Bendy (franchise)

Bendy is a horror game series and media franchise created by TheMeatly and Mike Desjardins.

Gameplay
The Bendy games are set at the fictional studio of Joey Drew Studios, where the player navigates through a first-person perspective and have limited physical actions such as running and jumping. Players are required to complete certain objectives to proceed, which consist of solving certain puzzles by collecting certain objects and of combating enemies that appear through the games by using certain weapons, such as axe, pipe, gun, etc.

Story
Set in retro times, the series is focused on Joey Drew Studios, a fictional animation studio run by Joey Drew, which was responsible for numerous popular characters such as Bendy and his friends. The plot revolves around the titular Ink Machine, a mysterious machine created by Drew and the Gent Corporation in order to create living cartoons, which were created from the souls of Drew's employees, and is responsible for a time loop day world called the Cycle. Each game has different protagonist trying to survive and free themselves from the horrors in the ink realm and against ink monsters such as The Ink Demon.

Characters
Bendy, the titular character of the franchise, is a cartoon demon who serves as the mascot for Joey Drew Studios. He manifests in game as the Ink Demon, the Ink Machine's first creation, and a soulless monster which rules over the Cycle, which resets following his death. Other forms of the Ink Demon include a more benevolent cartoon Bendy and a monstrous form called Beast Bendy. The Ink Demon was the main villain of the first game and the prequel, and the central antagonist of the second game. Alice Angel is the female star of the Bendy cartoons, who is implied to be Bendy's love interest. The two actresses who voiced the character, Susie Campbell and Allison Pendle, manifest as versions of Alice in the games. Susie manifests as Twisted Alice, a deformed, sadistic Alice who craves perfection, while Allison manifests as Allison Angel, a kindhearted survivor. There is also Boris the Wolf, one of Bendy's friends, who had many clones in the Cycle, all murdered by Twisted Alice. Daniel Lewek, Joey's former apprentice, became a kindhearted Boris named Buddy Boris. Thomas Conner, Allison's husband and an employee of the Gent Corporation, becomes Tom, a clone of Boris with a mechanical arm. Other versions of Boris include Brute Boris, a monstrous version of Buddy Boris after being experimented on by Twisted Alice, and Borkis, a clone of Boris with glowing eyes, who serves as a secret boss in Boris and the Dark Survival.

Other ink creatures include the Butcher Gang, Bendy's archenemies from the cartoons, who appear as recurring enemies in each game. The members include Charley / Piper, the leader of the Butcher Gang who is a primate, Barley / Fisher a human sailor, and Edgar / Striker a spider. Bendy and the Dark Revival adds a female member to the Butcher Gang called Carley / Slicer, a ghost girl. Other enemies includes Searchers and Lost Ones, former employees of Joey Drew Studios that have become trapped in the Cycle.

Each game has a different protagonist. The protagonist of Bendy and the Ink Machine and Bendy:The Cage is Henry Stein, an ink replica of Joey's former partner. Buddy Boris serves as the protagonist of Boris and the Dark Survival. And the protagonist of Bendy and the Dark Revival is Audrey Drew, the Ink Machine created daughter of Joey Drew. Riley Wells is the protagonist of Bendy: Secrets of the Machine.

Other human characters include Joey Drew, the creator and CEO of Joey Drew Studios, who indirectly caused the events of the series. Joey dies prior to the events of Bendy and the Dark Revival, but an ink replica of him guides Audrey. Wilson Arch is the main antagonist of Bendy and the Dark Revival. He is the son of Nathan Arch, founder of Archgate Pictures, and has disguised himself as a janitor to take over the Cycle with his creations, the Keepers. Towards the end of the game, Wilson becomes Shipahoy Wilson, a fusion of himself and his cartoon character, Shipahoy Dudley, who was meant to replace the Ink Demon.

Other humans turned ink monsters include Sammy Lawarence, the former music director of Joey Drew Studios who went insane and started to worship the Ink Demon as a deity. It is implied through audio logs that Sammy had a relationship with Susie Campbell. Norman Polk, the former projectionist at Joey Drew Studios, was transformed into the Projectionist monster. Bertrum Piedmont, a world-renowned theme park designer hired by Joey Drew Studios, becomes a giant head fused with an amusement park ride.

