Bendy and the Ink Machine
Bendy and the Ink Machine is an episodic first-person survival horror video game developed and published by Kindly Beast under the name of the game's in-universe animation studio Joey Drew Studios Inc. It was initially released to Game Jolt on February 10, 2017, as the first of five chapters, with a full release on October 27, 2018. The game was also released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch on November 20, 2018, being published by Rooster Teeth Games, and for IOS and Android on December 21, 2018. Inspired by the  BioShock game series, the game is set in the fictional Joey Drew Studios. The player controls Henry Stein, a retired animator who receives a letter inviting him back to his old workplace. Stein discovers a series of strange paranormal activities caused by the titular Ink Machine. In the game, players navigate through a first person perspective and need to complete certain tasks to proceed, such as combat, collecting objects or solving puzzles. Players can also find audio logs recorded by the studio's employees in order to understand the game's history. "Bendy and the Ink Machine" was well-received  upon its initial release. Praise centered on its vintage aesthetic and story, although its puzzles and combat mechanics were less popular. In the months following its release, the game quickly gained a large following from exposure on platforms like YouTube and Twitch, and eventually was approved through Steam Greenlight in mid-2017. Merchandise, as well as a mobile spin-off, was later introduced to further promote the game. Mike Mood, the game's programmer and co-creator, described the game as an "accidental success". "Bendy and the Dark Revival", the next game in the series, is scheduled for released in 2022 . Gameplay. "Bendy and the Ink Machine" is a first person survival horror that resembles several cartoons in the late 1930s to 1940s. The player plays as Henry Stein, a retired animator who returns to his old workplace, Joey Drew Studios, and discovers that a machine has corrupted the entire studio and brought certain cartoon characters to life. The game mixes combat with puzzle mechanics. Players explore through a first-person view and have limited physical actions such as running and jumping. Different items can be collected, some of which are required to perform various tasks before proceeding. Cans of bacon  soup can also be collected for achievements and to restore Henry's health if he is injured. Combat is primarily focused around a variety of different melee-based weapons, such as an axe, pipe, plunger, wrench, or scythe. Additionally there are long-range weapons such as a tommy gun or bacon soup cans. In-game enemies have different strength levels and resilience to damage, forcing players to be tactical about keeping out of reach and striking when necessary. Failure to do so will result in a death. Henry can retreat inside Little Miracle Stations whenever enemies are nearby in order  to recover or remain out of sight. If he takes too much damage, he can escape from the ink that consumes him and respawn at one of the numerous statues of Bendy that act as checkpoints. The player can save their progress by interacting with time card stations. In addition, players can find numerous audio logs throughout the studio that give more details about the game's story, particularly concerning the fate of the studio and its employees, similar to the systems used in games such as "BioShock". Some of these logs can be missed and require further exploration to  uncover the secret areas they often reside In. At the final chapter, players unlock the Seeing Tool, which is a device used to view secret hidden messages that would be invisible without it. After completing it, players can also use it in the previous four chapters. Plot. Chapter 1: Moving Pictures. In the year 1963, Henry Stein, co-founder and former animator at Joey Drew Studios is invited back to the studio by his former friend and business partner, Joey Drew. Not much is known about Henry's visit to the studio, but what we do know is that he  was promptly killed and sacrificed to the Ink Machine by Joey, therefore ending up in the cartoon world and beginning his never-ending loop. Henry wakes up in a cartoon version of the studio and finds it abandoned and dirtied up with ink splotches everywhere, as well as a mutilated copy of Boris the Wolf, one of the studio's characters. Henry discovers that the messy ink was caused by the Ink Machine, which was installed sometime after Henry left. Henry goes to fix and turn on the machine. After turning the machine on, Henry goes back to the machine  but is attacked by an ink