#bendy and the dark review

[fishymom-art]

Bendy and the Dark Revival: Trailer Review

 Attention! This post contains spoilers for the new trailer of the game Bendy and the Dark Revival!

If you haven’t watched the trailer, do it first and then come back to read! I also advise you to check out the stream over on @halfusek​ ‘s YouTube channel, where we reacted to the trailer and discussed it too, but you can do it after you finish reading :))

LET’S START, SHALL WE!

Let’s begin with a huge WHAT THE HELL????? There is so much in this trailer and so many details! I rewatched it a few times already and noticed something new every time! So we have a looooot to unpack.

I will discuss the trailer and theorise about what might happen and what could some things mean. I will be more than happy to hear your own theories based on the trailer! I’ll make a separate hashtag for it, so I don’t lose all of it :). Maybe when the game comes out, we could go through some of those theories again and see, if we did guess something right.

Also sorry in advance if my screenshots aren’t very high quality, I’m working with what I have here, and what I have isn’t always good XD

Onto the trailer!

It starts with a short cutscene of Audrey at her drawing desk. A detail I noticed while making the screenshots, is that it seems to be dark outside and she’s either completely alone at the studio, or there aren’t that many people around for the purpose of making the player concentrate only on the main character, hahaha. 

We also have a screenshot from the Bendy Store website showing more of her workplace. Well would you look at that! She has Henry’s picture hanging on her wall :))

(look at her. She’s so pretty with her cute cheeks and uh... Yellow-ish eyes, for some unknown reason)

I’m pretty sure this is how the game starts. And since we were told that the game is separated into chapters again, I assume that in the first chapter we will explore the layout of the place she works in more and play as the normal Audrey, before she gets covered in ink and shit hits the fan. I’ll stick with the theory that Audrey works for Nathan Arch and not in Joey’s Studio, because this place looks VERY different from what we’re used to.

I also assumed that she might be a replacement for Henry when he left, mainly because of his drawing on her wall. But it might also indicate that she’s either his relative or that little girl asking Joey to tell more stories at the end of the first game... hm. But it looks like the game finds itself a few years later after the events of the first game. Like, for example, we were shown that Audrey drew with colours, which means it’s the era of coloured animation. The first full-color animated film was released in 1930s and became frequent by 50s and her hairstyle and clothes seem to line up. MY PROBLEM IS THAT JDS WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1929 AND OPERATED FOR 30 YEARS. SO EITHER THE DEVELOPMENT OF CARTOON INDUSTRY IN THE BENDY UNIVERSE IS VERY SLOW, OR THEY ALL DECIDED TO STICK WITH THE OLD FASHIONED “DRAWING ONE MOVEMENT FOR 10 HOURS BY HAND ON PAPER WITHOUT ANY COLOR” TECHNIQUE FOR MUCH LONGER THAN THEY SHOULD’VE, BECAUSE THE CARTOONS WERE IN COLOR ALREADY LIKE 10 YEARS AFTER THE STUDIO WAS ESTABLISHED. AM I MISSING SOMETHING?????

khem. Anyway.

When the shot with the corridor appears, we hear a loud noise and Audrey saying “What was that?”. It sounds like something opened or turned on in the building. It doesn’t show what that was or what happened, but I guess she went to check it out, because it’s totally safe and a good idea to go towards scary loud noises [thumbs up]. 

We’re cut straight to a new character, who is probably either the main antagonist or one of the main antagonists alongside other characters that we’re more familiar with (Alice, Ink Demon, etc.).

WELCOME THE CREPPY OLD GUY AKA WILSON!

He is greasy, he is ugly, he looks like someone made a human version of Carver from Showdown Bandit that looks too much like Singed from Arcane. It seems like this is the Unknown guy that was talking to us in the Gameplay Trailer. I really hoped that it’ll be Nathan, but this dried out fig will do too. 

Before I talk a little more about the zombification of Peter Capaldi, let’s look at this screenshot a little more. Behind him is something that looks like a mini version of the Ink Machine. It might be the thing that turned Audrey into the inky mess she’ll be for the rest of the game. But there are also some kind of posters about what seems to be... a movie? About Joey Drew? It’s called “Joey Drew: The Man and the Demon”, and is produced by the Arch Gate Pictures (HOORAY! MY ASSHOLE OF A BOY IS CANON IN THE GAME, HALLELUJAH!). Since the location we’re in still looks like the place we’re started off in, it supports my theory that Audrey works for Nathan. 

Back to the human cotton swab aka Wilson. Since he refers to our main girl by her first name, it seems like he knows Audrey or was at least told about her.

After his appearance there are a couple of shots showing Audrey transforming into her inky form, so to say. This is what she will look like for the rest of the game. The way they cut to her panicking while turning into an ink creature right after introducing our new baddie, makes me think that Wilson turned her into an ink creature. Maybe he like... poured ink on her or smth?

Now let’s make a little stop here, because while I was writing, the official Bendy Twitter account shared this picture:

First of all, I want to assume that it’s not an only reference we will get. Maybe we will see one for Allison or maybe even our new ugly antagonist, Wilson! Let’s go through it first, shall we?

- They deliberately point out, that Audrey was unwillingly pulled into the cartoon world of Bendy. - She has unique mysterious powers. Something that Henry did not have. Which means I have no clue what she can and cannot do. - And there is a new evil at work in the studio. I’m pretty sure they mean Wilson, because there aren’t any new evil characters who could play a big role in the story, except that male version of Annabelle Doll.

And she’s working those hips, like damn girl, looking sharp!

Anyway, I don’t really have much to say about it yet. I will point out stuff about her design later in the review though!

Anyway, back to the trailer.

Now you can notice those familiar textures and the color scheme. We’re in the Joey Drew Studios, aka now “Bendy’s Cartoon World”, as referred to in Audrey’s bio. I have two options for why we’re suddenly in JDS. It’s either:

- Hidden under the Arch Gate Facility like the Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzaplace under the Pizzaplex in Security Breach or - Audrey’s tripping balls and sees everything like that because of her new shiny lightbulbs that replaced her eyes.

Both theories are standing on legs made out of cheap dry plasticine and have almost no points that could’ve supported them (except Wilson actually being supposedly present in the studio at all times), but oh well! Let’s put THAT nonsense aside and look at some new shiny shots of the JDS! Oh, wait, we’ll look at a crucified Lost One first.

It looks like this guy went through some... extreme bullcrap. But oh wait! Is that- Is that what I think it is?! The new weapon that I keep referring to as the Gold Blitz?!... are we going to just... rip it out of this guy?... Oof.

By the way, from now on, I will always refer to this mechanism as the Gold Blitz, because I’m used to it and I can’t really tell what it’s supposed to be in general. So until we get a clear explanation on what it is and what it’s called, you’ll have to deal with my creative choices.

Other than the obvious rehearsal of some biblical events, we have “Demon Follower” written on the wall next to the Lost One. I assume that being a Demon (pretty sure they mean Bendy) Follower here is strictly prohibited and... very creatively punished. Which is a pretty drastic difference from the first game, where the Lost Ones and Sammy were more known as Ink Demon’s followers. But the Ink Demon and support towards him being vilified is a pretty big deal here. During some other shots, we hear a monologue from no other than a less sexy Morty from Hello Puppets Wilson:

(I couldn’t understand some of the words he said, but the overall meaning is clear, I think) “[...] Children of the Machine. For 211 days you’ve lived without the Ink Demon haunting your [?]. I banished him away. In return, I ask just a little favour. There is a stranger. Bring her to me!” (I’ll come back to that last part later)

After some very VERY beautiful shots of the locations that I’ll show shortly after this, we have those posters, saying “Relax, Wilson Knows Your Purpose”. Wilson here is called “The Man Who Killed The Ink Demon”.