The Gent Corporation are the presumed overarching antagonists of the series. The company is run by Alan Gray, an unseen character. Gent created the Ink Machine as well as other technology found throughout the Cycle.

Development
The Bendy franchise was inspired by the BioShock series, as both of them are set in the 20th-century and both of them have an antique style. The idea for the concept of the series came from theMeatly when he thought about a world that could resemble a cartoon sketch.

Bendy and the Ink Machine (2017–2018)
Bendy and the Ink Machine is an episodic survival horror game and the first installment of the series. The game consists of five chapters, released from February 10, 2017, to October 28, 2018.

Boris and the Dark Survival (2020)
A prequel to Bendy and the Ink Machine was released on February 10, 2020, as part of the original game's third anniversary, on PC and mobile platforms. Players play as Boris the Wolf, An unnamed Lost One, and Sammy Lawrence. From an up-top vision as he navigates his way through Joey Drew Studios, running away from The Ink Demon, Alice Angel, The Butcher Gang, and The Projectionist. A teaser from Secrets of the Machine hints that the game will get the Bendy: Lone Wolf update.

Bendy and the Dark Revival (2022)
Bendy and the Dark Revival is a first-person survival horror video game developed by Joey Drew Studios Inc. it is the third installment of the Bendy franchise and sequel to Bendy and the Ink Machine. The game was released on November 15, 2022 for Windows and in March 1, 2023 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One to mixed reviews from critics. It's a survival horror game played from a first-person perspective. Players control Audrey, an animator who must navigate the world of Joey Drew Studios while avoiding creatures, occasionally solving puzzles along the way.

The game takes place roughly 10 years after the events of the original game and follows a character named Audrey, an animator who works for Archgate Pictures; the company that took over Joey Drew Studios after its bankruptcy. One night, Audrey is pulled into the Ink Machine by Archgate's corruptive janitor Wilson. Audrey wakes up in the ink world, which Wilson now controls, claiming he killed the Ink Demon and that he knows the purpose of the people trapped there. Upon entering the ink world, Audrey is given special abilities that she can use to protect herself in this strange new world. She also finds a Gent Pipe to use as a weapon against Lost Ones, Searchers, the Butcher Gang and another character called "Slicer", and meets Allison Angel, a character from the original game, along with the Ink Demon, still fully alive and reigning, whom she manages to evade at different times. At one point, she confronts and defeats a spider-like ink monster.

During the game, Audrey meets an ink replica of Joey Drew, who reveals that the ink world is trapped in a cycle forever repeating itself. Ink Joey reveals that the ink world was created by a vengeful Joey after his business partner Henry Stein left the company, and created an ink replica of Henry (the playable character of Bendy and the Ink Machine) so he could torment him endlessly. However, Joey's ambition changed when he met Allison Pendle, the second voice actress for Alice Angel. Having a change of heart, Joey made Allison Angel for Henry, so she could guide him when things looked dark. With a change of heart, Joey used the Ink Machine to create a living daughter, made out of flesh and ink, who is revealed to be Audrey.

Throughout the game, Audrey meets a cartoon version of Bendy and battles her way out of the old Gent building, now the region of the "Keepers", cyborg-like ink creatures created by Wilson trying to protect the Cycle and keep it from being reset. In Chapter 4, the cartoon Bendy is revealed to be the Ink Demon. Wilson eventually reveals to Audrey that he could not kill the Ink Demon, so he created a device that weakened his power and turned him into a more harmless form that would pose no threat to the ink world. Despite this, the Ink Demon constantly stalks Audrey and speaks to her. Following a battle against Twisted Alice, she reunites with Allison (who kills her evil counterpart once more) and Tom, who agree to help Audrey stop the Ink Demon and they go to find help for her.

