Bendy and the Ink Machine chapter 5, A vintage horror adventure game with animation from the 30's - Ultimate Guide

Jonathan Martinez

2019-01-11 21:08:50

Bendy And The Ink Machine, by Joey Drew Studios, is an adventure of exploration, puzzles and terror. At first glance, it is natural to ask how it is possible to be scared with a sepia-toned video game and whose characters are inspired by the animated films of the 30s. Cuphead (Studio MDHR) has already shown us with his vintage animation that it is possible to give us a twisted universe. In the case of Bendy And The Ink Machine chapter 5 we will not live a scary terror like that of other videogames, but it will keep us tense in a studio where loneliness is disturbing and where each mission will expose us to a mysterious danger. Mike Mood, one of its creators, told GamesReactor in an interview last December that BioShock, the submarine horror shooter, was a great inspiration for Bendy And The Ink Machine, in which we will find many references to the nightmare of Rapture.

As a meta-game, Bendy And The Ink Machine game is shown as a creation of Joey Drew Studios, the same animation company in which the adventure is set. Joey Drew is the other pseudonym of the Meatly, video game designer who expresses his feelings and his day to day in the industry through other creations, such as his webcómic (illustrated and scripted by himself), his puppet and his music. His concern for development led him to create MeatlyMakes (2016), a simulator on the same profession of developer, with all the joys and sorrows that the creative process of a game provides.

Bendy And The Ink Machine game, joint creation of theMeatly and Mike Mood, arrived in 2017 for PC (Windows, MAC and Linux) through an episodic format that allowed the game itself to grow through the impressions it awoke in the players. Last October came the last chapter and the full version of the game. Rooster Teeth released the title for PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. Last December, the imp Bendy arrived on mobiles.

Bendy and the Ink Machine condemned to success

Joey Drew is a classic animation studio that was established as a reference thanks to Bendy, a mischievous imp protagonist of his tapes and additional material thanks to which an entire emporium was built: stuffed animals, a soup brand and even an amusement park. Henry Stein, former partner of Joey Drew and animator of the company, receives an invitation from his partner to visit the studio and teach him something amazing. However, Henry's excursion will have little to do with an intimate reunion.

Bendy And The Ink Machine puts us in the shoes of Henry Stein, whose first-person perspective we will explore the Joey Drew studio to discover the surprise that our friend and creator has prepared for us. However, our old professional home will become an inferno of ink that we will want to flee shortly after starting the game. No one on the team is there to receive us, loneliness becomes the warning of a disaster that has engulfed the study and is about to take our lives. Then the paranormal events begin to take place: Bendy cartons that surprise us behind the corners, strange creaks, a mysterious figure that stalks us ... What happened at Joey Drew Studios?

The suspense of the story is maintained chapter after chapter as we discover several clues that put us on the road. Little by little, and without losing interest, we will unveil the tragedy of the Joey Drew studio through the events of the game itself and the characters we will meet in our misadventure, be it the precarious survivors or the testimonies collected on cassettes scattered by the office. When we fit all the pieces of the puzzle, we will find ourselves before a painful allegory about the mismanagement of success, the addiction to work and the unbridled toxic ambition.

How to survive an inferno of ink

Bendy And The Ink Machine is an experience that stays fresh in each chapter thanks to the elements that are incorporated into a very simple gameplay. In Moving Pictures, we focus on the exploration and resolution of very easy puzzles, consisting of collecting a series of objects. In The Old Song we will have the first matches, which represent the weakest point of the game because of its artificiality: the movements of Henry himself when attacking are slow and limited, while our enemies are much faster. The threats consist of humanoids made of ink and whose origin we will reveal as we solve the mystery of the study. In Rise And Fall we will meet the Devil of Ink, a grotesque devilish creature, whose presence is announced with spots that flood the stage of who can only hide in booths marked with an angelic halo; also new enemies will be added. Colossal Wonders will lead us to the decadence of BendyLand, the skeleton of an amusement park that will become a passage of terror for Henry, and where we will meet the first final bosses. In The Last Reel we will obtain a mirror that will reveal hidden tracks on the walls, and we will prepare for the final fight.

Each episode lasts about an hour and it is appreciated that the experience is renewed as we go, thus making the player surprised and remain tense before the uncertainty of not knowing what will happen next. Some events are anticipated, as the cabins themselves that we will discover and in which we can get before the Ink Demon makes its first appearance, preparing us for one of the most overwhelming moments of the game.

The Video Game demonstrates that it is possible to create an atmosphere of psychological terror, in which the star is not explicit violence or bloodthirsty creativity, but the very atmosphere of the game. The stages are full of corners that hide possible dangers, the silence is broken by strange creaks or roars of machines. There will be no shortage of sudden frights that will break with the strange tranquility and, above all, our breath will be cut off from certain discoveries and creatures. Of course, the fear that we will pass is far from disturbing imagery titles, such as Silent Hill or Amnesia, but it will know how to maintain a disturbing climate that will strip all innocence of the concept we have about children's animation.

