Bendy and the Ink Machine

I think Bendy and the Ink Machine is why we need a neutral rating on steam.
Yes, this game is good, but there are several really blatant flaws that really hold it back from achieving its true potential. I write this review as someone who passionately enjoyed the game, but also wanted to see more from it.
Firstly, the good. Bendy and the Ink Machine has an incredible art direction. The entire game is designed to look like a 1930s cartoon, without sacrificing things like sound design and graphical fidelity. The art style of this game absolutely sucked me in from the start, and I consider it one of the primary reasons I played the whole way through.
Secondly, the sound design is damn near perfect. Everything from the music to the sound effects to the little details sound brilliant. The music is catchy and adds brilliantly to the atmosphere.
Lastly, the story. While the story definitely could have used some more care in the second and third chapters, the 4th and 5th chapters were well paced and decently written.
And now the parts i'm not so enthusiastic about.
I feel that Bendy and the Ink Machine to some degree squandered the potential it had with its practically perfect atmosphere by pursuing the horror genre a little too much.
What do i mean by that?
The game, simply put, isn't scary. It's cheap. The game relies mostly on jumpscares to freak you out, and this has never worked for me. Enemies, while beautifully visually designed, are total pushovers. Most will go down in a couple of hits, so they present no real threat. There is a section in the final chapter where you and some companions must fight a huge number of these enemies, and I had no trouble with this section either. Combat in horror must be hectic, difficult tactical and most of all, I must feel threatened by the enemies. None of this was the case. You can simply walk backwards and hit until the thing in front of you is dead.
There are some sections where you do not have weapons, but the enemies present more of an annoyance than they do a threat.
Next up, objectives. I found many of the objectives in the game very easy to cheese. I think perhaps the inclusion of the elevator as a way to get around was a bad choice, as I was able to bypass a number of threats this way. I think the objectives could be better done by simply removing the elevator as a viable option, and making combat significantly more difficult.
I personally really enjoyed my time with this game, it gave me vibes of bioshock in a good way, but falls apart when you remember that bioshock turned more into an action game towards its middle and end levels. I think the developers would benefit from taking some of those ideas to heart.
I can really see the effort and love put into this game, and it really impressed me, but I think it has a long way to go before realising its potential.
To summarize:
+ Brilliant Audio and Visual design.
+ Well written, intriguing story.
+ Spot on perfect atmosphere.
+ Brilliant concept.
- Over reliance on jumpscares.
- Enemies aren't threatening enough.
- Objectives are too easy to bypass.
- Traversal of the map is too easy in places, allowing bypassing of threats.
Overall a positive experience, but it has many caveats that hold it back. I hope if they make another game, the developers learn from their mistakes and do their best to improve. I will be keeping my eye on them.

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☐ Kids
☑ Everyone
☐ Casual players
☐ Pro players
☐ Tryhard players
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☐ Potato
☐ Really bad
☐ Bad
☐ OK
☑ Good
☐ Beautiful
☐ Masterpiece
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☐ 90' PC
☐ Minimum
☑ Medium
☐ Fast
☐ High end
☐ NASA computer
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☐ Full price
☑ Wait for sale
☐ Average
☐ Refund it if you can
☐ Don't do it
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☐ You just need 2 arms
☑ Ez
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Hard (first few hours)
☐ Dark Souls
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☐ Really short ( 0 - 2 hours)
☑ Short ( 2 - 8 hours)
☐ Few hours ( 8 - 12 hours)
☐ Long ( 12+ hours)
☐ Endless
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☐ It doesn't have
☐ Still better than Twilight
☐ Average
☐ Good
☑ Fantastic
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☐ Game itself is one big BUG
☐ Bugs destroying the game
☑ Lot of bugs
☐ Few Bugs
☐ You can use them for speedrun
☐Nothing
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Multiplayer: NO
Singleplayer: YES
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☑ Not from this World
☐ Good
☐ Average
☐ Bad
☐ Unplayable
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☑ Yes
☐ No
☐ If you really really like

good horror game, pretty much what you would get if bioshock and cuphead had a baby.

+Game looks beautiful
+Good Lighting
+Good Story
+Lots and lots of secrets
-Fandom full of 9 yr olds.
-Boring jumpscares
-Sometimes feels like a chore
Still pretty fun game though.

This game is overall scary, and it actually made me fall out of my seat once. I would recommend this to other gamers.

One of the most beautiful horror games i have ever played. Visual design, environment are done exceptionally good. Story and characters are well created. They provide the feeling that you are watching old cartoons. Gameplay is quite good as well, it contains a lot of secrets as well. A problem that i found so far is that you cannot skip cut scenes so if you want to play the game again you need to watch all cutscenes. I definitely recommend it and i am looking forward to the sequel with the name " Bendy and the Dark Revival"

Good game, especially for the price. Played this a bunch with my son who absolutely loved it!