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Video Game / Bendy and the Ink Machine

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The Creator lied to us...

"Fear the Machine."
— Tagline

Bendy and the Ink Machine is an indie puzzle horror Episodic Game created by Kindly Beast.note 

Henry Stein, a former traditional animator, gets a strange note from an old friend, Joey Drew, that invites him to their old workplace. While there, Henry discovers the ink machine, which apparently powers the place, and decides to activate it. Nothing is as it seems, however. What happened to his old work buddy? Why does Bendy appear to follow him everywhere he goes? And when did these strange occurrences suddenly start?

There are a total of five chapters for this game. Chapter 1 was released on February 10th, 2017. Chapter 2 was released on April 18th, 2017. Chapter 3 was released on September 28th, 2017. Chapter 4 was released on April 30th, 2018. Chapter 5 was released on October 26th, 2018.

It was released on consoles in 2018 via a partnership with Rooster Teeth.

The game was followed by:

  • Bendy: Crack-Up Comics Collection (2020) - A compilation of comics written in the style of In-Universe Comic Strips that were published from 1931 to 1946 created by Vannotes and Mady Giuliani.
    open/close all folders 

Bendy and the Ink Machine provides examples of:

    A-C 
  • Abusive Workplace: Joey Drew Studios was not a good workshop to work at even before the supernatural occurrences. The workers are harassed, underpaid, and forced into overtime, on top of the entire place having hazardous lack of maintenance. Some workers got into high positions based on the boss's preference, which also created an internal rivalry.
  • Accidental Hero: In chapter 4, it's debatable if Ink Bendy saving Henry from the Projectonist is this or a Villainous Rescue case.
  • All There in the Script: The name of the more stable Alice in Chapters 4 and 5 is, according to the game files, "Allison".
  • Ambiguous Situation:
    • The first chapter being only 15 minutes, there's very little information that isn't left up in the air for interpretation. The murder and dissection of Boris the Wolf is an especially big point of contention, since the candles on the floor suggest (and Henry himself seems to believe) it was Joey's doing, while the message on the wall suggests it was Ink Bendy, and adopting either viewpoint changes the game's narrative significantly. The second chapter clears it up a little bit, by showing that Ink Bendy is, indeed, murderous, but just what went down at the studio is still a mystery.
    • It's also becoming rather unclear if the Ink Bendy we saw is the real Bendy. Because, even after the Ink Machine is activated and Ink Bendy is released, the cutouts that were active beforehand don't turn hostile and remain curious and sometimes helpful. Ink Bendy also seems to kill Sammy Lewarnce when he attempts to kill Henry but still goes after Henry afterwards.
    • The cliffhanger of the second chapter will leave you asking questions as well. Yes, Boris seems to have saved you from Ink Bendy, but is he your friend, or does he simply want you for himself? More importantly, how exactly is he still alive given what we saw in Chapter 1? Was he resurrected? Are reanimated cartoon characters actually unkillable and what we saw was just a temporary setback? Is he even the same Boris?
    • The third chapter reveals a bit more: Boris is friendly, and he's not the same Boris as the one from the top floor. It also seemingly answers a question from Chapter 1 as well: It's implied that Twisted Alice killed the Boris on the top floor, as well as several others, to maintain her "beauty". However, it also brings up a few more questions of its own. Twisted Alice claims she knows "why Henry is really here", and that she "won't let him get in the way of what has to be done", but she never explains what she means by that. Why did Henry come to the studio? Does he want to shut down the Ink Machine? If so, why would he turn it on in Chapter 1? Did he come here for some other reason? Or is Twisted Alice's line just a result of Sanity Slippage?
    • The cliffhanger of the fourth chapter will make you rip out your hair: the psycho Alice who tormented you is literally backstabbed by another Alice with a Boris of her own. If Twisted Alice was a human-cartoon fusion driven mad by her components' inability to get along, who is this Alice? Ink Bendy also seems to be less hostile towards Henry and saves him from the Projectionist, but why he did that is unknown.
    • And the fifth chapter ups the ante and fury with a scene which could be a flashback indicating the origin of the whole scenario, or which could indicate a Stable Time Loop in play. Additional secret messages revealed via the Seeing Tool provided in this chapter, which can also now be used in earlier chapters, can be read as supporting the latter interpretation but are in no way conclusive. Also, while Ink Bendy's backstory is revealed and he's defeated, neither Henry's escape from the studio nor the fate of the other ink creations — monsters and otherwise — are revealed, and nor is shutting down the Ink Machine (beyond damage dealt to the larger structure in the final boss fight).
  • Ambiguous Time Period: Considering the animation style being in vogue thirty years ago, you might think the game takes place in The '60s,yet its overall aesthetics draw more from The '30s and the cassette tape players scattered about seem to record things from decades ago. Dark Revival's reveal that the games setting is a cartoon world created by Joey might justify some of the inconsistencies as an in-universe case of Retro Universe.