Now here’s a little spelling game! Can you spell “PROPAGANDA”? If you need a hint, I can give you a sentence where this word can be used: “This is a clear case of propaganda and manipulation that shows Wilson as the true hero and saviour, who supposedly got rid of the Ink Demon and freed everyone!”

Now, I can’t really say that the Ink Demon is good, because he clearly isn’t. But Wilson is lying, because we do get to see Ink Demon later in the trailer and we have others talking about him. Did this walking example of what lung cancer does to a person brainwashed the Lost Ones into thinking they are safe? It portrays him as a great leader who can easily manipulate other people into believing him, because “Oh, he saved us from this big threat we experienced! We owe him!”.

I think those are some obvious things and a pretty good introduction to a completely new character. I’ll be very surprised if I was wrong with my theory on who he is and what his motives are XD.

NOW LET’S LOOK AT THOSE PRETTY SHOTS OF THE STUDIO I TALKED ABOUT BEFORE!

Look at those details that aren’t distinguishable because of the poor quality of my screenshots!

Okay, jokes aside, it does look extremely pretty. I don’t really have anything else to say about this shot. It’s just. It’s just so much better. Here, have a screenshot of the same location in the first game. DO YOU SEE WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT?

Although we’ve been waiting for a long LONG time, I am still glad that they took their time with the game. It has so much more to itself and the new design, graphics and overall look make the wait worth it. I’m going to enjoy the hell out of this game when it comes out.

And here’s the other shot! There are... so many details. Clearly this is a cafeteria/canteen or something like that. Honestly looks even like a bar to me, which doesn’t really fit the fact that it’s a fricking studio, but there are many other things that make you question the definition of the word “studio” in this game, so we’ll look over it for now.

I can’t really recognise anything special here except maybe those 3 signs that look like licence plates.

One of them has 414 written on it, because of course it does. I dunno why it has 210 first, I didn’t find anything. The other says “OUTATIME” and the third is “SLW-287R”. Those reference the license plate of the DeLorean Time Machine from “Back to the Future” and Mr. Bean’s car. Nothing else, really, haha.

Of course we also have our beloved Little Miracle station standing in the background, as well as something called Dream Supply and Tasty Eats. I have little to no clue what those are, actually. I’m still confused why is a locker called Miracle Station. But I learned to never question the design choices the developers make, so we’ll just move on.

We also get a quick look at the Art Department or at least something that looks like it, as well as GOLD BLITZ WOOHOO!!! I still have NO idea what this thing is for.

But what I do know, is that we can CHARGE this bad boy! Yes, you heard me! Whatever this abomination of a MacGuffin is, it requires (and presumably emits) electricity. Watch Audrey put this baby in an oversized battery port!

And we actually see that being confirmed in this screenshot. Those lights on the device indicate that it runs on some power and has limited usage. I guess we’ll have to charge it from time to time... I just hope it lasts longer than Glamrock Freddy... also it kinda looks like she made it herself, because it just looks like a pipe with a battery slapped on it ahaha

ALSO LOOK AT MY BOY CHARLIE!!! HE LOOKS SO COOL!

But we actually have something else appear before Audrey gets to show off her new toy!

BOOM! THIS GUY! 

He appeared in one of the trailers for a brief moment already. I assume he’ll be an annoying kind of enemy like the Butcher Gang. I have no idea what to call this son of a gun, so I’ll just refer to him as the Ink Brute if I’ll have to talk about him again. But honestly, he’s my son and I lowkey love him. Just look at him go! Even my boy’s better than the vacuum in a skin costume that calls itself Wilson.

But why would I talk about him separately? Because one of the thing that I love the most about this trailer is the unique designs of different new characters that we will be able to interact with! They are so cool! They are alive! They are PEOPLE!

LOOK AT THIS GUY! HE’S SO FUNKY! HE’S SO COOL! ROCKING HIS GOGGLES LIKE THERE’S NO TOMORROW (which is probably accurate, because time isn’t a concept the studio decided on following).

OR THIS MAPBOT FROM SECURITY BREACH  DOLL!

Both of them even have their own voices and here’s something the doll girl says

Doll: “Almost everyone here either can’t speak or they’re completely mad.”

Considering that there are differences when it comes to living cartoons, it kinda makes sense. Perfect cartoons, like Boris, cannot speak, for example. And Alice, who was proven to be an imperfect version of her cartoon self, is uh... unwell, to say the least. It doesn’t really apply to the Lost Ones, as well as this Doll. They do speak, but don’t appear to be irrational, at least from what I’ve seen. The only mad characters in the trailer are the Butcher Gang, who are rabid from the get-go, Alice, who’s literally portrayed with a legit GUN later in the video, and the illegitimate son of William Afton and Bill Cipher aka Wilson.

Talking about the characters we already know and love (not counting Wilson). Allison is here, looking SHARP!

There is a short dialogue going on between Audrey and Allison. I assume it’s the first time they meet.

Allison: “I’m not gonna hurt you. Looks like you need some help” 

Audrey: [pulls her hand away as soon as Allison touches it] “Don’t touch me!”

I wanted to add, that Audrey doesn’t say “Don’t touch me!” in a scared voice. More like warning Allison, that it’s not safe to touch her. Although maybe it’s just me looking too much into voice acting hahah. I guess Allison here helps Audrey to adapt around the studio. She takes her hand and points out that our girl needs help just by looking at it. Maybe she realised that Audrey is new to all of this. But she could also be pointing it out because of this distinctive feature of hers:

I’m actually surprised they didn’t really say anything about her arm and I didn’t even think about it until I watched the trailer again. I don’t really have anything else to say though. I hope Allison will answer this question, because it looks like she knows what that could mean. At least I hope she does, because if she doesn’t, we’ll have to interview the old melted wax figure that is Wilson. Or like... ask Alice, or smth. She did pick up a hobby of going through cartoons’ guts, she might know a thing or two- [gets shot with a tommy gun]

Well, anyway, let’s see, what else we have in that trailer. Except the canteen and some random rooms, we get a hallway!

What’s interesting is that it has an almost identical layout as the hallway I showed in the beginning, but it might just be me looking at the floor tiles and thinking I connected the dots, when in reality I didn’t connect shit. But it does work with that “Audrey’s tripping balls” theory I talked about earlier. Although I am leaning more towards the Security Breach comparison at the moment.

And then we have something interesting, which is just a shadow, but it belongs to my boy, my love, my beautiful bean, my favourite creature Nature created while she was drunk on bacon soup. THE INK DEMON!

There is a short dialogue between Allison and Audrey when he appears.

Allison: “Above everything else, stay away from the Ink Demon.” Audrey: “What’s an Ink Demon?” Allison: “He likes to smile. And he kills anything that moves.”

We already heard the last sentence in a different trailer out of context, but now we know that it’s Allison explaining Audrey who the Ink Demon is. Which makes me think that we won’t see our favourite boy for a while. At least not until Allison and Audrey meet.