At the level of difficulty, Bendy will be quite affordable in solving puzzles, since they consist of exploring and finding objects. The enemies will not be difficult in excess, which compensates a poor combat system, although some prolonged sequence of struggle in the chapter 5 will be somewhat tedious. For their part, the bosses will add a bonus of challenge that we will overcome by memorizing their attack pattern and creating an appropriate strategy. As for the weapons, these will vary depending on the moment of the game, and will be rudimentary as it is styled in an adventure of terror and survival: axes, pipes, unblocking ...

The mechanics of hiding will be much simpler than in other titles of the genre, which is very affordable for less veteran players, although the more experienced can miss a greater challenge. In some sequences, we must take refuge in booths of the Ink Demon, the Projectionist or the Carnivorous Band. However, artificial intelligence does not possess the complexity of persecuting us even when we believe ourselves to be safe; they will not memorize our corners or drag us out of our lair. We can hide even on the verge of falling into their clutches, and their solution will be to give up and leave.

When we suffer damage, churretes will cover the screen and we will only be able to heal if we stay a few seconds intact, with which we recover the clarity of our vision. When we die, we will wake up in a dark tunnel drenched in ink, which we will have to travel to the light, represented in a burnt celluloid. When we come to the surface (recovering our breath), it will be next to a Bendy statue, erected as the god Joey Drew adores. On the other hand, we will save the game by signing in machines, which is part of the allegory about the cult of work that Video Game represents.

Bendy And The Ink Machine Exploration

In Bendy the exploration will be given without a map, which will enhance the feeling of the player's lack of protection. Our only guide will be the mission you assign us, with a little advice on how to carry it out. In our investigation of the study, we will find objects with which we can interact without affecting the game in any way, but will contribute to the desire for collecting and trophies: musical instruments, toys with sound and, above all, cans of soup bacon of the house that we can add to our bottomless inventory.

In addition to the testimonies on the cassette tapes, we will meet other characters that will break our loneliness, although not all will be our allies: Sammy Lawrence, Boris El Lobo, Alice Angel, etc. We will know the moving stories behind each of them, as well as the role they played in the catastrophe of Joey Studios, and even the most antagonistic will awaken our love and understanding.

At the end of the fifth episode of Bendy , a sixth will be unlocked, which will consist of a museum where we will delve into the game's creative process and anecdotes. Also, we can start a new game, in which we will have the magic mirror from the beginning, which will add an added value to a replay that will allow us to discover more secrets of the study of Joey Drew. It is also worth mentioning the two exclusive routes (Angel and Demon) that we can take in the chapter Rise And Fall, which encourages us to try a different path in a second game.

Vintage cartoon nightmare

The Horror Game is a perfect tribute to the classic animation of the 30s, of which Walt Disney created a school. The scenes are shown in sober sepia tones in which the 3D gameplay is mixed with 2D graphic elements, which achieves a very successful effect in which physical reality is mixed with cartoons. In some screens we will see fragments of the adventures of Bendy himself, in which the animated cinema of the time is perfectly recreated. The solitary study shows

The very characters of the animated world will evoke icons of the time: Bendy is a cross between Mickey Mouse and Felix El Gato; Alice Angel is a Betty Boop turned into a sweet devil; Boris is a tribute to the emblematic canids such as Pluto and Goofy.

Ink is the vital liquid, and its role is equivalent to the one that blood plays in other titles of the genre. The thick, black puddles and rills will warn us of danger and death. Our enemies, soaked and dripping, will evoke the image of the murderer in horror movies bathed in viscera. The sinister graffiti on the walls stains a studio that was the Bendy temple, decorated with promotional posters, cardboard figures, wall clocks and dolls.

Bendy and the ink machine song

The vintage and terrifying ambience of Bendy And The Ink Machine has a soundtrack in which every detail is taken care of. Silence will be the main song that accompanies us, for which occasional noises can alert us. Our enemies will emit unpleasant guttural sounds, and in the tapes we will hear the voices of the staff of Joey Drew Studios, with a very accurate interpretation (and to which a cameo by Jacksepticeye is added) to which are added effects of static noise. Note the heartbeat that sounds with each appearance of the Ink Demon and that is a clear reflection of how Henry feels during the sequence. Occasionally, we will hear jazz songs that will break with oppressive silence, without bringing us any kind of peace.

Analysis

Against plays an imperfect location: only subtitles and some posters are translated into the studio, which creates an incoherent effect. Likewise, the texts show many English translations, and a somewhat small font for the transcriptions of the cassette tapes.

However, the virtues of Henry And The Ink Machine compensate for its few shortcomings. This animated vintage horror adventure contains all the love for classic animation and twists it to grant us a horror story in which the blood becomes ink.

This game has been analyzed in its version for PS4.

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