  • Ambiguously Evil: While the cartoon Bendy is clearly not evil, the Ink Bendy is up to debate. In chapter 1, he grabs at Henry after the ink machine is activated but does not actually grab him, nor does he chase him afterwards. The cutouts follow Henry and seem to move by themselves but seem curious rather than hostile. In chapter 2, Ink Bendy attacks Sammy when he tries to sacrifice Henry but still chases Henry afterward. If he catches Henry, Henry seemingly dies instantly, but it's unknown if it's canon or a game mechanic. Since he's respawned through a Bendy statue, it's also implied but unknown if Ink Bendy is the one reviving Henry. In chapter 3, Twisted Alice (who's worse than Ink Bendy) seems to hate Ink Bendy as well, and Ink Bendy will chase and will still kill Henry if he catches him, but also kills other hostile antagonists. In chapter 4, Ink Bendy scares Henry in the vents, but doesn't attack him (The Employee Handbook confirmed that he was "only toying with you", showing that he could have killed Henry, but spared him on purpose) and seems to warn him to be quiet against the Butcher Gang. Ink Bendy also seems to save Henry from the Projectionist and doesn't try to kill Henry then. In chapter 5, a giant hand tries to drown Henry, but it's unknown if Ink Bendy is controlling it. Ink Bendy can also kill the Butcher Gang for Henry. While he does mutate into Beast Bendy and try to kill Henry, that only happens when Henry comes to Ink Bendy's lair and picks up the weapon to kill Ink Bendy.
    • In the Dreams Come To Life novel, when Buddy frees Ink Bendy from his imprisonment unknowingly, Ink Bendy merely pushes Buddy down and doesn't kill Buddy. Then when Buddy and Dot confront Ink Bendy, he merely squeezes them and kicks them, but it is pointed out that he is not trying to kill them. He only kills Buddy after Buddy tries to kill him by drowning him in ink. He also spares Buddy Boris (Buddy transformed into Boris) if he gets in the elevator with him in chapter 3, but does kill Butcher Gang members who are hostile.
  • Amusement Park of Doom: Chapter 4's Bendy Land, although it was never completed. Not only are there ink monsters lurking throughout different parts of the production, but Henry is unarmed for most of the chapter. There's an animatronic Bendy that Lacie Benton swears in her audio log has been moving when she isn't looking — although this never attacks Henry. There are even two boss fights in Bendy Land: one with Bertrum Piedmont, who's become an amusement park ride and one set up by Twisted Alice inside the haunted house.
  • And I Must Scream: In Chapter 3, Twisted Alice describes being "returned to the ink" as being trapped inside of a well full of endlessly buzzing, screaming voices.
  • Anti-Frustration Features: With the Chapter 3 update, any progress-critical item will now shine, making them easier to discern among the sepia environments.
  • Apocalyptic Log: The tape recorders strewn around the studio count as this. Some have workers complain about Joey (and Sammy) suffering Sanity Slippage, others relate to everyday work at the studio. They often contain clues.
  • April Fools' Day: On April 1st 2020, Joey Drew Studios released this trailer implying it will be a multiplayer fighting game called Bendy Royale before saying April Fools at the end.
  • Arc Number: 414. The trailer for the sequel dropped on April 14th, the audio log with the unknown speaker released to promote said sequel had the same date (with the year scratched out), and the tally marks you can see in Chapter 1 with the looking device add up to four hundred and fourteen.
  • Arc Symbol: Bendy's cheery mug, as seen above. Also, pentagrams, which happen to have a shape within them resembling Bendy's head.
  • Arc Words: "He will set us free."
  • Art Initiates Life: The Ink Machine is used to bring Joey Drew Studios' cartoon creations, such as Bendy, to life.
  • Art Shift: The end of Chapter 5 (and technically the beginning of Chapter 1) instead of the cartoonish studio, takes place in a realistic environment, that being Joey Drew's apartment. You even meet the man himself, and he's a very far cry from the cartoon characters in the studio.
  • As You Know: The note from Joey specifies that he and Henry worked at the animation studio thirty years ago and have fallen out of touch.
  • Awesome, but Impractical: In an audio log in Chapter 1, one employee, Wally Franks, mentions that the ink machine is noisy, uses a lot of ink, and seems pretty useless. In addition, it means the animations aren't getting done on time.
  • Bait-and-Switch: The boss fight with Bertum's monster form in Chapter 4 is precluded with an audio log by him, which has subtitles instead of a transcript like other audio logs. At the end of Chapter 5, the boss fight against Beast Bendy is precluded with an audio log by Joey Drew, which has subtitles instead of a transcript like other audio logs. So Ink Bendy is the monster form of Joey, right? Nope! The audio log was actually part of a Batman Gambit by Joey hoping that Henry could find it and learn what the one thing that can destroy Ink Bendy is: a film reel featuring "The End".
  • Big "OMG!": Henry utters one upon seeing Boris strapped to the table.
  • Bittersweet Ending: By the end of the game, the Ink Demon is finally killed. However, a lot of people still died due to the ink, and with the final scene being more of a prequel to the game than anything else, we don't know if Henry, Allison, or Tom made it out. Also, The Stinger shows that Joey actually has another Ink Machine in his house, and while he seemed regretful of all that he's done, there's always the chance...
  • Blood from the Mouth:
    • The Wandering Sin Bendy cut-out.
    • Bertrum.
  • Body Horror:
    • Sammy seems to have become part-ink during his time beneath the studio.
    • The Searchers.
    • Twisted Alice, the Butcher Gang, the Projectionist, and Bertrum are not pretty to look at. AT ALL.
  • Bottomless Pit:
    • Henry comes across one (and comes across one) in chapter four.
    • The Ink Machine room is now a giant shaft that stretches all the way to the bottom of the studio; you can look into different sections of the shaft once per chapter and see the Ink Machine riding down to the bottom.
  • Bound and Gagged: Henry near the end of Chapter Two, after Sammy captures him.
  • Boss-Arena Idiocy: In chapter 4. Miss Angel, what was your reasoning in leaving a perfectly usable crafting machine where you planned to have us fight Brute Boris?
    • Also, there's an ax in the room where Henry fights Bertrum. Bertrum even conveniently breaks the desk that contains it, allowing Henry easy access to it.
  • Boss Battle: Chapter 4 has two, one against a possessed merry-go-round (yes, really) and the other versus a brainwashed and crazy Boris.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: In chapter four, Twisted Alice "modifies" Boris, turning him into her brutish henchman and ordering him to kill Henry.
  • Bullfight Boss:
    • The first phase of the Brute Boris fight requires you to dodge his charges until he becomes vulnerable.
    • The second half of the Final Battle against Beast Bendy is done by luring him into breaking ink pipes when he charges at you.
  • The Cameo: One of the audio logs from Chapter 3, made by a Mr. "Shawn Flynn", was voiced by Jacksepticeye. A hidden audio log in the same chapter is by Grant Cohen, voiced by Will Ryan.
  • Candlelit Ritual: At the end of Chapter 1, Henry stumbles upon a room with a pentagram on the floor and some candles. It's currently unknown what exactly these were used for, but it's strongly implied that they were put together for some sort of dark ritual.
  • Cast Full of Crazy: It appears that the Ink Machine (or just the studio conditions) have driven most of the named employees insane.
    • Sammy Lawrence eventually turned to worshipping Bendy.
    • Susie Campbell begun identifying with Alice to the point she called herself an "angel".
    • Norman Polk ended up sticking a projector machine on his head and turning into an ink monster.
    • Grant Cohen was driven utterly mad by the company's money, up to turning his office into a Room Full of Crazy.
    • Bertrum Piedmont grew so obsessed with making sure that people recognized his work that he was corrupted by the ink and had his head implanted into a merry-go round.
    • It's uncertain what happened to Wally Franks, but in a Twitter AMA, it's been implied that his mind is "waaaay outta here". The end of Chapter 5 reveals that he went to Florida with his wife.
    • Joey Drew himself seems to be the first (or among the first) to lose his mind — in an audio log, Wally complains about Joey's attempts to "appease the gods" and then comments that he thinks he's lost his mind. The end of Chapter 5 reveals that he realized what he had done at some point, and it's implied that the reason why he invited Henry to the studio was to stop Bendy.
  • Character Name and the Noun Phrase: The title.
  • Checkpoint Starvation:
    • A very common criticism of Chapter 2 is the fact that there are no checkpoints. If the player dies at any point, it's straight back to the beginning with absolutely no progress saved, which can mean up to twenty minutes of backtracking to get another try at what you messed up on.note  This was later fixed in a patch, and the game now autosaves just before those two points.
    • Chapter 3 introduced a respawn mechanic, turning this into a case of Death Is a Slap on the Wrist. However, if you quit for any reason, even if it's not your fault, the game will disregard any saves and send you back to the beginning of the Chapter on the next playthrough.
  • Cliffhanger: Once per Episode.
    • The first chapter ends with you trapped under the exit to the studio, armed with an axe as Ink Bendy begins to emerge from the darkness.
      • This one was updated with the release of Chapter Two. Now, you enter a room, step on a pentagram, and see some images (the Ink Machine, a wheelchair, and Ink Bendy) in rapid succession before finally collapsing.
    • In the second one, you have just escaped Ink Bendy and someone has barred the door behind you. As you call out to your mysterious helper, Buddy Boris emerges from behind the corner.
    • Third one ends as Henry wakes up after the elevator crash and sees Buddy Boris trying to revive him, with Twisted Alice sneaking up from behind and winding up to strike Henry's only friend in this place in the back.
    • Fourth one ends with more of a Wham Shot than a straight-up cliffhanger, as Twisted Alice is stabbed through the chest by an attacker who turns out to be... another Alice, with a healthy Boris in tow.
  • Combat Pragmatist:
    • Due to being an old guy trapped in an Eldritch Location, Henry uses all the tools and strategies he can to survive.
    • Brainwashed and Crazy Brute Boris throws every item that he can at Henry.
  • Conspicuously Light Patch: An extremely literal example. Most of the studio is fairly dark, but spots meant to draw the players attention are often bathed in supernaturally bright spotlights, while any progress-critical item literally glows when you get close enough to it.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: According to Twisted Alice, in Drew's studio "either you were in someone's pocket, or you were putting someone into yours".
  • Cutting the Knot: In Chapter 5, Allison plans to create a mechanism to open the door to the Ink Demon's lair, but Tom decides to just punch the door down.

