Bendy and the Dark Revival Review (DomEReapeR)
Reading other reviews on this game makes me feel like an insane person, I loved the first game despite its flaws so was looking forward to a sequel 5 years later to improve on the formula, and it really didn't in any sense.
You now have a weapon that you can upgrade, but there are 3 pre-determined places you can get very specific upgrades in the story, instead of a variety of upgrades you can spend materials on at stations throughout the game.
Bendy used to show up and stalk the halls, now you just get a vague ''Bendy is nearby'' and after a few seconds you die unless you hide, seems lazy compared to how he worked in the first one. He'll also do this completely randomly so many times he'll do it when you're nowhere near a hiding spot, or when you're in a location that you can only leave by flowing, but he'll do it when it's on cooldown so you just die, did no one QA test this?
Enemies just will. not. stop. spawning. I like clearing out an area so I can look around for collectibles and materials, and I will kill 6 lost ones, walk into the next room, then come back and there are 6 more lost ones. Infuriating, and there's no stealthing past that many. Also, what's the point of limited materials if 1. there are only three weapon upgrades and 2. you can just farm them off infinitely spawning enemies?
Jumpscares. Boy did these get tiring quickly, one or two worked at the start and then it was just jumpscare after jumpscare, especially after releasing Carley .
Every single story beat I called. I was always like ''oh I bet x will happen'' and then it did, zero surprises, completely predictable.
All questions I had about the first game and the story, all the answers to my theories, is all just dumped on you in a big dialogue of exposition by a character completely anti-climactically, show don't tell, please.
I really hate leaving a bad review because the game is so beautiful, and I am a massive Bioshock fan so I really feel and notice all the homages and the inspiration, and so much passion was put into the project, but the whole thing is just a frustrating chose to play, and it's been 2-3 years since it was released so it doesn't seem like my issues will be changed/fixed. Sorry dev team but I know you can do much better.
Edit: Forgot to mention this point when I initially wrote the review, giving the ink demon a voice and having him yapping edgy dialogue at you was a baaaaad move. Instantly removed any creepiness or scariness he had.