Bendy also seems to be a little upgraded. His horns are bigger and the head isn’t as smooth and round. And if you look closely when the shadow rises, you can see that he has some kind of spikes on his back. He did have something similar in his old model, but it was more subtle, while the new model seems to be more detailed and “exaggerated”, so to say. Also it seems like he’s not a twink anymore - [gets shot again]

After that we get a better look at Audrey’s model and may I say, she looks pretty badass. Slay, queen! SLAY YOUR ENEMIES! SLAY THE DEMON!

I honestly really enjoy her design. And am... kind of confused why everything around her as well as she herself change their color. Guess it has something to do with the whole “Bendy’s Cartoon World” thing? I never really think about it usually, but the people in the studio don’t really... have that many normal human features. Like, their skin color is orange/brown-ish and all the clothes grey and black (maybe a little white here and there + golden stuff like Audrey’s eyes). It seemed like a design choice in the first game, but now that we were shown a different place that is more colourful and we know that Audrey’s skin and clothes don’t actually look like that in the beginning, it gets a little confusing.

I don’t really know what else to say. A part of me suggests that maybe it means that she’s dead, but that Joker with no make up on (Wilson) is also there and I’m pretty confident that he is alive. Plus, there’s no indication that it might be a purgatory of some sort or that there’s no way out. Even the description of the game that we get on the official Bendy Store website states, that our mission is to leave the studio. Although considering the ending of the first game, that wants us to think that Henry might be dead, it’s a question that will stay open for quite a while. As far as I’m concerned, we might never get a clear answer to what the hell this studio is. I know those Indi developers. They never give a clear answer to the biggest questions, especially BatIM.  So I guess we could theorise about it without ever being sure X). Let’s just move on, we could talk about it the whole day.

Btw, the sign behind Audrey says “Unsafe Area” and asks for the workers’ ID cards. 

There was another location that requires an ID card to enter with the subtitle “Be Drawn to Fear.”

I guess all the locations reserved for Gent workers may require an Identification to enter... LET’S STEAL WALLY’S ID!

//I wrote a shit ton of stuff here and it got deleted, so from now on it will be a little rushed, probably//

///It got deleted twice. I am suffering right now///

Welp, let’s talk more locations! Here we have a... uh... [looks through the notes] a city street. Yep. A city street.

At first I thought it was the Lost Ones harbour/town/haven/whatever. But look at it again and you realise that there’s no fucking way it could be that. I TOLD YOU THE DEFINITION OF THE WORD “STUDIO” IN THIS UNIVERSE IS THE MOST CONFUSING SHIT IN THE WORLD. This place has a grocery store, a pharmacy, a residential building EVEN A SUBWAY STATION. IT HAS A GODDAMN SUBWAY STATION????

This place makes my head hurt as much as Tumblr deleting half of this review every time I’m trying to save it as a draft. I have only one explanation that comes to mind and makes the most sense. The locations from the cartoons/comics become real, just like the characters. It’s the most realistic option in my opinion. We did see city backgrounds in comics and cartoons after all (reference Cheap Seats).

Otherwise it makes absolutely no sense and if I’m wrong here, I will lose all my marbles and I don’t have many left. This just adds like... 50 bucks to the “Put a dollar every time the JDS makes no sense” jar.

Let’s move on before I lose my mind. We do have another screenshot that seems to be taken in the same location, but I’ll leave it for later ;)

NOW WE HAVE THIS! 

IN THE VENTS! IN THE VENTS! WE WILL GO INTO THE VENTS ANd I am not going to make an Among Us joke.

NEXT!

OOH, SOME QUICK GRABBERS WE HAVE HERE! And it clearly belongs to our beloved Ink Demon - his left hand has four fingers and a glove.

Although it does seem like he went through much more changes than I thought. Because this looks much better than whatever the hell it used to be:

Fear the ones you bullied in middle school, so to say.

Although he does lack basic level of intelligence if he thinks that he can reach and grab Audrey through that little hole in the wall. Well, at least one thing they didn’t change about him X) /lh

And here’s something... big. I missed it the first time I watched it and I didn’t really look that deep into it. A table a with a writing on the wall behind it saying “She was the FOURTH”.

But then a friend pointed out that it might have something to do with a thing Meatly said once that left all fans go completely badonkers 2 years ago (yes, it’s been 2 years).

This CLEARLY means that Audrey (or some other female character who we haven’t seen before. Although I’m pretty sure it’s about Audrey) is supposed to represent the fourth member of The Butcher Gang. And this is a pretty huge deal. If it IS Audrey, it could explain why that wet old sock of a person aka Wilson wants to find Audrey so bad. Maybe he tried to turn her into that character, but she managed to escape before he could finish his work. And maybe it’s the reason why she has those unique powers that Allison seems to be familiar with - maybe, all cartoons have this feature?

But we still can’t really say who that character is. Clearly they came up with it pretty late. The comic book already came out when he said it and neither that nor the cartoons acknowledge this character or their existence. Which leads me to the only conclusion I’m able to make right now - that fourth member was a thing at FIRST, but then was scraped by the artists and never made it to the screens/in the comics. If I’m wrong again, I’ll just stick with the joke that Edgar’s toy duck is the fourth member and shut my mouth.

Let’s move on then, because I have nothing else to say about this and I’m very tired and have been writing this part for over 3 hours or something like that.

WHY NOT TALK ABOUT ANOTHER MUCH BETTER (sorry XD) FEMALE CHARACTER THAT IS MY BELOVED ALICE ANGEL?! Because guess what!

THEY GAVE HER A GUN! I REPEAT, THEY GAVE ALICE A FUCKING GUN! BENDY ROYALE IS REAL MWAHAHAHHAHAH

But for real now, this moment made my day when I first saw that XD.

Well, for the last, but not least (although pretty much the littlest)...

PERFECT BENDY IS HERE! HE’S CANON AND HE’S BABY! LOOK AT THIS PRECIOUS LITTLE BEAN!

Look at him in his little vest! What an adorable little gentleman!

This is that other screenshot from the city location I mentioned! Which means that Bendy might accompany us in some of the locations. Which I’m all for! IF I GET TO SEE THIS PRECIOUS LITTLE CREATURE MORE THAN ONCE, I WILL BE THE HAPPIEST FISH ALIVE!

Also it makes me think that the Perfect Bendy might actually be Henry. Now, this is a pretty popular theory and I actually agree with it in some parts. For example, that scene in Chapter 5, where Sammy attacks Henry, saying that he betrayed and abandoned him and that he trusted him, etc. He mistakes Henry for Bendy there and it would only make sense if he did so because Henry looks like his Lord. + Our man had ink splashed in his face on multiple occasions throughout the game, it should’ve affected him somehow. And lastly, every living cartoon was a normal person at first, and it doesn’t exclude Bendy over here. And who fits the role more than Henry? (Except maybe Joey, but I highly doubt it) Plus, he does look like he’s been in the studio for quite some time, because of his messy clothes and messed up face. And we all know by now that Henry went through a lot of loopty loops in this studio, he’s seen some shit.

Of course, I haven’t talked about a couple of other things (like that ball with someone’s name), but mainly because I honestly have nothing to say about that. There is so much in this new trailer and I am extremely happy.