    D-G 
  • Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Since the release of Chapter 3, Henry respawns after death without losing any progress, with punch clocks serving as checkpoints and Bendy statues serving as respawn points.
  • Double Meaning:
    • "He will set us free". Sounds like it's talking about Bendy, right? It also could refer to Sammy Lawrence, who acted as a leader of sorts to the Searchers and the Lost Ones in hoping that he could reach out to Ink Bendy, or it could also refer to Henry. He ultimately sets everyone underground free from terror after he kills off Ink Bendy for good.
    • Henry's first lines in Chapter 1. At this point, new players are under the assumption that they're here to meet Joey Drew. The ending of Chapter 5 puts said lines under a new light: Henry had recently met Joey at his apartment. Joey requested Henry to go to the studio to see something, which is essentially where Chapter 1 and Henry's lines begin.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: Of a sort; as the game updates, it changes previous chapters to be more consistent with later ones. The Ink Machine, for example, was large and sat around in an otherwise non-descript room. By the time the Chapter 4 update rolled around, the size of the room and Machine were increased significantly, and now the Ink Machine is held up on chains.
  • Easter Egg:
    • After you turn on the Ink Machine, return to the room where the deceased Boris is in and walk through the wall with the Boris poster on it to find a secret room containing the mascot of the game's developer, theMeatly.
      • You can also do this in Chapter 2, by going through the Boris Poster in the workroom by Sammy's office after turning on the Flow Control.
      • After finishing all of Twisted Alice's tasks in Chapter 3, you can find theMeatly behind a Boris poster on Level P, although you need to take the stairs there as using the elevator triggers the ending cutscene.
      • After opening the door to the archives right at the beginning of Chapter 4, find theMeatly having a cookout behind the Boris poster in the closet across from Grant's office.
      • And finally, in Chapter 5, theMeatly can be found behind a nearby poster after completing the pipework outside the corridor maze.
    • In chapter two, playing the radio in Sammy's office will play a special swing version of Build Our Machine.
      • Another radio added to Chapter 1 in an update, in the room where the light turns off plays another fan-created song: Bendy And The Ink Machine, by Kyle Allen.
      • All radios play fan songs, and can be found among musical instruments in the stairway outside Level 11 in Chapter 3, made with the first Gent machine in Chapter 4, and found in a box in the vault in Chapter 5.
    • A slightly freakier secret as of the Chapter 3 update — if you hack or glitch into an area where you're not supposed to go, you come across a Bendy cutout with realistic eyes and what appears to be Blood from the Mouth, holding a sign that reads WANDERING IS A TERRIBLE SIN. Apparently this was put into the game to discourage hacking.
    • Various posters and artworks are from fan contests.
    • Beside Shawn Flynn's audio log in Chapter 3 is an ink toy that when interacted with changes between a Bendy plush, a Boris plush, an Alice Plush, and a model Ink Machine. However, it also has a tiny chance of briefly taking the shape of a skull between transformations.
    • Chapter 3 has a pair of broken headphones on Level 14, referencing YouTuber TZKUnit, who broke his headphones while playing the game.
    • Chapter 3 has two hidden audio logs. The first can be found on Level 9 after Twisted Alice gives you the axe, which you can use to break open a boarded up door and access the room beyond, which contains an audio log from accountant Grant Cohen. The other is in the flooded room outside Level P, which must be drained using a valve behind the starting platform on Level 14, behind some boards you can break with the pipe (or the tommy gun, if you managed to get it). Returning to the room allows you to listen to an audio log... from yourself.
    • At the beginning of Chapter 5, Allison Angel gives you a Seeing Tool which allows you to see hidden messages. Using on her reveals a glowing halo above her head. If you gave the bone to Boris in Chapter 3, use the device on Tom. He has a glowing bone in his mouth.
      • Using the Seeing Tool on Shawn Flynn's audio log in chapter three reveals the phrase "Top of the Morning".
      • After crossing the Bottomless Pit in Chapter 4, the Seeing Tool can reveal a heart painted on the back of a crate, evoking the appearance of a Companion Cube.
      • In the Bendyland storage room in Chapter 4, the Seeing Tool can reveal a large curly mustache painted onto the giant Bendy cutout head, a reference to Markiplier.
    • The schedule board in the administration room in Chapter 5 has the names of "Hayden - UAC", "F. Fontaine", "Charles and his prodigies", "Dr. Hackenbush", and "E. Misner".
    • While walking through the ink towards the Ink Machine in Chapter 5, the inky form of Chester from Bendy in Nightmare Run can be found on some rocks.
  • Eldritch Abomination:
    • The ink produced by the Ink Machine acts as The Corruption and can turn people into living cartoons.
    • Ink Bendy exhibits a bunch of bizarre traits that make him unusual even amongst the fellow ink monsters.
      • He can teleport — several times, you can see trails of ink that lead into a solid wall. If you can see him vanish from a Miracle Station, you can actually see a pool of ink open on a solid wall as he enters it, closing right behind him.