creature known as Ink Bendy, who closely resembles the studio's mascot, Bendy. Henry tries to escape as the studio fills with ink. As Henry reaches the door, the floor under him gives way and he falls into the ink-filled lower levels. After draining the ink, Henry finds a room with coffins and a strange diagram on the floor. When he steps on it, he sees a vision of the Ink Machine, a wheelchair, and Ink Bendy, before passing out. Chapter 2: The Old Song. Henry wakes up and searches for a way  out. He eventually comes to the music department and discovers an exit at the bottom of some stairs, but the stairs are flooded and blocking the door. After battling ink creatures known as Searchers, Henry finds music director Sammy Lawrence's office and finds a pump switch inside that could drain the ink at the stairs, but his office is blocked by a massive ink leak. Henry finds two valves that lower the ink pressure, one in Sammy's sanctuary and one in the infirmary, being held hostage by the studio's lyricist Jack Fain, who has been turned into  a Swollen Searcher. After stopping the leak, Henry drains the ink at the stairs. While approaching the stairs however, he is knocked out by an ink corrupted Sammy. After waking up, Sammy reveals he intends to sacrifice Henry to Ink Bendy, whom he worships as a deity, so that he can be free of the ink. As Sammy begins the sacrifice ritual, he is attacked by Ink Bendy and presumably killed. Henry breaks free and tries to escape, but is confronted by Ink Bendy. After a chase, Henry locks himself in a storage room. Venturing into the room, he realizes  there is someone in the room and tells them to show themselves. Henry becomes shocked when the figure reveals himself as a fully intact Boris the Wolf. Chapter 3: Rise and Fall. Henry befriends Boris, and the two leave Boris' safehouse to find another way out of the studio. They come across the toy department and find a back room full of merchandise for Alice Angel, the studio's lead female. Henry is then confronted by a twisted design of Alice Angel and she summons him to Level 9 of the studio. Henry and Boris reach Level 9, but are  attacked by the Piper, a member of the Butcher Gang, minor antagonists of the cartoons. Inside Twisted Alice's lair, Henry and Boris discover multiple mutilated clones of Boris and the Butcher Gang. Henry finds Twisted Alice torturing a Piper and she orders him to fetch some items for her, in exchange for being allowed to escape the studio. Henry must fulfill Twisted Alice's tasks, all the while being hunted by Ink Bendy, Searchers, the Butcher Gang, and the Projectionist, an ink corrupted version of Norman Polk, the studio's projectionist. After fulfilling her needs, she sends him to  the elevator where he can leave, but forces the elevator to fall after discovering Boris, who she wants as he is the most perfect Boris. The elevator crashes on Level S. Boris wakes Henry up, and he is forced to watch as Twisted Alice drags Boris away. Chapter 4: Colossal Wonders. Waking back up from passing out, Henry leaves the broken lift and explores the cavernous archives of the studio to find and rescue Boris. After Alice taunts Henry about Boris' capture, Henry comes across a lounge filled with Lost Ones, people infected by the ink who show no hostility . After fleeing through the vents, Henry discovers that Joey planned to open a Bendy-themed amusement park called Bendy Land, with the help of famed amusement park designer Bertrum Piedmont. Henry deduces that the haunted house attraction is the way to go and traverses the storage area to find the switches to power the ride up. He activates the four power switches, while in the process sneaking past the Butcher Gang, defeating an ink corrupted Bertrum, who has merged himself with an octopus ride, and escaping from the Projectionist, who is decapitated by Ink Bendy. Once on the haunted house  ride, Henry is shocked to discover that Alice has transformed Boris into a brute monster. After a brief struggle, Henry is forced to kill Boris, who fades away. An enraged Twisted Alice tries to attack Henry herself, but is killed from behind by another version of Alice Angel and a robot-handed clone of Boris. Chapter 5: The Last Reel. The new characters, Allison Angel and Tom, lock Henry in a makeshift prison. Henry manages to gain Allison’s trust, while Tom remains hesitant towards him. Allison gives Henry a Seeing Tool, which is used to see hidden messages, and  Henry sees a message that says Allison will leave Henry for dead. Later, Ink Bendy discovers Allison and Tom's location, and Tom convinces Allison to leave Henry behind so they can escape. Henry manages to escape the prison after