November 15th. Less then two weeks left.

I know I said that I won’t be doing anything bendy related anymore. But I also said that this will be a case only if batdr doesn’t awaken anything in me and boy did it awaken a lot. I can’t wait to play this game and watch other people play and theorise about it. I also can’t wait for you guys to send me your comments, ideas and theories about this game and my review, so we can all talk about it a little more.

I do still think that the developers are assholes. They aren’t good people. But it doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy the everloving hell out of this game. Plus, I am the (self-proclaimed) Owner of Bendy and the Ink Machine ;).

In conclusion... I am happy. I truly am. And I can’t wait to see more when the game comes out.

With love,

FishyMom.

[halfusek]

Joey Drew “PngTuber” I did for Joey Drew’s All-Star Music Review!

I drew a bunch of poses and expressions which were later put together by @rinkopatateneko :D Some of these were unused (the sad ones, I went a bit overboard there haha) but I enjoyed drawing the stinky old man so much nonetheless :]

And of course I snuck in the Bendy 8 toothed smile teehee

[sky-lia]

I was quite busy but better late than never !

Merry christmas and happy holidays !!✨

Sorry I don't have anything special to share ;w;

But here something, if you made a fanart of the  Joey Drew All Star Music Review, don't hesitate to tag me so i can like and reblog it !! :D

It make me even more happy to see artists drawing the ink demon in the silly rick roll clothes ! XD And yes, I made this gif and feel free to use it !

[rinkopatateneko]

As I made the video edit of Joey Drews All Star Music Review, I don't have any art to share BUT!! I made some funny GIFs for you all :D

(The @ on the GIFs are the Twitter ones)

Link the original video: https://youtu.be/U5aCMAc8TXw

Art by: @sky-lia @halfusek @angelofthepage

[doxxed0367]

POV: Your boss is making you sing Johnny Cash (and the music director may be planning on kidnapping you)

[thatonecrookedsmile]

It's been a little over a month since I read FTB and I wanted to do (and say, I think) a few things related to it. So here, take this. FTB stuff I was wanting to share.

Including some drawings/my designs for some characters (the ones above), some separate sketches, and giving some long thoughts on the book. (This post is looong so I'm going to put everything under the curtain. Enjoy!)

Starting: Rose, Evan and Archie. They are the ones that, I admit, are what I wanted to draw/design most while/after I read the book. Now, at least, if I want to make something involving one of these three one day, I have designs ready to go! Hooray! Evan is the only one of the three that I actually had to design from scratch. With Rose I had made a sketch 1 year ago conceptualizing the idea for her design, and it was only recently that I came back to this idea to finally solidify it. And I had already done Archie's design last year while I was doing my designs for the human cast of BATDR, so I was already prepared without even knowing it.

Also,Ink!Archie!! The poor guy got screwed pretty badly. First two designs in the first image are based on the events in the book. The one on the left is him seen mostly in the book (alive) and the one on the right is when he is in the Ink Realm, post-death. The design in the second image was supposed to be a stylization/variation of his Cycle design. I tried drawing him with a visible mouth/teeth similar to what I did with Sammy in a recent drawing and in some sketches that I didn't post here. I'm not sure about the beard tho. I think I exaggerated it. Next time, remember to draw less beard in this design. (And maybe, for the design that is more "close to canon", don't draw the ends of the hair and beard in the Cycle design)

Any other character in the book, either I don't have a design and I don't plan on making a design for them now, or I do but it will take a while to show them. (I promise I'll show Dot one day)

I also have some additional sketches. So if you want to take a look at that too, here it is:

Ollie Sorenson. This wasn't quite the way I had imagined him when I was reading the book but 1. the hair I tried to draw for him before didn't work out well, so I went another route and 2. Ollie isn't particularly a character in this book that I'm going to I think a lot in comparison to the others (he's still cool, tho) and I doubt I'll make another design for him, so let's go with this one. Not a bad design,so,eh.

Rose. Sketch on the left was made last year. I'm almost certain it was done after the book synopsis was revealed by Kress. The sketch on the right was made last month when I was reading the book. I took the idea from the sketch on the left and tried to solidify her design better.

Evan. Some other sketches made when I read the book. I had just completed his design and wanted to test it a little more to, you know, see if I can actually draw him. Verdict? I think I can.

And now uhhhhhh what I thought of the book! I previously considered doing a separate text post with these thoughts only but I don't do text-only posts in general and if I were to make a separate post it would take a while and it would come out more than 1 month/probably 2 months since I read the book and it would be kinda awkward. And I'm already writing this post, so why not put it all here now, right?

(Warning: My thoughts on the book ended up being MUCH LONGER THAN I EXPECTED TO WRITE. You don't need to read them if you want, they are just more additional and optional things. But if you are going to read them, be warned)

(Spoilers: I may have strayed a little off topic when I started talking about Archie. Don't mention how long his paragraph is, tho)

But yeah, Fade To Black. That was something else, I tell you (and I mean that in a positive way). Probably reading this book after all the fuss that happened about the books a while ago wasn't the best idea possible. But even with…all that in mind, I still wanted to read this for a long time, and I'm glad I went ahead with it. I had a lot of fun with the book! And thinking about it a little over a month after finishing it, I think I can say that this book is up there as, like, one of my favorites of the Bendy books that have been released to date. Before this, I would have considered DCTL my favorite of the books, so I'm somewhere between saying that both of these two are my favorite books in this series and that I like them equally, or that FTB has now become my favorite book of the series, surpassing DCTL. (Maybe I'll have a better idea of ​​this later this year when I reread these books once again)

I really liked the story told, its concept had already interested me since its synopsis was revealed last year - the setting in the 50's, the TV show, the whole 3D glasses thing - so it's no surprise that I was very interested in what this book had to tell. And since I already brought that up: I liked the new concepts it brings to the table,specifically,of course,the glasses and the TV. An idea that,I admit,at first is something I thought was a bit different (and dare i say unusual?) from what I usually see in the Bendy universe (although, it's not something so out of the ordinary from what we've seen before in the series) but I have to say that it's something that I thought was cool even so. 3D glasses that end up transporting your mind into the televised cartoons (and,by all accounts,the ink realm). The jokes I saw that Joey created virtual reality in this book weren't so far-fetched after all lol. But still, it's a concept that I admit to having been interested in, and that it might be cool to play around with in fanon stuff. I also considered this could open doors for other, more "wild" ideas to be explored in the books (as long as they still make sense for a >Bendy< book, of course). I also liked the whole segment taking place in the ink realm at the end of the book, and I hope that this can open up possibilities for future novel stories to take place there, either partially (as in this one) or in full (I accept an entire novel taking place in the cycle,ngl). The additional lore for the ink realm is a nice treat and adds more to what we have in the games. I admit that, at the same time, I feel a little thoughtful about a certain part of this additional lore that - assuming the way I understand it is right - leaves me wondering if this "extended origin" of the cycle coupled with what we already know of its lore would make sense in the games, and how these ideias would be acknowledged in future entries. But at the same time, I may be overthinking this, and the stars may still be aligned, and I've gotten the information wrong. Despite everything, I liked what was told about the ink realm in this book, I appreciate this "extended origin" at the end of the day.