      • His appearances are accompanied by splashes of ink that surround him wherever he goes and vanish as soon as he moves away.
      • He's apparently the force behind player respawn, as Henry returns to the world in front of his statues.
      • He knows when one of his cut-outs is destroyed, even if he's not in the room when it happens.
      • He seems to be able to control his cut-outs as seen in Chapter 1. But he didn't pop up until the Ink Machine was started back up.
  • Eldritch Location:
    • As of Chapter 3, the animation studio seems to be turning into this. Not only is the basement impossibly big for the tiny building above it, it also has things that just don't make sense for an animation studio to have, like giant open rooms with nothing in them, a department for producing plush toys of the characters, and several long hallways that serve no purpose but to have projectors placed in them at random. Henry points out that he doesn't remember these rooms, but it's not clear if it's a result of the Ink Machine and Joey's experimentation, or if they were just built during the thirty years between his retirement and the game.
    • Chapter 4 then ups the ante by having a bottomless pit in the middle of level S, and an entire haunted house ride.
    • In Chapter 5, after leaving the film vault, you walk by Henry's old desk from chapter one again, despite the fact that it was on the surface and the rooms shouldn't be connected like that.
  • Elevator Failure: Henry can listen to an audio log in Chapter 3 where maintenance worker Thomas Connor complains about Joey Drew Studios' owner neglecting the lift, outright saying that "someone's sure to end up falling to their death". Later in the chapter, Henry and Boris are sent plummeting when the evil version of Alice Angel sabotages the lift.
  • Empty Room Psych: Quite frequent, but moreso in the Chapter 1, when there were no enemies yet.
  • Expy:
    • Bendy seems based on Mickey Mouse and Bimbo the dog, being a primarily black cartoon creature with white gloves. His mischievous personality is more like Bimbo, but his design recalls Mickey more.
    • Boris resembles Goofy.
    • Alice Angel is likely based on Betty Boop, being a more realistic counterpart to Bendy (Betty was once a dog like Bimbo) with a sexy design and popularity that is said to be greater than the original star.
    • Joey Drew and Henry are possibly inspired by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, where the latter co-created an iconic character solely attributed to the former.
  • Fate Worse than Death: It's implied in chapter 4 that the ink people passively standing around or crying in corners are former employees of the company, transformed by the machine and forced to remain in the studio forever. Chapter 5 confirms this.
    ONCE PEOPLE, NOW FALLEN INTO DESPAIR
  • Fetch Quest: There's one in Chapter 1 involving collecting six objects; one in Chapter 2 where Henry must find Wally's lost keys; and a bunch in Chapter 3, which Twisted Alice sends Henry on for her amusement. In Chapter 5 it gets a Lampshade Hanging when Allison tries to send you on another one before Tom ends up Cutting the Knot.
  • Five-Second Foreshadowing:
    • In Chapter 4, Bertrum's voice in his second audio log is subtitled instead of being shown in the normal Audio Log window, just before the ride he possesses comes to life.
    • At the beginning of Chapter 5, Allison Angel tells you about the secret messages only visible through a special seeing device. When you use this directly after she gives it to you, there's a message scrawled on the wall: "SHE WILL LEAVE YOU FOR DEAD". Later, when Ink Bendy has almost breached the safehouse, Allison does leave you for dead, albeit regretfully.
  • Food as Bribe: You can convince Buddy Boris to escort Henry out of the safehouse by heating up two cans of bacon soup for him.
  • Foreshadowing: In Chapter 2, Susie Campbell, the voice actor for Alice Angel, says she feels like a part of her. In chapter 3, it turns out that Susie makes up part of Twisted Alice, due to Joey's actions.
    • In Chapter 4, the Lost Ones seem to revere Bendy as their god, sound familiar? Turns out they were Sammy's congregation, and when Henry and Tom kill him in a rematch, they pull a Face–Heel Turn.
  • Four-Fingered Hands: A feature of all cartoon characters, complete with White Gloves. The ink-covered Sammy Lawrence also has these without the gloves, while Bendy in his Inked form has five-fingered hands seemingly growing through his gloves.
  • Gainax Ending: The last scene of the final episode takes place in full color, and somehow Henry finds himself meeting with Joey Drew at his home before he opens the exit to the house, only to reveal the studio from when Henry enters somehow, right down to the first lines Henry speaks.
  • Gone Horribly Wrong: Chapter 5 reveals that Joey Drew wanted to use the Ink Machine to bring his cartoons to life so that people could know them as well as he did, starting with Bendy. Unfortunately, creating Ink Bendy was a failed experiment, and as such, no other attempts to create him have happened ever since.
  • Gory Discretion Shot: We don't actually see Ink Bendy tearing Sammy Lawrence to pieces.
  • "Groundhog Day" Loop: It's revealed in the ending that Joey Drew sends Henry to live throughout his inky adventure again and again and again as a loop. He himself seems to be aware of this fact, because it's implied that all the invisible messages from chapter 1 to chapter 5 are written by him and refer to how he keeps looping. Players can read these through the Seeing Tool as a New Game Plus bonus.
    The first invisible message seen after Henry's first drop: I ALWAYS FALL