In the finale of Chapter 5, Audrey faces off against Wilson, who requires Audrey's soul to bring his creation, Shipahoy Dudley, to life, so he can finally defeat the Ink Demon and put a more controllable monster in his place. However, Audrey fights back and Wilson becomes trapped in Audrey's place and fuses with Shipahoy Dudley, causing him to become violent and full of vengeance. Audrey uses her powers to kill Wilson, but without Wilson, Shipahoy Dudley becomes a mindless creature and rips Audrey's legs off. Audrey is saved by the Ink Demon, who kills Shipahoy Dudley and drags him into the ink. With nowhere left to go, Audrey merges with the Ink Demon and turns into the monstrous Beast Bendy. Ink Joey gives Audrey the reel of "The End" (which Henry used to kill the Ink Demon, which in turn resets the Cycle) at the cost of his life. Audrey takes control of the body and, with help from Allison, Tom; Porter, a friendly Lost One that Audrey met earlier; Big Steve the Lurker, an ink monster controlled by Tom; Heidi, another friendly Lost One that Audrey befriended in the Keepers' region; and Henry, finds a projector (which is heavily implied to be the head of the Projectionist, an enemy from the first game) and shows the Ink Demon "The End", resetting the Cycle.

At the end, Audrey returns to the real world, now in control of the Cycle, and promises to make it better for her friends inside. Audrey claims that the ink world is starting to leak into the real world, as she looks to her side and sees an in-color cartoon Bendy. The after credits show Gent Corp taking the ink machine and its items to an unknown location to continue with their experiments.

Bendy and the Dark Revival was announced on April 14, 2019. However, Mike Mood stated on February 13, 2019, that it would not serve as Bendy and the Ink Machine 2. A gameplay trailer was released on June 24, 2019, announcing the game's release for Fall 2019. However, in December 2019, a new trailer was released to say that the game was being delayed and will release sometime in 2020. Another trailer was released on June 1, 2020, revealing that the game would be released in its entirety with all five chapters included, unlike the first game which was released episodically. The trailer also suggested the game would come out in the latter half of 2020. However, on November 30, 2020, the developers announced that the game would be releasing in 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The developers also cited that the game will be ten times bigger than the original game and that they didn't want to rush the game.

Writting for the Guilfordian, writer Bree Lavine said she was eagerly about the game and was refreshing YouTube every hour to look for videos surrounding the game on release day. The game was nominated for the Outstanding Visual Style category in the 2022 Steam Awards, though lost out to the PC port of Spider-Man: Miles Morales.

Bendy: Secrets of the Machine (2024)
On April 2, 2024, the Steam store-page for Bendy: Secrets of the Machine was released to the public. So far, the game seems to be about the abandoned Gent Corporation and its mysteries. It was released on April 14, 2024. The game follows Riley Wells, a young woman chosen by the Gent Corporation to explore the Machine. Riley awakens outside a house in the middle of nowhere and upon entering, finds it to be an ever changing reality. The central hub room is that of a mysterious room with four doors and a sign labeled "Escape Your Cage". Based on Riley's actions, the player can interact with the room by collecting cans and throwing them at various things in each of the rooms, learning things about Gent, as well as revealing things about Riley's past.

It is revealed that Riley had an interest in drawing as a child, until one day her parents were killed in a car accident. This resulted in Riley drawing vicious and macabre things, among them being a killer car. Her work was eventually discovered by Joey Drew Studios who hired her, but later fired her when her work became too dark. This culminates in her malicious car manifesting and chasing Riley.

The game is full of Easter eggs and secrets, some of which hint at future games and updates. Riley can be attacked by Ink Bendy if she stands in one place for too long, destroys a certain number of Bendy cutouts, or on the PC version if the player holds the shift key and types K414. The game frequently updates. At one point, players were unable to enter the house as it had a condemned sign in front. This was later removed. Another update introduced a crudely made Bendy mascot costume that follows the player and whispers a distorted message. Playing it in reverse reveals that it is the lyrics to DAGames Bendy tribute song "Build Our Machine".

