boris. The level can be accessed by clicking on the door to the first dungeon.

PROJECTIONIST\_FLOOR: During the game, Boris can randomly end up in a level covered in ink puddles. The 6 supplies the player needs to collect are all hearts, and the Projectionist is the antagonist. If the player beats the stage, he will unlock a heart on a plate in the service elevator room which will allow the player to access the Projectionist stage.

BUTCHERGNAG\_FLOOR: If the player unlocks the cage in the 2nd dungeon, a level will be unlocked where the Butcher Gang are the antagonists. The main difference is that all 3 of them split up to look for Boris.

LOSTONE\_FLOOR: Very rarely during the game, the player will get a level that has a Lost One as the protagonist. The Lost One cannot move fast and there are no Tasty Eats Machines in this level.

Level 414 (REGLUAR\_FL0OR): Very rarely during the game, Boris will get to a level that has a glowing-eyed Boris clone named Borkis as the antagonist.

### Saving

Even though the saving mechanism was implemented to *Bendy and the Ink Machine*, it works a bit differently in *Boris and the Dark Survival.* The game uses Unity PlayerPrefs instead of custom **.game** file that *Bendy and the Ink Machine* uses. The location of the save files may differ from the OS. On Windows devices, they're stored in the registry (***Computer\HKEY\_CURRENT\_USER\Software\Joey Drew Studios\Boris and the Dark Survival***).

The game uses multiple save files (***DATA***, ***CurrentTrack***, ***FIndMoreRecords***, ***TutorialComplete*** and few others). Most of the game progress is stored in the encrypted DATA binary file. It can not be properly and successfully edited without using additional software or .reg files from other people. The DATA file contains 21 values: ***Record\_1** (bool), **Record\_2** (bool), **Record\_3** (bool), **Record\_4** (bool), **Scrap\_1** (bool), **Scrap\_2** (bool), **Scrap\_3** (bool), **Scrap\_4** (bool), **Scrap\_5** (bool), **Scrap\_6** (bool), **Scrap\_7** (bool), **Plungers** (int), **Gears** (int), **Spoons** (int), **Radios** (int), **Books** (int), **Bones** (int), **Wrenches** (int), **SpecialBone** (bool), **HeartCount** (int), **HighestDayCount** (int).*

***Record\_x*** and ***Scrap\_x*** are bools (true/false values) saving the information did the player find the scraps or records in the lockers. Surprisingly enough, the soundtrack playing in the hub can play without having its record unlocked (since the information about playing a soundtrack is saved in the ***CurrentTrack*** file). All the item values are the number of the exact object ever collected by the player during the successful (won) day. They're ints so the number stored in them can be any integer. ***SpecialBone*** is a bool value storing the information was a Special Bone found by Buddy Boris in a locker. If set to true, Buddy Boris should be able to pick up the bone on the table in the hub. ***HeartCount*** is an int value storing the information on how many hearts the player has ever collected. ***HighestDayCount*** is an int value storing the information on the highest day ever reached.

## Reception

*Boris and the Dark Survival* was well received, given with the score of 4.3/5 from Google Play and 4.4/5 from iOS. Metacritic's PC review was currently not given yet.

## Controls

### PC

 E, Spacebar or LMB
 Esc
 L. Shift

### Android / iOS

 Shift Button (Right Corner)
 Tap (on items or interactable)

## Trivia

* While exploring the studio, Boris may come across holes in the wall which he can peek through to see the room on the other side. These holes can show things like a chair, a Bendy cutout, theMeatly, a dead Boris clone, and messages like “EMBRACE YOUR DEMISE”, “SURRENDER TO THE MACHINE” and “THE MACHINE MUST ENDURE.” Very rarely, a piece of paper resembling a treasure map appears through one of the holes.

* Sometimes Boris will find an Ink Heart on a plate. If he collects this, he will hear the shriek of The Projectionist.
* There are 3 Mystery Boxes in the main hub. They save no purpose in the game.
* The Golden Days Gallery is filled with posters from fan art submissions. It also had a Lost One called the Patron, who stands in the room, admiring the artwork.
* Before the *Symphony of Shadows* update the player could walk through the table in Boris' safehouse. After the update, however, it is no longer possible to do so.
* In *Bendy and the Dark Revival's* archives location, it is indirectly revealed that the events of *Boris and the Dark Survival* happen at the same time as Audrey's adventures in the cycle.