    H-M 
  • Hallucinations: It's implied that Henry is starting to have these in Chapter Four, as two times, the game suddenly shifts pallette and strange things happen, only to vanish a moment later and for things to return normal. The same visual effects happen when Ink Bendy attacks the Projectionist, but when they stop, both ink monsters are still there (one of them dead), putting into question what was and wasn't real.
  • Hellevator: The ride shown in the "Hell in a Handbasket" poster counts as one.
  • Hell Is That Noise: The audio log in Grant Cohen's office, presumably created by him, consists of screams of pain and horror, that gradually turn into a low, bassy gurgling.
  • Homage: The whole game shows love for traditional black and white animation in the Disney and Fleischer Studios style.
  • Human Resources: While the Ink Machine doesn't strictly need human souls to create living cartoons, sacrificing the studio employees to the ink served to "perfect" them.
  • Hyperactive Metabolism: In Chapter 2, you can replenish your health by eating bacon soups, though who knows what's actually in them.
  • "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Averted; Henry has no time to reason with Brute Boris or beg him to stop fighting him in Chapter Four. He has to kill Brute Boris in self-defense.
  • Image Song: Alice Angel has one in the form of Lonely Angel/I'll Be Your Angel.
  • Immune to Bullets: Ink Bendy, in Chapter 3.
  • Improvised Weapon: Henry's main weapon in Chapter 3 is a "Gent" pipe, which also comes into play at the end of Chapter 4. If he backtracks in Chapter 4, he may choose to wield a plunger instead of the pipe.
  • Incompetence, Inc.: The way it's been presented so far, Joey Drew's studio was a nightmare to work at. The ever-present, all-encompassing Ink Machine ensured that the place was perpetually loud and covered in ink leaks, the artist's desks were tucked into every corner of the studio, and Drew's outlandish ideas, from the Machine itself to an entire theme park dedicated to Bendy, were so expensive, Grant Cohen actually went insane trying to make the company finances work. However, as by the time Henry arrives, the studio has been defunct for years, if not decades.
  • Invisible Writing: The studio has messages all over its walls. Some of them can't be seen without a special tool that Allison gives Henry.
  • Ironic Nursery Tune:
    • Sammy sings one as he's about to sacrifice Henry to Bendy.
    • The Alice Angel theme song that plays as Henry is introduced to the... real-life version.
  • Jump Scare:
    • Bendy's cardboard cutout appears at random times, though you never see it moving. Except for one time, when it peeks around a corner to look at you. And it happens again in Chapter Two and Chapter Three. All times, they actually seem to be helping, as they do that when you're reaching an area of importance.
      • As of September 28, you can now open the door that's on the left side of Wally Frank's tape now. Guess what suddenly peeks out at you while you are opening it?
    • After you turn on the ink machine, Ink Bendy appears with a Scare Chord, forcing Henry to run.
    • In Chapter 2, you have the appearance of the Searchers, who are quite fond of this. Also, Ink Bendy does this again by the end of the chapter.
    • Chapter 3 has Twisted Alice suddenly slamming her hands against a previously-dark window at the end of her theme song, shrieking at Henry before vanishing.
    • Chapter 4 has several, some of which seem to be hallucinations of Henry's.
  • Justified Save Point: In case anything goes wrong, punch clocks can be used to save your progress.
  • Karmic Death: Sammy is killed in the same way he tried to have Henry killed.
  • Killed Offscreen: Sammy is killed by Bendy behind closed doors, but not out of Henry's earshot. He survives.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
    • The posters next to the punch clocks that allow you to save your progress surely qualify.
      Don't forget to punch in! It could SAVE your job.
    • If Tom's Cutting the Knot moment is any indication, he's just as sick of the game's frequent Fetch Quests as quite a few players probably are.
  • Let's You and Him Fight:
    • Chapter 4 has Twisted Alice sic Brute Boris on Henry in an attempt to kill him.
    • It's implied that this is why Joey sent Henry to the studio so he can stop Ink Bendy for good.
  • Logical Weakness: Being a cartoon, Ink Bendy is instantly annihilated upon finding out that his show has officially ended.
  • MacGuffin Delivery Service: Henry goes on a bunch of fetch quests for Twisted Alice, in which he retrieves the parts needed for her machines. This allows her to ready them to turn Buddy Boris Brainwashed and Crazy.
  • Mad Scientist: Twisted Alice is conducting experiments on other ink creatures in attempts to "make herself beautiful". In Chapter 4, she even graduates to having a brutish minion of her own creation.
  • Model Museum: The special chapter, The Archives, is one of these. It's set in a museum-like area and contains both the 3D models of all the characters seen across all five chapters of the game, including their beta models. Some of the character models have a sign next to them that have either a brief description of the character or insight on their development.
  • Morton's Fork: In Chapter Three, Henry finds Twisted Alice confronting him. She "persuades" him to become her "errand boy" because her alternative is to tear him apart, or to leave him for the Searchers, Butcher Gang, and Ink Bendy. She also admits that she just might let Henry live long enough to get the items she needs, so at best Henry is buying time before Twisted Alice kills him. Either way Henry is dead.
  • Mysterious Watcher:
    • Ink Bendy seems eager to follow you and watch your actions. And he also seems more proactive than most. The cutouts are sometimes placed near objects or areas of importance. And, as mentioned above, they thrice peer out at you from a corner, seeming to point you in the right direction.
    • In Chapter 2, after you close the ink flow and go through the recording room, if you look up at the projector booth, you can see Bendy's cardboard cutout accompanied by Sammy, both watching you intently, though you won't know who the latter is yet.
    • Chapter 4 is filled with these, as Henry encounters more than a few "ink people". The ones who aren't crying are watching him intently.