Bendy in Nightmare Run (2018–2021)
A mobile spin-off, titled Bendy in Nightmare Run, was announced on January 26, 2018, and was released on iOS on August 15, 2018, and on Android on September 27. Developed by Karman Interactive and published by Joey Drew Studios Inc, the game introduces the cartoon versions of Bendy, Boris, and Alice Angel in an endless runner game, featuring four levels with a different "boss" cartoon monster, as well as collectible items and power-ups, including bacon soup cans that act as currency to buy abilities and upgrades. The game is now discontinued due to technical limitations.

Animated shorts
Videos for a series of animated shorts based on the fictional works of the Joey Drew Studios company have been released on creator theMeatly's Joey Drew Studios Inc. YouTube channel, with animation done by animator Timethehobo. The first animated short, "Tombstone Picnic", was released as part of the Chapter Three reveal trailer on August 11, 2017. The second short, "Haunted Hijinx", was uploaded on October 31, 2017, to celebrate Halloween. The third short, "Snow Sillies", was uploaded on December 24, 2017, in celebration of the holiday season. A second Christmas short, "Cookie Cookin", was uploaded on December 24, 2018, a year later after the release of "Snow Sillies". A fifth short, "Tasty Trio Troubles", was uploaded on February 10, 2019, in celebration of the game's second anniversary. "Hellfire Fighters", a short from the game, was uploaded on March 5, 2019. A seventh short, Cheap Seats, was uploaded on December 17, 2019. These shorts largely feature Bendy and Boris, with the Butcher Gang and Alice also appearing in the fifth and seventh shorts respectively.

One of Rooster Teeth's channels, ScrewAttack, pitted Bendy against Cuphead, the titular protagonist of the run and gun platformer Cuphead, in an animated fight on their web series, DBX, with Bendy emerging victorious.

Bendy and the Ink Machine: Dreams Come to Life
Bendy and the Ink Machine: Dreams Come to Life is a novel written by Adrienne Kress published by Scholastic on September 3, 2019. The novel centers on Daniel "Buddy" Lewek, a Jewish teenager who is hired by Joey Drew as a gofer and art apprentice at his studio. He becomes friends with a writer named Dot, and the two work together to piece together the many mysteries they come across in the studio, such as the ink and the increasingly erratic behavior from the music director, Sammy Lawrence. The book serves as a prequel to Bendy and the Ink Machine and Boris and the Dark Survival.

Bendy and the Ink Machine: Sent From Above
The second novel, titled Sent From Above, was originally scheduled to be released on August 1, 2020, but it was removed from the schedule as Kress focused on another Bendy book, The Illusion of Living. It is yet to be confirmed a release date, but will be published by Scholastic.

Bendy: The Illusion Of Living
Bendy: The Illusion Of Living is the second novel in the Bendy franchise written by Adrienne Kress. The novel is based on the in-game memoir of the character, Joey Drew, the founder of Joey Drew Studios. The book is mainly told in the first-person by Joey Drew as he explains in detail about his life, his philosophy for creating animations, his techniques, and the creation of his animation studio and mascot, Bendy. The book also features comments from Nathan Arch, an old friend of Joey's who claimed the rights to the Bendy franchise in 1972 following Joey’s death the year prior. The book was published by Scholastic on February 2, 2021.

Bendy: The Lost Ones
Bendy: The Lost Ones is the third novel in the Bendy franchise to be written by Adrienne Kress. The novel is set shortly after the events of "Dreams Come to Life," taking place in Atlantic City in 1946, and follows three different protagonists with each perspective separated by chapters. First is William "Bill" Chambers, the teenage son of a rich and corrupt man who owns most of Atlantic City. Next is Constance Gray, the least popular of the Gray sisters and an inspiring scientist who suppresses her frustrations in order to appease others. Last is Brant Morris, a young reporter who is interested in befriending Bill to write a story about his father. The three meet on different occasions and become friends, but when Bill gets a job with the Gent Corporation and helps repair the Ink Machine, the trio become infected by the machine's ink in different ways. The novel was released on December 7, 2021, and published by Scholastic.

