The name Bendy entered the social conciseness back in 2017 thanks to multiple youtube playthrough videos of the quirky and dark tale of the Mickey Mouse-like character Bendy the Demon and the cursed studio that created him. With a heavy viral following that spawned an array of children’s merchandise, it was clear that a sequel had to be made, and I had to dive into this inky rabbit hole. Grab a can of bacon soup, this is Bendy the Dark Revival. I want to thank Joey Drew Studios for the reviewing opportunity!
Bendy the Dark Revival takes place in the 1970s when an animator named Audry who while staying late working on a Bendy cartoon, is brought into The Cycle, an alternate cartoonish reality where living animations live thanks to the infamous Ink Machine that’s capable of bringing cartoon characters to life. Audry is now stuck in this hellish world and must fight to find a way out.
Now onto the game itself! Bendy the Dark Revival‘s controls are OK. the animation/motion of you looking around could be a lot smoother and not as stiff and jerky, this gives the feeling that this game was not meant to be played with a controller which is worrisome.
The game’s soundtrack is good, and the voice acting is great for the most part, I like most of the voice actors more than others… BUT moving on! The art of Bendy the Dark Revival is great! The way the characters and enemies are made to look like twisted versions of Disney characters, the environment looks like how the real world would appear in an (overly) cartoonish world, and the charm of the first game’s art remains.
When it comes to gameplay, the game players can either be stealthy or just go in for the action. The game definitely gives me BioShock vibes with the time setting, the cartoonish look of the people and enemies, the combat, etc. Again I love exploring the world of games and I like it when games reward you for doing so, and Bendy the Dark Revival rewards you for exploration by finding hidden notes or recorded messages.
Overall I enjoyed Bendy the Dark Revival. It’s got some good scares, an interesting story set in a nightmarish world you would think would be fun, a good sound tract, rewarding exploration, and tension for survival horror. With issues with controls, and a voice I could do without, the overall score of the game is not that negatively affected. I give Bendy the Dark Revival 8.5/10
Bendy the Dark Revival is out now on PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S
