Bendy and the Ink Machine
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Critic Reviews for Bendy and the Ink Machine
Bendy and the Ink Machine takes players down a corrupted nostalgia trip, full of old school cartoon characters mixed with twisted horror. Exploration, puzzle solving, and the occasional fight are the name of the game, even if the save system could be better. If you don't enter Joey Drew Studios for the gameplay, you'll be enthralled by the story.
For any audience, adults or children, Bendy offers nothing but some cool visuals. It's most enjoyed by looking at screenshots and ending your experience there.
Bendy and the Ink Machine has plenty going for it as a new horror instalment on Nintendo Switch – such as the way it builds a growing sense of dread and despair throughout its five chapters while using an animation style that's meant to evoke the safety and joy of childhood memories – but it's let down by some irritating design decisions and frustrating performance issues. Still, if you really do love your horror and want something that ticks all the boxes of a modern scarefest, Bendy and the Ink Machine is still a worthy descent into madness.
As much as it tried my patience at times, I definitely enjoyed my time with Bendy and the Ink Machine. What seemed to start as a side project is on the way to becoming a full-blown franchise, and there's enough narrative juice here to sustain it for sure. A little more time in the oven for whatever comes next will go a long way, and with the backing of Rooster Teeth Games, perhaps that's exactly what will happen. There's a lot more here than cartoon demons popping out at you from behind corners to make you scream on your Twitch stream, and it's that ambition that makes Bendy a worthwhile game for horror junkies.
A unique and creative horror game filled with boring puzzles and clunky combat
Playing through Bendy and the Ink Machine was like dropping a tab of bad Acid and then getting hopelessly lost wandering around a bootleg Euro-Disney… But in a good way, if you feel me?
Gorgeous presentation and some genuinely creepy moments just about manage to outweigh the conventional, and mildly dated gameplay.
Despite the gameplay issues, Bendy and the Ink Machine is a fun and creative survival-horror title. Its excellent graphical design and tense atmosphere create a solid backdrop for horrifying shenanigans. An intriguing story motivates players to keep going and find out what's happening next. Bendy delivers fun, and it delivers scares with a tasteful "less is more" formula that builds up the horror as we go. Unique puzzles and collectibles encourage exploration and advance the story to keep players engaged. It's an unorthodox type of horror game, but Bendy and the Ink Machine utilizes two opposite genres that complement each other to create a solid title. The use of cartoon characters in a horror atmosphere blends the purity of animated characters with the terrifying ideals of a scientist gone mad. As we progress, we learn sad truths behind the animation team that led to the spiraling downfall of innocent people. Bendy and the Ink Machine may be a sleeper hit, but it's worth any survival-horror fan's time.