I really liked the cast, both the new ones and the old faces. Rose is great, I really liked her as the protagonist. She's already one of my favorite book characters, I hope we hear from her again in the future. Also, it's good to have a protagonist in these books who survives in the end. Okay, sure, she didn't come out of it 100% unharmed, considering what the ending implies, but still. Again. It's good to have a protagonist in these books who came out of this alive at the end. Evan is also very good. Even though I want to slap him on the back of the head, I also hope to hear from him again, especially considering the way he "exited the story" (is that how you say it?). I talked about the possibility of a future novel taking place in the ink realm, I think that would give a good chance of bringing him back, now as an ink creature. I don't have much to say about Ollie, but I also thought he was cool. The scenes between him and Rose are very nice and the scenes related to the "Bendy Visions" caused by the glasses is another concept that I found very interesting (Tense moments, but cool ones nonetheless) Very happy to see Dot again. I like her character, and I always wanted to see what happened to her after the events of DCTL (TLO had already implied that she was still alive, but I wanted to know more, you know). Her participation in this book is very good, and a chapter that I have to highlight is the one where she meets Rose and they talk in the cafe. Their conversation alone is very good, but the specific part that got me was Dot talking about Buddy, what happened to her after the first book, and Buddy's family. That part was like. A slap in the heart, I'm not going to lie. This chapter made me sad, 10/10. Favorite chapter of the book.

Archie Carter was a big surprise (not really, I already knew he would be here before reading the book), and he is another of my favorite aspects of the book. It's good to see one of the characters from BATDR's human cast ending up being used more in a story. Archie in the game, like other characters we saw in the audio logs in DR, is a "One and done" situation where we only hear from him once and that's it, combined with the fact that he is ultimately just another background character who exists mostly to fill the world and give information that is not necessarily integral to the main things that occur in the game and is more to tell about different things, people and events that were also occurring inside the studio and in the outside world ( those of the lost city and Gent Workshop, essentially) pre-game events. (I really don't know how to explain this properly, but I would say that the "thing" of the information given by the new human cast (with the exception of the Archs) is the same thing as the characters who are giving such information: filling the world. I hope you get the gist of what I'm saying) And while I wouldn't say the information on these tapes is really irrelevant (in Archie's case, he provides some of the most interesting), and in my case, I don't mind the addition of the newbies, I don't blame other people for not being interested, don't get attached to or even dislike these new characters who don't do much in the grand scheme of things in DR and in comparison to the BATIM cast (or at least, the majority of the IM cast). So seeing at least 1 of these newcomers being used more deeply in a story and having their characters expanded is good! And I liked what was done with Archie here. You know the guy who worked at Gent as a test subject and who saw bad things happening at the company? Guess what! Same company screwed up his life and now he's a half-human-half-ink creature guy infected with evil ink and his current situation is not good at all! He's going through horrors unfortunately (especially in the cycle), but I really like what Adrienne did with Archie in this book. Again, he is one of the highlights of this book, and I hope that something similar ends up happening with other DR characters in future stories (manifesting the novel that uses Bill Danton and/or Grace Conway in some capacity 🙌) Plus, I also think it's cool that of all the DR characters to be used, it was the one voiced by SuperHorrorBro who ended up being chosen for this book (I like SHB, what can I say)

Joey (like in the other books) is a standout (and considering what we specifically see of him in this book, he's especially a standout here). More of Allison, even though in the end it's just a small one-scene cameo. Finally, I'm being fed the bread crumbs I craved. And I think now I have another version of Henry to talk about. My collection is growing strong, now I have 3 versions of my favorite old man! Among the new ones, and especially the secondary and tertiary ones, Papa D and Gladys are nice, even though they don't have much time in the story. Oh, and Wilson showed up too. He doesn't do much either, he's just there to be creepy. But I will acknowledge him.

I also enjoyed seeing some of the ideias showcased first in BATDR here (which makes sense, this book came out well after the game finally released). I always found it interesting to see more of Gent in the spotlight, and reading and knowing a little more about the things they were doing after JDS closed is nice. (And I think it's good to see more reaffirmation of what BATDR had already implied. That Gent also had eyes on the Ink Machine even when the studio was still open, and when the studio collapsed, they still continued the ink experiments in their own facilities. Again, this was already something that had been shown in DR, but it's good to see more reaffirmation here) The appearance of the Siverlane Express was something that I really appreciated, even if it was something very short. I ealready talk about Archie in one giant paragraph, and again, Wilson is here too.

There isn't really anything I "disliked" about this book, but at most, I only have a few nitpicks. The Ink Demon appears in the story, but compared to DCTL and TLO, I feel FTB is definitely the book where he appears the least. I mean, yeah, the story isn't about him in the end, but it's still something I managed to notice. I also feel that, in my opinion, this is the least "scary" of the 3. Not that it doesn't have "scary" elements but still, compared to moments in the other books like Buddy in the infirmary, or the TLO trio in the old factory, I don't know if this book would be the most "scary" of the trilogy. However,FTB still has several suspenseful scenes (the Bendy visions, some scenes with Ollie, Archie's pre-introduction, Wilson in the library), which I also like anyway. And I'll admit. While this idea isn't that far out there - and in the context of the story, it makes sense - I kind of raised an eyebrow a little at the whole "using your mind/imagination to get out of the ink realm" thing. It is not bad! And again, with what we saw in the book, this idea actually fits with what we had seen so far in the story. But I can't lie that when we got to this moment I was like "oh, this is something that happened, I guess", you know? But even so, I didn't dislike the idea.

(I once saw someone describe this part of the book as "they canonized no-clipping in Bendy" and you know what? I think that's funny. I think we need to start referring to this idea in the book as that instead of "using the imagination" /hj)

But even so, even with these small "nitpicks", I still had a lot of fun with this book. I really enjoyed reading it, and not only is it now one of my favorite Bendy books so far, I dare say it's one of my favorite things about the franchise in general. Like, if I had to make a top 3 of my favorite things from the Bendy series so far, I'd say it's this book and the first two mainline games. I guess this is to show how much I enjoyed the book!

And with that, my journey with the Bendy books ends. At least, with the books I managed to have access so far. I have no plans to pursue the updated version of the Employee Handbook so far, but from what I've heard and seen so far, I'm not missing anything too important. And the DCTL graphic novel….exists. It's definitely a graphic novel that exists. Dare I say that it is definitely one of the graphic novels of all time, alright. But what have I read so far? It was what I would say, a good journey. I've been interested in the Bendy books for a long time, and it's been a while since I read them, and I'm glad I did, despite recent events. Of course, they have their flaws and problems too, I have things about them that I myself identify as bumps in the road (and that applies to the novel trilogy too btw) But even with them in mind and acknowledging them, I still think that they are worth something. And I hope people still continue to recognize them and give them a chance. Even with its flaws, and with their whole canocity thing that happened a while ago, I still believe that people should check out the books eventually. Give it a chance, you know? If they did, and liked what they read, great! But if they don't like it, that's okay too! In the end, at least they, on both sides, gave it a chance. And that's what I at least want to see. I don't like the idea of ​​discarding these things and pretending they don't exist just because the devs said they aren't canon to the games (because, in my view, just because the books aren't canon doesn't make them without value or that you can't have fun with them after all)

WOW, this is getting long, I think I got carried away. I think that's all I had to say. To conclude everything, here is my list of the Bendy books that I like the most and the ones I like least:

Fade To Black (I've already talked a lot about this book)

Dreams Come To Life (hand in hand with FTB being in first place. It has its flaws, some that may have already been mentioned before, but I still found myself liking it in the end. For a first novel, it worked out fine)

Crack-Up Comics (Really liked the comics. It's good to see more things related to the cartoon characters, and I like some of the characters introduced. Pretty fun stuff)

The Lost Ones (it's not a very "Bendy" focused book compared to the others, and I don't blame those who didn't like this one because of the lack of many Bendy elements, but I confess that I still liked it as much as the other 2, and I loved the protagonists of this one. Even so, of the trilogy, it is the weakest book)

The Illusion of Living (In itself, it's an interesting read. It's really cool to see more of Joey from a deeper angle, and see more of his past. But I confess that it's not my favorite read, and I still prefer the main novels. Not bad, tho)

JDS Employee Handbook (2019) (For the first Bendy book overall, it's not bad, and I like the lore tidbits it has. But compared to the rest, it's actually the weakest)

The TL;DR is: Fade To Black is fun and my favorite, I liked its story and characters. I liked the books. Check them out if you want. If you liked them, cool. If you didn't like them, that's cool too. Read in general.

And if you've read this far: Thank you! And at the same time, I'm sorry! Have a good day/afternoon/night everyone. Peace.

[knightinink]

THEY SEXYMAN’ED HIM AGAIN I CAN’T-

THEY CAN’T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH THIS

In all seriousness, the livestream was great! A thanks to all the people who worked to bring us all the wonderful art and songs!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5aCMAc8TXw

[cloudsrust]

When BATDR frees my 2017 self from their shackles who promptly puts present-me into a nostalgia chokehold until I draw at least one(1) Bendy again.

[slyakoch13]

JOEY DREW'S ALL-STAR MUSIC REVIEW

okay that was cool .

I had no idea what this thing would be! I joined the broadcast very late, so I watched the recording a couple of minutes late. I didn't even know that the fans took part in it too!

i liked Grant's part!!!

AUDREY HAS BEAUTIFUL VOICE I'M IN LOVE!!!

I thought they gonna give hallelujah to sammy but hearing Keepers sing was kinda surprising too!

sad they didn't got Meatley to voice Wally

kinda disappointed: i once again didn't recognize Sammy's voice(why does Aaron's voice sounds DIFFERENT every time), but i liked part when he screams "LOVE"

okay nevermind i listened to his part one more time i'ts not that bad x)

dude went absolutely insane at the end (well..like always)

I like the voice change in Alice's song!

no.not the wilson's karaoke compilation NO PLEASE--

OH GOOD INK DEMON'S PART I'M CRYING...WHYYYYY-----

[thechechogp]

MI CASA EN LA ZONA DE CREEPERS | SURVIVAL - THE CHECHO GP

[angelofthepage]

Joey Drew's All-Star Music Review is the very first Bendy Fambassadors project. It was made with love as a collaboration of the BATDR Voice Cast with a group of fans who brought the visual aspect of it to life. Using their character voices, the VAs had a blast singing various songs and parodies for this musical line-up. It's so full of, well, character! The Fambassadors were responsible for the album covers, pngtuber styled character models, vector graphics, animation, video editing, typography, and even a little audio editing when it came to the promo trailer. It was a massive undertaking for three weeks, and we hope you enjoy the fruits of our labor! This was made with love for you, our wonderful fan community. <3

We've gotten a lot of requests to have singular tracks available for these songs. Lauren Synger released all of the songs from this project as MP3s over on her Twitter page. In the effort to make sure those get to the people that want them, I'm linking all of those posts here for your convenience under the cut. Think of this as an unofficial masterpost of sorts. Also, fun fact, each of the MP3s have the album covers embedded in them, so they’ll display on your music player when you play the songs!

Warning, there are spoilers for the musical line-up and BATDR, so viewer discretion is advised if you don't want to see that just yet.

MP3s:

Heidi's Introduction

https://twitter.com/LaurenSynger/status/1606335243471900674?s=20&t=vlSX4SzSt99Pzbjgv0Kt5A

https://t.co/EMq9n18gM3

Bertrum Piedmont and Angus Newman - If I Didn't Care

https://twitter.com/LaurenSynger/status/1606335975633870854?s=20&t=vlSX4SzSt99Pzbjgv0Kt5A

https://1drv.ms/u/s!At8YGixOZa4L6jmrTaRboKm052Me?e=hHfAqw

Keeper (Lani Minella) - Keeperlujah

https://twitter.com/LaurenSynger/status/1606337469263319040

https://1drv.ms/u/s!At8YGixOZa4L6jVj5s56UqSsqYdj?e=QAR8xv

Dale Little - 41-uhhh...

https://twitter.com/LaurenSynger/status/1606338813348945920

https://1drv.ms/u/s!At8YGixOZa4L6jcEf3a2ySlkK9V0?e=oUhRxb

Grant Cohen - Contract Made of Fire

https://twitter.com/LaurenSynger/status/1606339598115799040?s=20

https://1drv.ms/u/s!At8YGixOZa4L6jYsfU9F9efnSt5W?e=orh71P

Keeper (Jason Charles Miller) - We Are the Keepers

https://twitter.com/LaurenSynger/status/1606340731097882625?s=20

https://1drv.ms/u/s!At8YGixOZa4L6jgxIFTABbGeufHp?e=xabY6q

Betty - Man! I Feel like a Woman

https://twitter.com/LaurenSynger/status/1606342191466569729?s=20

https://1drv.ms/u/s!At8YGixOZa4L6jpI8t838XaRGfh2?e=nH0KzP

Wilson’s Greatest Hits (Compilation)

https://twitter.com/LaurenSynger/status/1606343883922837521?s=20

https://1drv.ms/u/s!At8YGixOZa4L6j2eIkWEn3ZtNVjI?e=MgcR3G

Sammy Lawrence - Can I Get an Amen?

https://twitter.com/LaurenSynger/status/1606344485557997578?s=20

https://1drv.ms/u/s!At8YGixOZa4L6jwU9RrVP0eLOpHr?e=bimOjd

Twisted Alice Angel - Inky Girls Need Love Too

https://twitter.com/LaurenSynger/status/1606345155392540673?s=20

https://1drv.ms/u/s!At8YGixOZa4L6j9Ky-NrtsxO5Mr8?e=cQZpTc

Audrey - Hopeless Gloom

https://twitter.com/LaurenSynger/status/1606345854880620545?s=20

https://1drv.ms/u/s!At8YGixOZa4L6j6eF9GbNVdxGQ_-?e=8loTbx

Porter Show! (Compilation)

https://twitter.com/LaurenSynger/status/1606347477631741952?s=20

https://1drv.ms/u/s!At8YGixOZa4L6jF9jScxzzDZOor1?e=eELTfb

Joey Drew - I’ll be Drawing You

https://twitter.com/LaurenSynger/status/1606348277259145218?s=20

https://1drv.ms/u/s!At8YGixOZa4L6jKZOI4syUSBJlEQ?e=tfdgc4

Ink Demon - Never Gonna Give You Up (Finale)

https://twitter.com/LaurenSynger/status/1606636727170392072?s=20

 https://1drv.ms/u/s!At8YGixOZa4L6jP9qulbu8kjCJca?e=Jq6vCn

Promotional Teaser Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKUyTaVnItA

Final Video File

https://twitter.com/LaurenSynger/status/1606363708631810048?s=20

https://1drv.ms/v/s!At8YGixOZa4L6i_y6vqwmZBQXvsB?e=J6osiy

Yes, the team decided to include a download of the entire project for those of you who are watching in regions where the original is blocked.

