Bendy And the Ink Machine

I was a bit late to the party with Bendy And The Ink Machine. I had seen the merch in stores and always wondered what the heck this thing was! Well, I finally got round to playing through the whole thing and I found myself incredibly invested in this fascinating and messed up world!

That Infernal Machine

A huge part of the reason why this game clicked for me was the story. The story is so good that I am going to not spoil anything major for you guys as it is the kind of thing that is best-experienced firsthand and spoiler-free. The basics of the story are that you play as a character called Henry who worked as an animator for many years back in the 30s. he has been called back to his former animation studio, but when he arrives he realizes that there is a “strange” and “sinister” force at play here and a strange ink machine that has brought to life these horrible creatures that want him dead. The real meat and potatoes of the story is finding out what exactly happened here and trying to stop it.

Style Over Substance

The visuals of Bendy And The Ink Machine and drop-dead gorgeous! This game is just pure eye candy and the way it is made to look like old cartoons from the 1930s is handled phenomenally well. The various characters you encounter especially your dog companion Boris all look like they could have been designed by Walt Disney himself.

One of the things that I did not notice right away was the use of color or the lack of. Most of the game is black ink and the rest is a kind of “brown” it is the kind of thing that sounds like it would be rather ugly, but it has a ton of personality to it and it fits the game very, very well. I really cannot say enough things praising the game's visuals.

There is also some fantastic voice acting here. Much of the “lore” of the game is brought to life thanks to these tapes you can find. These are well worth finding, especially if you find the story of the game as fascinating as I do.

Finding The Truth

I have heard Bendy And The Ink Machine be described as a “survival horror” game, but I do not actually agree with that. There are elements of horror here and everything wants you dead. However, there is no item or ammo management or stuff like that, which I am actually thankful for. The game is split into different chapters and the gameplay is all done from the first-person point of view.

You will need to explore and solve various puzzles. Most of the time puzzles are you finding keys, releasing valves, and that kind of thing. You will get tasks to do for a certain character and finding out what is going on and also surviving are the main goals that Henry has.

There is some combat here too and this is very satisfying. You have to kill these ink creatures, but there is some strategy involved. For the most part, you will be using various mile weapons such as an ax or a pipe. You cannot just rush in; you have to think about how you attack each enemy.

Pros:

• The story is great
• I liked the ink visuals of the game
• The setting and lore of the game is great and has some awesome twists
• The gameplay is fun and easy to figure out
• It is the kind of game that is fun to talk about with your buddies

Cons:

• The game did feel a tad padded out in areas
• Some of the jump scares scared the hell out of me!

I am a huge fan of horror games so I do not know why it took me so long to give Bendy And The Ink Machine ago. This is a pretty big hit and if you go into any toy store or “geek” kind of shop, you are bound to see some kind of merch for this game. It has proven to be very popular and it is one of those games that I do not think I have actually heard someone say that they did not like it.

Fixing What Is Broken

While it is the visuals that catch your eye, it will be the story that Bendy And The Ink Machine is telling that will keep you going all the way until the end. You play as a man called Henry. Henry worked at this animation studio during the 1930s and he is asked to come back to the studio. Once he arrives, he soon realizes that something is very wrong with this place and there is an evil force at play.

The whole story is a bit of a mystery and I have to say that you owe it to yourself not to spoil the story before you play. Finding out what happened and how Henry has a role to play in it all was fantastic stuff.

Puzzling Horror

While I would 100 percent class Bendy And The Ink Machine as a horror game, it is not a survival horror game. If anything, the gameplay is more about solving puzzles than anything else. You will need to find keys, turn things on and off, do missions for characters you meet along the way, and so on. You do not have to worry about managing your supplies and inventories.

Smash It With A Pipe!

The majority of “creations” that you will come across in the game want you dead and you have to defend yourself. The whole game is played from the first-person and most of the time the way that you will be defending yourself is via melee attacks. You can pick up things like a pipe to smash things to death with. I liked the combat; I think that they did a great job of making Henry seem just like a normal dude in a very abnormal situation and the way he fights is a great example of that.

Steamboat Bendy

What draws most people to Bendy And The Ink Machine is the visuals. To say that this is a great-looking game is a massive understatement. The game is designed to look like the cartoons of the 1930s and they nailed it. These look like things that could have been made the better part of 100 years ago. The artists truly outdid themselves here. What is so interesting about the visuals is that the whole game has a very dark and gloomy look to it. You may think this would get old fast, but that is not the case at all.

Talking Through It

One of the things that quite often gets overlooked about this game is the sound design. The ambient sound and the score all give the game a very creepy kind of feel that will have you on edge each time you enter a new area or have to go around a corner. This game also has voice acting and it is great. Seriously how this game does not get more praise for the voice acting blows my mind.

Pros:

• The visuals in this game are truly amazing
• It has a very creepy and engaging story
• The voice acting is superb
• Some of the jump scares are awesome

Cons:

• Still no word on when the next Bendy game will be released
• You may pee your pants during some of the jump scares!