izigame.me

Form over function

When it comes to Bendy and the Ink Machine, one can make a safe bet as to why would you pick up this game in the first place. Showing toothy grin as wide as a horizon, Bendy lures the player in with distinct visual style. Heavily inspired by cartoons of early 20th century, this title has an array of stellar promotional material to show – highlighting a convincing 3D environment which maintains hand-drawn feel at the same time. Painted in oversaturated sepia, this title has easily the best use of cell shading since Borderlands series popularised the term. No less interesting is the premise of the game. Being a horror, Bendy aims to warp the innocent and naive piece of children entertainment into much darker medium where ink drips indistinguishable from blood. Does the game succeed in all of this? It does to a reasonable degree, I do however hope you like salt, as there are more than a few pinches you need to take this title with.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3343696736
Inkling of terror
Before we get to saltier things in life, let’s get properly acquainted with the world of Bendy first. Embodying persona of Henry Stein, a retired cartoonist, the player is invited to visit an old animation studio, where 30 years ago he, along with entrepreneur Joey Drew, started their lifelong journey with moving pictures. While Joey himself is nowhere to be seen, Henry is handed a note citing “something I need to show you” waiting for the protagonist within the old workshop. Taking the first steps within, the player quickly discovers the interior to be in a somewhat ramshackle state and to make matters worse – without a soul in sight. Equally quickly, it becomes apparent that the workshop is not only significantly more spacious than it used to be, the place now also houses a bizarre machinery and extensive plumbing, pumping gallons of ink throughout the facility. Displaying a peculiar mix of indifference and lack of self-preservation only a horror game protagonist is capable of, Henry proceeds to restore power to the studio, thus starting an unfortunate series of events. Unsurprisingly, the workshop soon proves to be not as uninhabited as one could be led to believe.
Poster Boy
Already from this summary of the game’s opening act, you may gleam that Bendy and the Ink Machine suffers from certain tonal issues, we will get back to those. For the time being, I would like to focus on things that did work out. Operating under assumption that you did pick this game up for visual enjoyment, it 100% delivers the goods. Most areas in the game look like cadres taken out of early black-and-white cartoons adapted to a 3D environment. Oversaturated sepia that goes along with it works equally well, adding a dated and strangely cosy (for a horror game) feel to this title’s atmosphere through colour alone.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3343697737
Taking into account that Bendy and the Ink Machine is for the most part a “walking simulator”. There is a plenty of time for the player to take their surroundings in, making impression it leaves all the more impactful. Furthermore, derelict studio provides a reasonable variety to its interior design. While traversing boarded up corridors does get boring after a while, there are enough set pieces to prevent environment from becoming dull throughout the game’s runtime. This aspect is something of a double-edged sword however, as some sights present further down the line, while engaging, stretch suspension of disbelief to a breaking point and beyond (in a game where haunted cartoon is a given).
Deserving a separate mention is the voice acting. Lines found on collectible tapes throughout the game are delivered with variety of distinct accents and audio has a pinch of static and tape reel worked into the background, perfectly playing into dated aesthetic of the title. Hidden radios, playing a catchy tune from the era are also worth looking for, as each one was quite a treat on the ears. There is one character however, who needs to be exempt from this praise – namely, the protagonist.
Dripping through the cracks
Henry’s presence in the game perfectly captures issues with tone of Bendy and the Ink Machine in general. The protagonist’s relatively sparse lines are delivered almost universally in a calm and collected manner, often achieving a ridiculous contrast with events currently transpiring on the screen. Placing the player in the boots of someone seemingly utterly detached, makes it very difficult to immerse and emphasise with the character. Through this flaw, the game effectively undermines what usually is a cornerstone of building a scary experience – fear for one’s own safety. Mid-way through the game I was pondering if I was playing a caricature of the horror genre, however occasionally this title does make attempt at being truly scary, indicating that the impression is not intentional.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3343698009
Protagonist’s dispassionate take on the world is only a part of this issue, which is further exasperated by the gameplay. To be blunt, this title suffers from severe lack of threats. Roughly an hour into the game combat is introduced into the mix. However, at the time Henry is wielding an axe – allowing the player to easily dispatch several enemies in straight-up brawl. Admittedly, lethal enemies are introduced at later stages of the game, sadly they come along with convenient monster-proof closets the player can easily jog back to at first sight of genuine danger. To make matters worse, weapons introduce oddities to pacing, where through convoluted circumstance they are repeatedly taken away and returned to the player. Don’t get me wrong, sections where defenceless Henry is warned that running noises attract the beast is a commendable attempt at diversifying gameplay with stealth elements. The problem is that the game never makes good on this promise and most threats can be easily outmanoeuvred by application of the “run” button.
Back to the drawing board
To be fair, fear is about as subjective a sensation as a sense of humour, leaving the subject open to debate. Alas, Bendy and the Ink Machine has flaws of a significantly more objective nature too. Having completed the game late into the night, I decided to wrap things up and return to explore extra content tomorrow. To my bewilderment, as I returned the next morning, the save file impassionedly pointed me towards chapter 4 (out of 5), over an hour of play away from the end credits. Frustrated, I completed the game again only to find out that damage done to my save file was permanent. As it turns out, this title is somewhat notorious for its tendency to corrupt saves, and this happens in a game which consistently overwrites the single save file with autosave feature (despite 3 save slots present in menu). Given that over 7 years since initial release have passed, it is safe to assume that the issue is there to stay. You might want to complete the game in a single session – considering it takes under 5 hours to beat, it is an option.
To give credit where it’s due, Bendy and the Ink Machine is not an inherently bad game. I know I wasn’t particularly kind to it, nonetheless this title’s selling point is its artstyle and it deserves all of the praise in the world. Sadly, almost every other aspect of the game is at least two leagues behind, which is a shame, as the core concept of this title has an incredible potential. Perhaps scaredy-cats and more art inclined among you might find the game appealing despite its shortcomings. However, with Bendy’s fatal technical flaw in mind, I struggle to truly recommend this game to anyone. It is one those titles you can comfortably watch a playthrough of on the internet without taking away much from the experience.