DreaMS CoMe trUE

Medium: Video Game

Genre: Horror

Rating: ?

Console: PC

Having just gotten back from a long trip and still settling in, I'm going to turn my attention to something a little different: something that isn't done yet.

I don't just mean in the conventional "I haven't completed it" sense- I learned my lesson there from reviewing Astarotte's Toy- I mean, the developer has been releasing it episode by episode, and there are only about 3 out right now. I am, of course, talking about the indie horror darling that's in the process of relieving Freddy Fazbear of his position as The King of Creepy Mountain.

Mmmmm.... sepia.

If making people's childhoods try to murder them is the key to making people crap their pants, and we've already covered Chuck E. Cheese, I suppose the next logical step is to ruin Disney for everybody. Our protagonist Henry co-founded and ran an animation studio with his partner Joey, putting out a number of successful 1940's-style cartoons featuring an adorable scamp named Bendy the Demon. Henry left the studio though (for reasons unclear, but it seems implied that something happened), and 30 years later returns after receiving a letter inviting him back so Joey can show him something. But the studio is empty and decrepit, and shortly after activating a mammoth device simply called "The Ink Machine" things get supernaturally creepy (to absolutely nobody's surprise except our hero). Henry soon finds that Bendy has taken on a life of his own, and he's definitely not the playful little imp he co-created.

So right off, I feel I must state that this is a beast of a much different flavor than Five Nights At Freddy's. Where FNAF relied heavily on making the player feel helpless and then instilling paranoia via death by jumpscare, Bendy builds it up through its oppressive atmosphere and uses its jumpscares sparingly to surprise and unnerve the player. The thick, overdrawn lines and sepia tone on literally everything make the studio feel wrong and alien, and Henry himself is more than just an empty pair of shoes to fill- he expresses quiet confusion at the weird goings-on, reminisces fondly in familiar surroundings, and generally seems like a likable guy. You know, the kind you'd want to survive an encounter with a murderous ink-demon.

My experience playing was marred somewhat by technical issues at the end of both chapters 1 and 2 (don't have 3 yet; not until I've dug up the scratch for it); in the case of Chapter 1, the screen blacked out at the end and stayed that way, forcing me to restart the game. More amusingly in the case of Chapter 2, Bendy repeatedly got stuck during the chase sequence, leading me to be able to get a nice, up-close and personal inspection of the character model. My conclusion is that the old adage holds true: the more you see of the monster in the movie, the more you can tell how dumb it really looks. It's a problem with the little ink minions as well- they're supposed to be all liquidy and unnatural, but against what has been made to appear like a hand-drawn floor, they just look like bad 90's CGI to me.

This isn't to say Bendy is bad. Far from it; I'm looking more forward to getting and playing Chapter 3 (and four and five, but they're not out yet) than I am to taking a second crack at FNAF. The puzzles feel comfortably like something you'd find in a 90's adventure game (go find these six hidden items to turn on the power! play those instruments in a specific order!), and the way the horror is handled is right up my alley.

Including this guy, whom I bumped into when the chase sequence broke on me.

All in all I feel it's a little early to make a call, but I think I approve of where this little project is going. Well done to the devs, hat's off to you.

TL;DR: I don't think this is what "Inktober" is supposed to be but I'm pretty okay with it.
VIRTUES: Excellent aesthetics, moderately spooky goings-on, bacon soup is an inherently funny health item.
SINS: Every encounter and event being pre-scripted means that you can experience a long safe 'pause' in between spooks if you're having trouble figuring out what to do next.
(TENTATIVE) GRADE: B+