discovering a secret room with a weapon behind the wall, thanks to the hidden messages. Once he escapes, Henry rides on a barge through a river of ink, with a massive Bendy hand chasing behind him. Henry arrives in a shanty town built by the Searchers and the Lost Ones. There, he is confronted by the forsaken Sammy, who believes  Henry is Ink Bendy and tries to take revenge for almost killing him. Sammy gets unmasked by Henry, but Sammy overpowers Henry and tries to kill him, but Sammy is killed by Tom. Tom equips Henry with an axe. With Sammy out of the way, the Searchers and Lost Ones he was keeping at bay become violent and start attacking. Henry, Allison and Tom work together and defeat the wave of monsters. Henry leads the way onward, but falls into the administration offices on a lower level. Henry tries to escape through the film vault, but the entrance is flooded . Henry works to reconnect the pipe system to drain the ink, by hiding from the Butcher Gang. Once in the film vault, a message reveals that a film reel has been stolen by Ink Bendy. Allison and Tom arrive and join Henry on his quest to find Ink Bendy. They discover that Ink Bendy's lair is a massive version of the Ink Machine. Henry is forced to go in alone, as the entrance is surrounded by ink, which could kill Allison and Tom. Inside, Henry finds a message from Joey, who talks about his downfall and how Henry can  fix the darkness by showing Ink Bendy the stolen reel, titled "The End". Ink Bendy arrives and transforms into a massive monster, known as Beast Bendy. Beast Bendy knocks Henry into another room and gives chase. Henry escapes Beast Bendy and returns to his throne. He plays The End reel, which broadcasts the words "The End" on several screens, causing Beast Bendy to dissolve. In a flashback, Henry arrives at Joey's house, who talks about how the two went on different paths, and how Joey's path burned because of his ambition. He summons Henry to the studio and  the events of the beginning of the game play again. In a post-credit scene, the camera zooms in on a signed picture from Henry of Bendy, Boris and Alice Angel. Offscreen, a young girl asks her "Uncle Joey" to tell her another story. Characters and voice cast. Additionally, there are multiple characters in the game with no featured dialogue: Development. The idea for "Bendy and the Ink Machine" came from theMeatly pondering the idea of a world that resembled a cartoon sketch. As he started developing the idea, he realized that it felt "creepy" and needed a monster that  inhabited it. Bendy was created to be that monster, but did not have a name. When the character finally received a 3D model, the name was chosen from a typo while saving it in a 3D modeling program, Blender. theMeatly was not a programmer and thus Mike Mood joined the production as he saw potential in the game. "Bendy and the Ink Machine" was inspired by the "BioShock" series. The first chapter, "Moving Pictures", took five days to be finished. The game was then released for free on Game Jolt on February 10, 2017, being one of the first games  that were released on the platform. Originally, the project was "for fun", according to Mood, but it later became viral and incentivated then to develop a second chapter, "The Old Song", which was officially announced in March 2017 and took six months to be finished. It was released on April 18, 2017, and also added a remastered version of the previous chapter, an updated menu, subtitles, achievements, etc. The game was approved by Steam Greenlight on February 28, 2017, and was then released on Steam on April 27, 2017. "Chapter 1" was made available for free, while "Chapter 2" was  released as a DLC for $6 dollars. The third chapter, "Rise and Fall", was announced on production in May 2017. It was developed by six people in at least four months, and the reason for its long development, according to Mike Mood, was because he needed to create a framework "to make the process smoother". Its trailer was released in August 2017, which showed an animated short intitled "Tombstone Picnic" and showed Henry running from Ink Bendy in a room. However, Mike Mood stated it was used only for the trailer's chase sequence and for test purposes. It  was released on September 28, 2017, while the previous two chapters also received remastered versions. The fourth chapter, "Colossal Wonders", was firstly confirmed in production on November 17, 2017. It also included remastered versions of the first three chapters, which included enhanced soundtracks and textures. It was released on April 30, 2018. Originally scheduled for April 28, 2018, it was delayed due to technical problems on Steam that disallows to make