Bendy and the Ink Machine is one of those few indie games that capture everyone from the start. Among the ranks of Five Nights at Freddy’s, Minecraft, and Hello Neighbor. It’s a horror game but it isn’t that scary. The game is an episodic game ending at five episodes. It is about an old animation studio called, Joey Drew Studios. Your character, Henry, is invited to come back to the studio because Joey wants to show him something. Henry soon finds out about this ominous machine, called the ink machine. Ink follows through the pipes of the studio and he’s soon attacked by the ink demon, Bendy. Bendy, Boris, and Alice Angel are the main characters of the old cartoons. This bendy that attacks you isn’t cute and friendly like the cartoon. It’s evil and creepy. Soon you’re stuck in the studio, unraveling the mysteries of the workshop.

We soon learn that real people are transformed by the ink machine into ink monsters. The first one being the ink demon, Bendy. They made Bendy real but locked him in the studio for being too scary. In Chapter Two, we learn of the cult of Bendy. The cult is lead by the musician turned inky, Sammy Lawrence. The cult wants Bendy to free them. So they sacrifice everything for him. In chapter three we learn of Alice Angel and are officially introduced to the lovely, Boris the wolf. Alice is deformed and ugly. She kills Boris’s for their ink to try to become perfect. Our Boris, the one that saves you, is the perfect Boris but Alice Angel took him and made him a monster. In chapter four, we meet more ink creatures and learn of perfect Alice and the real Boris. Perfect Alice is nice and tries to help you but Boris doesn’t seem to trust you. Evil Alice is killed and now chapter five can begin.

Chapter five is the longest and greatest chapter yet. Allison (Perfect Alice) and Tom (Real Boris) follow you deeper through the studios. Allison gives you the seeing tool, which is a magic mirror that shows messages on the walls. Bendy infiltrates their layer and everyone flees. That’s when you find Sammy Lawrence again. For the first time since Chapter two. In chapter two, he tries to sacrifice you to Bendy but is then murdered by Bendy. Somehow he is back and almost kills you when Allison comes to the rescue for the second time. The group decides to go take out Bendy and end the pain. Bendy’s lair is the ink machine but it isn’t the same ink machine we’ve seen before. It’s like a labyrinth. Full of ink people. Inside is a room with Bendy’s throne surrounded by projectors, displaying Bendy cartoons on the walls.The ink demon himself appeared behind the throne. He transformed into the real ink Demon. Before he just looked like a perverse version of his cartoon self. Now’s he an actual monster. You have to avoid him around a maze and you have to flip these switches to go back into the throne room. You grab a tape titled, “The End”, and shove it into a projector. This is when Bendy storms and sees the screens all saying, The End. He screams in pain and disappears. Everything turns white. For the first time, there is actual color as Henry wakes up in a house. The house of Joey Drew. He talks with Joey and Joey tells him to go into the workshop. And chapter one starts all over again. The end. But then in an after credit scene, we see the original Ink Machine in Joey’s house and a voice saying, “Tell me another story, Uncle Drew,” and then it ends.

That ending is probably to leave it open if Kindly Beast (the developers of the game) want to return to the series. Chapter one probably starts again to make the game fun to play and play again. Once you beat it once, you get the seeing tool to use in every chapter. It doesn’t add much but it’s fun. Bendy and the Ink Machine is a game that isn’t like many others. It prioritizes story over horror. So yes it’s a very scary game but it’s no Five Nights at Freddy’s. Also, Kindly Beast teamed up with a mobile game company and they made, “Bendy in Nightmare Run”. It doesn’t give any story but it’s still fun. You play as either Bendy, Alice, or Boris in an endless runner game.

This game started with one idea. “Wouldn’t it be cool if everything looked like old school cartoons?” And it is. One of the most notable parts of this game is it’s art style. It’s beautiful and uses it’s minimal colors to its full advantage. Bendy and the Ink Machine is a masterpiece and shows how much a small group of people can do. It’s an amazing accomplishment. This game releases on all consoles November Twentieth. It will continue to amaze the masses for years to come.