Once again, Joey Drew Studios has found a way to lure players back into their dangerous ink-filled world as they have released the sequel title Bendy and the Dark Revival. Returning to the gameplay style that made his fans fall in love with his series beginning, this survival horror game is a short experience that fans of the first game are bound to enjoy. As for new players, the game is done in a way that they wouldn’t be lost in the story without playing the first one, but they wouldn’t recognize a character or two - let alone, know what to expect.

Story

After finding herself working late on a new scene for the Bendy cartoon, Audrey runs into the janitor on her way out. Little did she know, he planned to bring her into the studio; the lost studio from years back that is. Now, she must fight for her life as she faces puzzles, strange creatures, and even boss fights in this ink-filled world. Who would have thought that the ink used to draw Bendy and friends was fueling a whole realm where ink monsters, creatures, and the dreaded ink demon all live?

Gameplay

Starting out, the game gives a few cheap scares and introduces you to the basic system of finding an item and putting it where it goes. This system will be used quite often as the majority of the puzzles in this game are simply surviving your way to the item you need that is sometimes hidden and sometimes easy to find. Other than that, the puzzles in this game are things like finding the right code for a door.

Eventually, you will obtain your weapon which will also act as a multi-purpose tool; the Gent pipe. This pipe can start being used to fight enemies that you encounter, but it won’t defeat all of them. You will also be able to use this pipe to charge up energy and override security doors. Along the way, you will even find enough parts to upgrade the Gent pipe at one of the many upgrade stations and that will unlock more abilities for it, such as using the charge you set up for doors to instead increase the damage you do when you hit an enemy. Of course, you can also use it to bust open some blocked pathways with already weak impact spots.

Enemies you can come across range from small ink guys that jump out and start hitting you to humanoid ink creatures. The bigger the enemy, the less likely you will be able to actually defeat them - except for boss fights.

You also end up gaining some powers, which are really helpful. The first power you get is the ability to banish enemies that you successfully sneak up on. Sneaking up on most enemies is easy since all you have to do is crouch. A lot of them are practically blind, so just don’t act foolishly brave and you will be fine. From here, you will gain other abilities that are more helpful for the journey itself - I’ll leave it to you to reach this point in the game yourself.

Bigger enemies, such as the Ink Demon, will just straight devour you if they catch you. There are hiding spots and you will need to know where the closest one is at all times because the Ink Demon can show up at any moment in the bulk of the game and you will have seconds to get into hiding when the warning pops up. However, if you are killed by an enemy that doesn’t devour you, then you will simply respawn in the nearest ink fountain. This was honestly helpful sometimes as it is possible to spawn in an ink fountain that is located somewhere you didn’t even know about, like a second floor to an area that wasn’t very obvious it had an upper floor.

This game does allow backtracking if you wanted to explore some areas once you reach the end. You can fast travel to past areas with the ink fountains or you can take a train to the town area. Going back to areas you’ve already been to is somewhat rewarding as there are more collectibles, items, and even upgrades to be found.

Audio and Visual

From the soundtrack to the voice work, this game definitely had some real effort put toward making it sound good. Even the sound effects for the jump scares were well done. Each character had a very pronounced tone and accent while each enemy had a unique sound for both movement and dialogue.

As for the art style, it is definitely one of the main contributing factors to the popularity of the original title and since we are back in the studio, even if it is different than before, it makes sense for the art style to have continued over. Giving an overworld take over of the 50s cartoon art style along with the massive use of the ink from an artist’s pen as though it was a substance to give and take away life is easily a noteworthy and unique factor that makes up the Bendy series.

Replayability

Given the linear pathway of the game, I can’t say there is much replayability. However, there is plenty of secrets and hidden areas to find, so if you are interested in exploring more you can always backtrack before you finish the game.

What Could Have Been Better

Aside from the occasional bugs in the game, some of which only fixed themselves after saving and reloading, the game doesn’t have many faults. An introduction to the reviving ink fountains would have been nice as I only figured that out when I lost a fight, but since I had been caught by the Ink Demon at least once before this, I thought deaths always went back to your last save.

My only real gripe with the game is that I wish they would let us hold the food items that we can eat to get our health back up. I get having to find vending machines and stuff to get our health back up, but it’s strange that there weren’t any forms of food items that I could have carried for even a small heal without having to go scavenger hunting for it.

Verdict

Bendy and the Dark Revival is a wonderful return to the series' original style! While the scares were rather mild, the art style, story, and overall experience are easy to consider entertaining and well done. If you are a horror fan and haven’t played the Bendy series yet, then this game should be your sign to get on it. While the games aren’t very long, they are definitely one to remember.

Bendy and the Dark Revival is available now on PC via Steam and coming soon to both PlayStation and Xbox consoles.