Bendy and the Ink Machine - 9.5/10

So we were supposed to play this next week, but a virus spread around the house and we were all invalids for the day. Loving the previous game too much, we decided to get it out of the way, mainly so we could start engaging with the community content for it without fear of spoilers.

Reader, it was amazing. As I'm sure any other player of this game will note, it is literally BATIM but better. Annoyances have been fixed primarily in the gameplay and level design, and the story is much more focused on Bendy as a central driving force, while also wrapping up the story and answering some questions from the previous game.

What I didn't like was that the environments were often confusing, and we had to verbally map out the levels to keep in mind where different switches/objectives were (the game, like its predecessor, loves backtracking). There were a few standout levels, like Artists' Rest, but I think almost every level in the game would have been better had they been 80% of the size.

I was honestly blown away by the art direction. There are a few standout scenes that made us pause and put the controller down to marvel at the environment or setpiece on display, but I won't spoil them. The cartoon style and color scheme remains from BatIM, but a higher quality (probs due to the switch to Unity) and selective deviances (again, won't spoil) improve on them to a level that is frankly astounding, especially for an indie game.

All in all, Joey Drew Studios has three customers for life in me and my roommates and we are strongly looking forward to playing Bendy: The Cage when it drops later this year. For now, I am going to collapse into bed and drift off to sleep aided by the strongest painkillers we could beg off the doctor. Ahi luego~