    N-S 
  • No Fair Cheating:
    • The game can't be saved if you skip to later chapters using the select option.
    • Using hacks to move through certain blocked doorways will lead you to a disturbing looking Bendy cutout holding a sign saying "WANDERING IS A TERRIBLE SIN".
  • No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Twisted Alice succeeds in capturing Buddy Boris because he left the safehouse to help Henry.
  • Notice This: Progress-critical items will shine, making them easier to spot.
  • Number of the Beast: Appears on the train of the "Bendy in Train Trouble" poster.
  • Offscreen Teleportation: The cardboard cutout Bendys are very fond of this. In Chapter 2, some can even regenerate if you break them with the axe and reappear as soon as you look away, though this is only if the cutout is positioned in front of a Pentagram.
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • Henry gasps when he sees Bendy's cardboard cutout in the middle of the hallway. And it wasn't there before.
    • Henry reacts this way upon seeing Ink Bendy and makes a break for the entrance.
  • Ominous Obsidian Ooze: The eponymous Ink Machine seemingly both runs on ink and produces it in infinite — and exponentially growing — quantities. The ink covers the entire studio, and can both bring cartoon characters to life (albeit with a healthy dose of Body Horror) and turn humans into ink monsters, the most common of which are the Searchers, deformed and incomplete beings of ink, and the Lost Ones, humanoid masses of dripping, shifting ink.
  • Optional Boss:
    • In Chapter 2, after activating the second valve, return to the room at the very beginning of the chapter and find a Searcher wearing a mining helmet. Although you can kill it with your axe like other Searchers, you can also lead it all the way to the sewer where you encountered Swollen Jack, and crushing the Searcher with the crate will trigger a hallucination.
    • In Chapter 3, when Twisted Alice sends you an axe, break open the boarded up door on Level 9. In addition to a hidden audio log, there is a second axe. Before taking the elevator to Level 14 for Twisted Alice's final task, take this axe and head up to Level K and go to the toymaking workshop. Break the wall made of boards to find a lever. Pull it to spawn a horde of Searchers in the large room. After killing them, pull it again to spawn a lot of Butcher Gangs. And after them, pull it a third time to spawn a giant Searcher.
    • If you really want a challenge, do the two above bosses. Then, in Chapter 4, after getting out of the Butcher Gang's room and pulling the second lever, go back in. There's a cache of empty bacon soup cans for you in the back room with Lacie's audio log. Escape the room again (Don't throw the cans.) Now just use the cans to kill Bertrum and Brute Boris. Easy. Then, in Chapter 5, at the corridor maze, lure the Butcher Gang out when Ink Bendy passes through to have him kill them. Once you've finished the pipework, head back towards Joey's office and you'll find a Sinister Scythe outside. Pick it up and get a bunch of Searchers, one of which is wearing Sammy's mask. Kill him last since the scythe breaks on him. Congratulations, you've unlocked black and white mode.note 
  • Painted CGI: The game has sketched outlines on all of the models to give them a "classic cartoon" look.
  • Randomly Generated Levels: All maps are fixed, but there are some game-play elements that are mixed up between each play-through, and older versions of the game had more.
    • In Chapter 1: The six objects you need to collect used to be shuffled around in different places with each playthrough.
    • In Chapter 2:
      • The switches you need to find to open the first gate used to shift locations with each playthrough.
      • To enter Sammy's sanctuary, you must play four instruments in a specific order while the projector is running to open the gate. The combination needed is delivered via an audio log. Mad Libs Dialogue allows for multiple options for the unlock.
      • Wally's keys are in a different trash can every time.
    • In Chapter 3:
      • Twisted Alice's quests used to be open to the entire map aside from the final one. Now they're all restricted to a single floor each.
  • Retcon: Whenever a new chapter releases, the previous chapters tend to get updated along with it.
    • After Chapter 2 released, Chapter 1 featured some new rooms, a redesigned Boris, and an artistic overhaul for Inked Bendy. After Chapter 3, yet more new rooms were added, including one that features the new Punch Clock introduced in said chapter, there's a new audio log regarding a plumber named Thomas Connor, who worked on the Ink Machine's pipes, that rightly decided to never work for Joey Drew again, and Bacon Soup cans were added.
    • Chapter 2's Searchers were updated to be the more pained, less upright ones from Chapter 3.
    • The satanic pentagrams were replaced with a new design in the Chapter 4 update, with the new line formation still being circular, but with a formation within it that looks roughly similar to Bendy's head.
  • Recycled In Space: The entire setup is basically Lovecraft's From Beyond with the titular Ink Machine playing the part of the Resonator... and what it brings into the world is just as unfriendly as it is in the story. Amped up even further when you realize that Twisted Alice is playing the part of Praetorius...to the death.
  • Red Herring: Two in Chapter 4.
    • You will only need to use one of the Miracle Stations scattered throughout the level.
    • The "Gent" machine has the option to create a bone, which will do absolutely nothing when fighting Brute Boris.
  • The Reveal: The very end of Chapter 5 reveals that Henry visited Joey in his apartment before heading to the studio. Joey, now a regretful old man, sent Henry into the Studio so that he could permanently end the Ink Demon's reign.
  • Ritual Magic: Joey was up to some seriously occult business in the studio, and if his insistence on "sacrificial" items for the Ink Machine and a gutted real-life Boris don't sell you, the satanic pentagram hidden under the studio will.
  • Roger Rabbit Effect: Features living cartoons (who are fictional in-universe) emerging from the machine as you explore the abandoned animation studios. In Chapter 1, Bendy himself appears to be out for blood, while you can also find his old partner/nemesis Boris the Wolf, strapped to a table and vivisected. Chapter 2 gives us Boris alive and well. And then there's Sammy Lawrence, who at this point is a hybrid of human and ink-dripping cartoon. It turns out that the entire plot began because of this one trope: Joey commissioned the Ink Machine in an attempt to bring his characters to life to help the public understand how he perceives them by letting them meet in person. The project took a blow when an attempt to create Bendy had a less-than-favourable outcome and no attempt to perfect the dancing demon was attempted ever again.
  • Room Full of Crazy: Grant Cohen's office at the start of Chapter 4 has scribbles all over the walls and floor, as the man was apparently driven mad trying to make sense of the company's finances. Highlights include repeating "time is money" over and over, scribbling random sums, and declaring that "it doesn't add up".
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
    • Wally Franks' audio logs always end with him threatening to quit if another bad incident occurs in the studio (ie. another pipe bursting). The end of Chapter 5 reveals that he went to Florida with his wife.
    • Henry, to his credit, tries when he sees Ink Bendy. The problem is that he then falls through a secret room.
    • An audio log added to Chapter 1 after the release of Chapter 3 has a man named Thomas Connor having to fix the pipes to the Ink Machine, and decides, partly because of how frustrating repairing the pipes are, but primarily in how he has a bad feeling about said machine, that he's never doing another repair job for the company again.
  • Self-Deprecation: In Chapter 5, to enter Ink Bendy's sanctum, Allison starts rattling off a variety of equipment she needs to open the door for Henry to get. Tom just breaks the door open, echoing a complaint about the abundance of Fetch Quests in the game.
  • Serial Escalation: The studio becomes progressively more Eldritch throughout the chapters, most of what you see in the first two chapters is something you could reasonably expect to find in a real animation studio, with the weirdest thing (that isn't clearly connected to the Ink Machine itself) in them being the presence of an infirmary, something that while highly unlikely could have a mundane explanation. Chapter 3 has the giant empty rooms, long hallways that only serve to have projectors randomly placed in them, and toy department mentioned above, this is the point where it becomes impossible to ignore that the scale of what you're seeing is far too large for the tiny building above it and Alien Geometries become apparent. Chapter 4 is when it gets outright cartoony with a secret society of lost ones, a library and an an entire amusement park that even contains a haunted house ride being revealed to be part of the studio. By chapter 5, the game has completely given up on any pretense of the location truly resembling a realistic studio, revealing A SMALL CITY on the lowest level, still being connected to the main studio.
  • Sequel Hook: "Tell me another one, Uncle Joey."
  • Shout-Out:
  • Spectacular Spinning: Bertrum has become a spinning amusement park ride.
  • Subverted Kids' Show: The game puts an interesting spin on this. The Bendy cartoons the plot revolves around are cute and family-friendly, with an old-fashioned rubber hose Disney style. However, in the studio, there's an actual Boris the Wolf, cut open and strapped to a table, and some toothy cartoon monstrosity (that resembles Bendy) comes after you while you're unable to escape.