As of this point in time, no one knows what’s gonna come next for the Fambassadors, but goodness knows whatever it is, it’ll be one exciting ride! I don’t expect it to be completely comprised of video projects, but for the sake of organizing the ones that are video related, I’ve made a playlist on my own YouTube channel so that they’re organized and easily accessible.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwxN-wSp5QCoRxMIF0sDLtDosuinn6_ye

Once again, thank you all so much for your love and support on this project, it means the world! I hope you continue to enjoy it via these audio files, goodness knows I love to pop them on while I’m cooking or drawing. XD Take care, here’s wishing you all a fantastic day, go make your dreams come true!

[fishymom-art]

While writing the review (I’m still working on it), I decided I want to insult Wilson (the new antagonist) every time I have to talk about him, so have some examples:

[halfusek]

Wilson’s record I did for Joey Drew’s All-Star Music Review! 👁️

The poses were suggested to me by Tim Simmons (Wilson’s VA) and Lauren Synger (Alice and Allison’s VA), giving it the synthwave vibe was my call X’D And @rinkopatateneko came up with the “Wilsymphony” pun and I just had to include that too :)

I couldn’t pass up the chance to make Wilson’s record look like one of those inky eyes scribbled inside of a desk in BATDR with the pupil being the hole in the disc + I HAD to splash some of that technicolor ink there :]

[sky-lia]

The famous Ink Demon's album and record I drew for Joey Drews All Star Music Review !

Even if I was struggling with the shape of his head and the teeth, I got so much fun to give him different outfits with all the accessories ha ha

 Fun fact : the left Ink Demon is wearing the cowboy hat of his voice actor Sean ! :)

[ekholocationn]

ALRIGHT!!!! TIME FOR A FINAL DARK REVIVAL RAMBLE

long post & spoiler warning below the cut

HOOOH THAT WAS ALL SO COOL,,,,, i REALLY enjoyed the game but i do have my fair share of qualms. gonna start off with the positive stuff tho

overall, the voice acting, animation, and music/sound design were SO good!! not to mention the character models, i think i already brought this up but they were so freaking expressive and i was living for that

ALSO CAN WE TALK ABOUT THAT SCENE WITH ALLISON AND ALICE??? very reminiscent to what happened in ink machine BUT they got the closure they needed,,,,,, that scene made me cry man heart been broke so many times

and then to immediately follow it up with this note from allison was like salt in the wound

honestly that scene was probably my favorite part of the chapter, if not the entire game tbh??? had to rewind and watch it again..... the fact that allison never harbored any resentment at all toward alice and even viewed her as a SISTER. just. agh. she only wished the best for her </3

i also really liked betty's character, she was sweet >w< and getting to see sammy briefly was nice

the ending was pretty good too, i had a feeling that it would end with audrey resetting everything and doing it over with the reel

however, i feel like there were still a lot of things left unanswered?? and i noticed a pattern of like.... mechanics and characters being introduced briefly and then moments later we move on from them. like, what's with carley? to put it in the words of a friend of mine, why does she feel like just a cheap jumpscare? you introduce this new character but never really expand upon her.

same with porter, heidi, and betty. i would have loved to know more about them!!!! sure porter shows up in the finale, but like, we don't see him for three chapters before then.

i also would have loved to see MORE of alice!! like, how did she break out of her cell? why pick AUDREY of all people to kidnap?

also, holy shit they did my boy sammy SO dirty and im a little mad tbh. like, you tease him with this note:

and it gets the player ready to see him out of his cell...... but he's only there for a brief moment on a catwalk before allison just??? shoots him down??? it feels like you took this unsettling lunatic character and just. turned him into a joke. a cheap 'LOL you remember this guy? yeah he's dead now'

wilson's final boss fight was cool but it felt. incredibly rushed in my opinion. and how did he have access to color in the first place? why on EARTH did audrey agree to fuse with the ink demon if he's been something she was trying to avoid for the ENTIRE game??? maybe the ink demon formed some sort of connection to her as little toon bendy, but.... i don't know. i have my qualms about the ink demon in dark revival but that's a ramble for another time

i can't really comment much on gameplay mechanics since i watched a playthrough and didn't play it myself haha

anyways this post is getting long as hell so im gonna cap it now before i ramble too much XD overall i love the game for what it is, and i'm definitely gonna be making some fanart when i have time. it was a lovely sequel to ink machine, and expanded on the world a lot... it just felt rushed at times i think, like they were trying to squeeze too much into too little

[ahmedmootaz]

Bendy And The Dark Revival: Thoughts and Opinions.

Yup, exactly what the title says this is. I just finished the game (~<1 hour ago as of the time of writing), and I had a few opinions I wanted to share. Consider this a sort of mini-review.

And obviously, this post is going to be the absolute motherload of every single sort of possible and impossible spoiler that may have spoilered in the history of spoilering since The Greatest Spoilering Of All Time.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Firstly, let's talk about the good parts! That's always a good way to start these things off, eh?

-First of all, he graphics are GREAT, the improvements done by The Meatly here are impeccable; the shadows and the general graphical atmosphere really sucks you in, even when playing on the lowest graphical settings, and some areas can be a treat to observe and watch, like the city in Chapter 4 when you're watching it from the glass window where you first meet little Bendy. I cannot understate how good the graphics can look at some points, and this also extends to entities and enemies, as they have unique designs that sill feel as if they belong to the Bendy universe, alongside the classic ones like the Butcher Gang, of course.

-The movement of Audrey is a whole lot smoother than Henry's ever was. When I played the original Bendy And The Ink Machine, the movements were sluggish almost, and the mouse sensitivity was either non-existent or too speedy that I couldn't notice it. Overall, I'd definitely consider it a plus that moving isn't actively impeded by some development hiccups this time around. Sprinting and running around is also fun to do and can lead to some tense moments when you're escaping an enemy.

-The game rewards exploration of its areas with the various rewards it hands out, like Audrey's upgrades or Gent's various contraptions and bits and bobs that simply lay about in the Studio with how useful they can be for the Gent Pipe upgrades. The same goes for exploring and finding the coins necessary to be able to heal yourself and buy coffee/food.

-The game's areas can be very diverse and even beautiful at times. The world itself is very well-crafted, and the fact that it loops on itself with the metro system and the areas being interconnected was a delight to experience, especially the connection between Wilson's manor and its northern and southern wings. I was delighted to find out I had re-entered the mansion through the closed doors I couldn't open when I first entered. The level design was definitely a highlight at points.

-BATDR is absolutely magnificent with friends. For context, I played this game from start to finish with my siblings on hard mode, and it can be a hilarious, tense, and sometimes terrifying journey. Discussing theories together or trying to beat a difficult part or ranting about a boss or two was never more fun than with friends, and I don't know if this is just me, but I felt that I enjoyed playing BATDR with my siblings a bit more than BATIM, probably thanks to the better controls not frustrating them.

