Bendy and the Ink Machine is a horror puzzle game set in an old-timey animation studio. You play as a former employee returning to the abandoned studio at the behest of your former employer. It takes place over the course of five chapters, totaling roughly four hours of gameplay, more if you decide to replay chapters.

Presentation

The most striking element of Bendy and the Ink Machine is the visuals. Every environment is depicted with thick black edges and imprecise lines, making the world appear like a cartoon from the 1930s. It’s such a unique art style that is executed almost perfectly. One of the best effects the visuals have is highlighting what doesn’t fit into the cartoon world. Globs of ink drip from the ceiling, ink creatures roam the floors, contrasting with the studio itself. They don’t have the same art style, instead being shown with relatively standard 3D graphics. It’s an interesting stylistic decision that works in tandem with the art design to give weight to the horror elements. The world of Bendy feels familiar, but with something sinister beneath the surface.

On the other hand, I felt that the animations could’ve used some work, especially the player’s animations which looked stiff and uncomfortable. They weren’t horrible, but they didn’t complement the cartoon aesthetic as well as the lighting or art direction did. Similarly, I found the voice acting passable, but it never stood out as one of the game’s strengths.

Gameplay

Within the first thirty minutes, you quickly get a feel for what the whole game will be like. It’s horror blended with a walking simulator, puzzles, and light combat mechanics. Depending on the chapter, there will be a different focus, but for the most part, you’ll be getting one of these three concepts. I found the walking simulator portions to be the strongest; they build tension very well, don’t overstay their welcome, and when they include a jumpscare it feels earned rather than lazy or cheap. You have time to walk around and take in the environment, playing to the game’s visual strengths.

Unfortunately, the puzzle and combat portions were tedious, uninteresting, and killed any atmosphere and tension the game had previously. I generally enjoy puzzles, but most of the ones in Bendy consist of a checklist of items you need to collect, rather than something you need to think about and actually solve. There are a couple of genuine puzzles, but they are few and far between, and certainly not strong enough to be worth the wait.

As for the combat, I felt that it could have been removed from the game without missing much. You only fight the lesser ink creatures and they are quite easy to defeat. They would feel scarier if you actually had to run from them or sneak past them, but forcing you to kill dozens of them waters down their fear factor. They also exclusively spawn from ink piles, so it’s not much of a surprise when they pop up, you can see it coming from a mile away. To make matters worse, the combat mechanics are rudimentary, boiling down to simply clicking on an enemy once to defeat them. It’s clunky because of an odd invincibility window when enemies spawn, coupled with the fact that combat clearly wasn’t fleshed out or polished in any significant way.

Performance

While graphically it looks great, you can easily tell that it’s not a AA or AAA game when it comes to polish. There are numerous bugs I encountered during my playtime, although only one was significant; when I got stuck between the game and the pause menu, preventing me from moving or exiting and forcing me to alt-f4. For the rest, they were minor issues like getting stuck on part of the level, an NPC failing to trigger the next part of a level, etc. I also encountered odd frame drops a few times, without a clear explanation as to why. I would assume it was during some effects-heavy portion of the game, but it was hard to say exactly what it was, so your mileage may vary.

Verdict

Bendy was a mixed bag, but I would ultimately recommend it. If you enjoy walking simulator horror with a little bit more interactivity, this could be right up your alley. The art is fantastic, and the horror is usually solid, but it gets let down by some of its more half-baked mechanics. I don’t know if I would pick it up at full price, but it’s unique enough to be worth checking out the next time it goes on sale.

6/10

• Joey Drew Studios
• Steam, Itch, Humble
• $20