    T-Z 
  • Tap on the Head:
    • Sammy knocks Henry out near the end of Chapter 2, and yet Henry's perfectly capable of running and swinging an axe shortly afterwards. Granted, he was also fearing for his life at that point. Adrenaline can do amazing things. Then it's subverted when Chapter 3 reveals that Henry spent time recovering in the safe house while Buddy Boris cared for him and played cards with him.
    • Subverted when Twisted Alice crashes the elevator holding Henry and Buddy Boris, and the impact knocks out Henry. Buddy Boris barely manages to rouse Henry, who can't warn him about an approaching Twisted Alice. Then Henry lapses back into unconsciousness after seeing her take Buddy Boris, and Twisted Alice assumes he is dead.
  • "Test Your Strength" Game: In Chapter 4, among the attractions in Bendy Land is a strength test game. Hitting the bell will cause Twisted Alice to sarcastically remark that Buddy Boris' rescue can wait.
  • Tragic Monster: Chapter 5 reveals Ink Bendy to be this. Turns out he was the first and only attempt to bring the cartoon character to life. Since he has no soul, the attempt failed. However, he did little more than wander around the studio, not harming anyone, but due to him possibly scaring people off, he was locked away.
  • Troubled Production: In-Universe, the composer Sammy Lawrence would interrupt music recordings for the animation productions. He would mess with the projector and run back to it, to the band's bewilderment.
  • Unintentionally Unwinnable: Near the start of Chapter 2 when you have to find and press 3 buttons, 2 of them are supposed to start near the bottom of the stairs but the game will occasionally only load one of the two buttons meaning the player has to restart the chapter all over again.
  • Unusual Chapter Numbers: Of a sort. The floors accessible from the elevator are, from top to bottom, "K", "11", "P", "9", "14", and "S".
  • Unusual Halo: Twisted Alice has a semi broken halo that appears to be partially fused with her head.
  • Villainous Rescue: Ink Bendy can save Henry from Sammy, the Projectionist, and the Butcher Gang.
  • Wham Line:
    • Found in the room below the exit: "The Creator lied to us".
    • In Chapter 2, after you listen to an audio log that ends with "Can I get an amen?", you hear the same voice say "I said can I get an amen?", but the tape is off and the voice sounds like it's coming from just around the corner.
    • In Chapter 3:
    Twisted Alice: I see you there.
    • Chapter 3 also has Twisted Alice's maddened cackling while you're in the elevator, revealing that you're not quite out of the woods yet. Then she says, "I know who you are, Henry! I know why you're here!".
    • Chapter 4 - For anyone not tipped off by the subtitles, there's the line at the end of Bertrum's "recording" inside Bendy Land: "You may think I've gone... But I'm still here!"
    • Between Chapters 4 and 5, the developers released an audio log of Henry, seemingly recorded between the two chapters. It's mostly an Apocalyptic Log recapping the events so far... but then he states this particularly eye-catching line, which throws our perceptions of Allison and Tom into question (though there's still the possibility that he's talking about someone, or something else):
    Henry: There's crazy things happening down here... monsters, demons, angels... and right now, two of them are holding me prisoner.
    • The beginning of Chapter 5 reveals that they had a perfectly good reason to: They didn't trust him yet.
    • And then there's the final line of the game, which is also the first.
    Henry: Alright, Joey. I'm here. Let's see if we can find what you wanted me to see.
  • Wham Shot:
    • Boris is strapped to a table, his mouth open. It's not clear if he's alive, though the amount of rib cage showing, coupled with his Wingding Eyes showing X would normally indicate otherwise. He is a cartoon, though, so...
    • After gathering all the necessary items, you have to head to the projector room to hit the ink flow button. On the way there, you catch a moment's glance of the Bendy cutout peering out at you. When you round the corner, you find it propped up against the wall, with fresh ink at its feet...
    • After activating the Ink Machine, Henry rounds the corner to find it boarded off — before a deformed monster resembling Bendy, better known as Ink Bendy or the Ink Demon, appears right before his eyes and knocks him onto the ground.
    • After you escape from a fully formed Ink Bendy, you walk down a hall and find none other than Boris. Alive and well.
    • What remains of Sammy Lawrence, shown in the Stinger of Chapter 2.
    • In Chapter 3, you and Buddy Boris come across an entire room full of Borises and Butcher Gang members having been killed in a similar manner as Chapter 1. A moment later, and we get another: Twisted Alice torturing a Piper, revealing that she's the one responsible.
    • Near the end of Chapter 4, Henry is riding a cart through the haunted house, when the cart is suddenly stopped by two enormous hands that poke out of the darkness... and then the mutated visage of what is unmistakably Boris rises into view.
    • Chapter 4 ends with Henry having to fight a monstrous Boris made by Twisted Alice. After killing it, Twisted Alice tries to strangle him, only to be killed by... another, less corrupted version of Alice with her own Boris.
    • Chapter 5 ends with Henry revealed to have visited Joey in person before the beginning of Chapter 1. The latter then asked him to go to the studio in the back of his apartment for unspecified reasons.
  • White Gloves: All the cartoon characters wear them. Amusingly, Alice seems to wear the traditional White Gloves over a pair of elbow-length High-Class Gloves.
  • Why Won't You Die?: Twisted Alice says this almost word-for-word as Henry kills Brute Boris.
  • "Will Return" Caption: All chapters finish with Bendy will return.
  • Wolverine Publicity: The titular Bendy and the Ink Machine have been promoted constantly alongside the game. Despite this, the cardboard cutout Bendy is overshadowed by Ink Bendy, and the Ink Machine itself (the part of it that is promoted anyway) only appears in the game's first chapter before every following chapter has it completely absent, as Henry is forcibly sent underground the facility right after activating it.
  • Would Be Rude to Say "Genocide": In Chapter 5, you wipe out a Searcher and Lost One village. Admittedly, they leave you little other choice with their attacks, and might be able to return from the ink, but still.
  • Zerg Rush: Chapter 5 has an assault by a large number of Searchers and the Lost Ones. Luckily, you have Allison and Tom by your side.

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