So, for me, those were the very, very solid and good parts that this game provided, alongside the notably fewer amount of bugs compared to BATIM, of course. Those really helped me enjoy my journey throughout it a lot more, although that doesn't mean I enjoyed everything, unfortunately. Despite that fact that the bad parts should've been overshadowed by the good ones, I felt they always stuck out like a sore thumb whenever they were there, and one of the MOST prominent ones to me was:

-The dialogue. I often don't like disparaging game dialogue, but the dialogue throughout much of the game was rather painful to listen to. While the audio-logs were as good as they had been in BATIM, the dialogue between characters was especially jarring. From the very first piece of dialogue between Audrey and Alison, I found that the way the dialogue flowed was rigid. The introductions were awkward, and they lacked crucial information from both sides, instead going for vague descriptions like "he likes to smile...and he kills everything that moves!", which...almost breaks the immersion that the game tries building so very hard.

My biggest issue is that this is not limited to a specific section; the dialogue's tone shifts wildly in the same scenes, the phrasing and the words themselves don't fit, and rarely is important information conveyed through the dialogue. I found myself involuntarily laughing at parts that were meant to be serious due to how they were phrased, and I cannot blame the voice actors, as their work was very well-done, especially the Joey and Wilson actors, and although their dialogue was some of the best in the game, it was still awkward at points, perhaps due to the fact that none of the characters, Audrey excluded, had too much screen-time, which meant that they needed to convey as much information as possible and also play a role in the game's plot in their limited time, hence needing compact dialogue that fit everything at once in a short period of time. Speaking of which...

-There were too many characters for the game's length. I have heard that BATDR had some development trouble, so I understand that they had to make-do with some of the parts they had already, but the focus on Gent Corp. was, while very interesting at points, ultimately harmful as there was no payoff save for the teaser after the ending, seeing how the game revolved around Wilson and he rarely mentioned them except in a few parts, and for the most part, they had no relation to Wilson; instead, most references to them mentioned how they worked with Joey during the last days of the studio, which, for a game focusing on Audrey and Wilson, doesn't really make them the focal point of the game, so I don't understand why they got so much attention.

But there were also so many characters in the audio-logs that appeared for a single time and then disappeared forever. I get that they were meant to worldbuild with Gent, but when Gent themselves didn't play a major role in Wilson's story, it only helped split the game's narrative focus, at least in my eyes, especially seeing how very few logs talked about Wilson, and those were mostly by Wilson himself.

I know this is also present in BATIM, however, I felt that a good portion of the characters in audio-logs were very much related to Joey and the Studio, and we also had recurring characters, which helped build their stories without seeing them, like with Norman, Sammy, etcetra... Something that's not really repeated in BATDR, with the notable exception of Wilson.

-Speaking of Wilson, his role was very...meh. Everyone and their mother predicted he would be the villain, but what really, really disappointed me was how they treated his double-turn as a surprise. I thought that they were going to subvert expectations and have an ending where we side with Wilson and another one where we don't, but the fact that they treated his face-heel 'reveal' to be a big surprise was a letdown because it was really foreseeable. They had so much potential with him, and yet we know so little about him since, unlike Joey in BATIM, Wilson rarely has anyone else talk about him, whether in audio-logs or notes.

His motives were also hilariously absurd, though not in an especially good way. I remember that my siblings and I burst into laughter when his motives to rule the ink-realm was that his father didn't support him, and you know what? Sure, that CAN be a valid motive with enough backstory, but the thing is that there's no buildup. There's no anticipation or hinting at Wilson's relationship with his father. It is daddy issues at the most basic of levels and it's revealed during his face-heel reveal, and it's also not exactly the sort of mistreatment that makes someone subjugate a realm and kill (ink)people. Overall, Wilson had a lot of potential...it's just a shame barely any of it was used.

-Speaking of issues with the narrative, the story felt all over the place at times. Alison appeared at the start of the story, disappeared, and then talked to us after the first boss, but then she went away again and appeared to kill Alice, which was a cool moment, don't get me wrong, I just wasn't attached enough to her to appreciate the parallels to her saving Henry BATIM, seeing how she virtually has no screen-time.

Speaking of whom, Alice?! What was she doing there? How did she appear all of a sudden? Why was she there? How did Wilson not notice or neutralise her? How did she get into Wilson's manor? Why was she free but everyone from Henry's loops in BATIM caged? Her appearance was so sudden, and although I did really enjoy her return since her voice-acting and fight were fun, I just didn't enjoy how, thematically, it didn't make a lot of sense to just include her for no reason at all when it also didn't carry as much emotion and meaning to it like it did with Henry in BATIM, seeing how we dealt with her over the course of multiple Chapters.

This is actually one of the things that irked me most with the narrative; the game didn't seem to know what to do with the old characters. At first, I thought that with Alison appearing so soon, that we were going to meet the original BATIM crew and try and team-up with them against Wilson, but when she disappeared, I thought we were going to focus on the new characters, but then we met Henry and the old crew in the Cycle Breakers room and I believed they would play an important role in the fifth Chapter, but again, we only spoke with Henry once and then saw him again at the end of the game, which, I must admit, was quite cool in the heat of the moment as Beast Bendy, it was just underwhelming to think "Wait, that's all?" after the credits started rolling.

This hits especially true with the example of Sammy, who was hinted at throughout the entire game and across multiple Chapters, only to be shot at the end and die in a scene where most would've missed him. I wasn't his biggest fan myself, but I know how much a lot of people like him, and so treating him like this was a bit unkind to his fans, I feel. He could've been entirely absent from the game and nothing would've changed.

-Speaking on one, final note about the narrative, it felt as if there were a lot of unneeded and unnecessary gameplay decisions that broke the cohesion and flow of the story and caused a lot of frustration...At least for me. This is most apparent in the parts where you needed to back-track to earlier areas, especially the one part where you needed to return to the very first area of the game to get the heart you needed to feed to big ink monster, though it wasn't the only part where you needed to backtrack. There were also side-stories with the Lost Ones that interrupted otherwise grandiose and important moments, like the entry to the Cycle Breakers room being interrupted by a Lost One. While her quest was very sweet, I didn't really feel a sense of satisfaction when I finally found her as much as I went 'Finally!'.

-On the gameplay front, I almost felt like there were too many Lost Ones. I lost track of how many times I died to them, regardless of how many I killed, or how many times I encountered Demon Bendy, which lowered the value of their jumpscares. It was also annoying, in fact, the constantly worry about Bendy's incursions and saving every five seconds to make sure I lost no progress, something I felt was unnecessary with how often he popped up...However, this could also be entirely due to the fact that I was playing on Hard mode, so I will not hold this point against the game.

-And lastly, somehow, I don't feel as if there were that many tracks that stood out to me in the OST...Although that in particular can be my rose-tinted glasses remembering BATIM's soundtrack more fondly that it actually was.

So those were my thoughts about Bendy And The Dark Revival! Admittedly, while it can seem as if I had a lot of negative things to say about the game, that's mostly because I care a lot about the story in games like these, and I felt it wasn't really as gripping as I had hoped, even though there were plenty of things that made it a good game, it's just that standing up from BATIM's shadow was never going to be easy, and there were a few missteps, in my opinion.

Still, the game was quite fun to play through, and I have to give it either a 6.5 or a solid 7 out of 10 for me. It's worth trying for sure, though I'd temper my expectations going in.