releases during weekends. The fifth and final chapter, "The Last Reel", was firstly confirmed in production on June 4, 2018. Later, they confirmed that it would be released in  October. The emprise also confirmed that the chapter would be received for free for only players who have bought the previous chapters. A special edition titled "Bendy and the Ink Machine: Jacksepticeye Edition", was given to YouTuber Jacksepticeye before the fifth chapter released to the public, which included all five chapters. It was released on October 26, 2018. The game received a final bundle on the next day, intitled "Bendy and the Ink Machine: Complete Edition". Chapters 2-4, which were previously available as downloadable content, became free, while the game became paid. On January 29, 2018, theMeatly officially announced  that "Bendy and the Ink Machine" would be released to consoles. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One ports were developed and published by Rooster Teeth Games, originally intended to be released on October 26, 2018, while the Nintendo Switch port was scheduled to release on November 20, 2018, but both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One's release dates were pushed to the same date for Nintendo Switch's release. On December 15, 2018, a mobile port was announced by theMeatly and Joey Drew Studios Inc., and it was released on December 21, 2018. Reception. According to the aggregating review website  Metacritic, "Bendy and the Ink Machine" received "mixed or average reviews" on its console ports. The website "Rock, Paper, Shotgun" considered the first chapter one of the best free games from the week. The game's storyline and setting were mostly praised. Most reviewers noted that the game's art style resembles the "Steamboat Willie" era of Disney's cartoons, with "PlayStation LifeStyle" considering Bendy as an "obvious parallel" between other cartoon characters such as Mickey Mouse or Betty Boop. Liam Martin of "Express" considered that the game's theme to be that "classic cartoons are more sinister than we  remember". Sean Warhurst of "ImpulseGamer" also considered the game's visuals as the game's "biggest strength" and that its graphics engine "complements the artistic direction". This was also considered by Barry Stevens of Entertainment Focus, considering that "the game has a really unique art style and really pulls off the old animation studio feel with everything being drawn in a 30s style". Most websites considered the game's gameplay mechanics repetitive. "TheXboxHub" considered the game's combat mechanics "frustrating", as most of its enemies die in only one hit. "VGCultureHQ" considered that if would have some range weapons in  the second chapter, such as a gun or a slingshot, "would help make lengthy combat sequences feel more fair and less of a risk". However, it also stated that the boss battles in the game feel "intense". The puzzles, according to "The Digital Fix", were considered repetitive, saying that "It's something we've done a million times before". "VGCultureHQ" considered the game's chapter lengths "too short" and without a "fair balance", considering that it could be completed in four hours, considering that the first and final chapters could be "finished in just under a half-hour", while the  other three chapters "may take longer". According to "Hely on Horror", the first chapter serves as a "tutorial", as guides the player to "interact with the environment and solve simple puzzles", the second chapter is where combat is introduced, but it considered that the third chapter is where players are thrown into the action. Steven Asarch of "Player.One" considered the third chapter's task list as a "lazy attempt for developers to pad the game without adding any additional content", and that if future chapters could focus more on the characters development, "they could've truly be masterpieces". The  game has been frequently compared with "BioShock", due to, according to "PlayStation LifeStyle", the game having an "antique style". "Nintendo Life" also considered the motives of having a "BioShock" vibe in the game due to "the revelations that are made of Henry's past to the retro aesthetic that clings to every corner of the game's dilapidated setting". However, it also compared it to "Resident Evil", and "Outlast", considering it a "fusion". The game was also compared with "Cuphead" and "Epic Mickey", for their homages to "rubber hose" animation and the style of 20th-century cartoons. Sales. By 2017 , the game achieved 750,000 downloads on Steam, according to "Player.One". Awards. The game has received the "Best Horror Game" award by IGN and is listed as #1 in "18 Best Horror Games of 2017". The mobile port received the "Game of the Day" award on February 23, 2019. T"ouchArcade" nominated the mobile port as the "Game of the Week" on December 21, 2018. Legacy. YouTube was a big contributor for the popularity of "Bendy and the Ink Machine". Many gamers where seen making "Let's Play" videos, being one of them Markiplier and Jacksepticeye, and reached millions of views . Many YouTube musicians also made fan songs for "Bendy and the Ink Machine", the most popular being DAGames' "Build Our Machine", which has been viewed more than 100 million times. Some of the most popular fanmade songs were later included in an album intitled "Bendy's Inky Megamix", which was made to help raise donations for United Ways COVID-19 relief charity at Tiltify. Some of these fans songs were included in the game, including DAGames' "Build Our Machine", Kyle Allen's "Bendy and the Ink Machine Song", Random Encounters' "Bendy and the Ink Musical", and JT Music's "Can't  Be Erased". This caused the game to have a giant fanbase, which Mood described as different from the most fanbases, calling other games' fanbases sometimes "toxic." The game also attracted children audience, which attention was mostly gaven to the character Bendy, although the game is T-rated. According to Mike Mood, what the made the game so popular was because of its characters. It also surged merchandise from the game, such as toys, shirts, etc., which can be bought on the game's official store. Books and comic books were also released. Spin-offs. A mobile spin-off called "Bendy  in Nightmare Run" was announced on January 26, 2018. It was released on the App Store on August 15, 2018 and on the Google Play Store on September 27, 2018. The game is an endless runner style game involving the player characters of either Bendy, Boris, or Alice collecting Bacon Soup while running away from large bosses chasing the player character. A spin-off called "Boris and the Dark Survival" was released on February 10, 2020, on "Bendy and the Ink Machine"s 3-year anniversary. The game is a prequel, taking place before the first chapter of the original game . It revolves around Boris the Wolf searching through the different levels of Joey Drew Studios looking for supplies for his safehouse while escaping Ink Bendy, Twisted Alice, the Projectionist, the Butcher Gang, or Borkis, a yellow-eyed version of Boris. The game also received several updates after its release. The latest one, "Symphony of Shadows", was released on June 30, 2020. Joke Games. On October 23, 2018, Joey Drew Studios posted on Twitter an image announcing a joke game, entitled "Black Ink Possession", parodying "Red Dead Redemption 2". During April Fools in 2020, the emprise poster a trailer of another  joke game, "Bendy Royale". It parodies "Fortnite: Battle Royale", where it was meant to be a battle royale with Bendy and the Ink Machine characters being playable. Crossovers. A Halloween crossover mod, "Hello Bendy", was released for the game on October 27, 2017, for a limited time, featuring the "Hello Neighbor" antagonist, who takes the role as Bendy in all previous three chapters and Sammy Lawrence for "Chapter 2". The mod's menu features the advertisement of pre-ordering the game "Hello Neighbor". The mod expired by the end of October that year. Co-creator Mike Mood has talked about  wanting to do a crossover with "Cuphead", which also was popular at around the same time and also uses rubber hose animation. Bendy and the Dark Revival. Another game, "Bendy and the Dark Revival", was announced on April 14, 2019. However, Mike Mood stated on February 13, 2019 that it would not serve as "Bendy and the Ink Machine 2". A gameplay trailer was released on June 24, 2019, announcing the game's release for Fall 2019. However, in December 2019, a new trailer was released to say that the game was being delayed and will release sometime in 2020 . Another trailer was released on June 1, 2020, revealing that the game would be released in its entirety with all five chapters included, unlike the first game which was released episodically. The trailer also suggested the game would come out in the latter half of 2020. However, on November 30, 2020, the developers announced that the game would be releasing in 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The developers also cited that the game will be ten times bigger than the original game and that they didn't want to rush the game. The game was, however, delayed once again  to 2022 without being announced. Television adaptation. In 2020, Derek Kolstad, creator of the "John Wick" franchise, stated that he has interest in making a television adaptation based on the game.