Bendy: Fade to Black
Bendy: Fade to Black is the fourth novel in the Bendy franchise to be written by Adrienne Kress. The story is set in 1953 and revolves around Rose Sorenson, a teenager from Brooklyn who gets a job as a personal assistant at the Kimset Production Studio in Manhattan. There she becomes friends with Joey Drew, who promotes her to his personal assistant for The Joey Drew Show. The show replays old Bendy cartoons and utilizes a special pair of 3D glasses in an experimental 3D television system. Joey makes her family one of his test families, and while the glasses work as intended Rose begins to see hallucinations and notices strange behavior from her younger brother. At the same time, many parts of Joey's past comes back to haunt him, and Rose gets caught in the middle of it. The book was publicly announced on Kress's personal Twitter account on January 11, 2023 and was published on October 3, 2023 by Scholastic.

Guides
Joey Drew Studios Employee Handbook is a guide book written by Cala Spinner published by Scholastic on July 30, 2019. It goes over all 5 of Bendy and the Ink Machine 's chapters and most secrets throughout the game.

Comic strip collection
A compilation book of vintage-style Bendy comic strips, Crack-Up Comic Collection, is written by Vannotes and Mady Giuliani and were published by Scholastic on September 1, 2020.

Graphic novel
On July 31, 2023, Kress announced on her personal Twitter account that her first Bendy novel, Bendy and the Ink Machine: Dreams Come to Life will be adapted into a graphic novel illustrated by Alex Arizmendi and adapted by Christopher Hastings with a proposed release in August 2024. On September 12, the cover was revealed on Kress's Twitter account depicting the Ink Demon, the franchise's main antagonist as he appears in Bendy and The Dark Revival.

Crossovers
A Halloween crossover mod, Hello Bendy, was released for the game on October 27, 2017, for a limited time, featuring the Hello Neighbor antagonist, who takes the role as Bendy in all previous three chapters and Sammy Lawrence for Chapter 2. The mod's menu features the advertisement of pre-ordering the game Hello Neighbor. The mod expired by the end of October that year.

Co-creator Mike Mood has also expressed interest in a crossover with Cuphead, which had also reached peak popularity around the same time as Bendy and the Ink Machine, the first game. Cuphead also makes use of a rubber hose style inspired by classic animation (e.g. Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse). On December 22 2018, this crossover was achieved in animated form by Javier Ulloa, Shelbie Copas and Chris Rudolph, and was written by Luis Cruz.

Upcoming projects
<!--=== Bendy and the Dark Revival (2022) === Another game, Bendy and the Dark Revival, was announced on April 14, 2019. However, Mike Mood stated on February 13, 2019, that it would not serve as Bendy and the Ink Machine 2. A gameplay trailer was released on June 24, 2019, announcing the game's release for Fall 2019. However, in December 2019, a new trailer was released to say that the game was being delayed and will release sometime in 2020. Another trailer was released on June 1, 2020, revealing that the game would be released in its entirety with all five chapters included, unlike the first game which was released episodically. The trailer also suggested the game would come out in the latter half of 2020. However, on November 30, 2020, the developers announced that the game would be releasing in 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The developers also cited that the game will be ten times bigger than the original game and that they didn't want to rush the game. However, the game was delayed yet again without even being announced, but the developers said on October 31, 2021, that the game is almost done. On October 31, 2022, it was announced that a trailer for the game would release the next day. The trailer was released on November 1, 2022, confirming the release date of November 15, 2022. -->

Potential television adaptation
In 2020, Derek Kolstad, creator of the John Wick franchise, stated that he has interest in making a television adaptation based on the Bendy and the Ink Machine game. There has been no indication of this officially happening.

Film adaptation
On Christmas Day 2023, the official Bendy Twitter account announced that a film adaptation is in production with Radar Pictures.

Bendy: The Cage
On Halloween,October 31, 2023, a trailer for a new installment in the series titled Bendy: The Cage was revealed. This game will presumably take place during the events of Bendy and the Dark Revival, and center around Henry Stein as he plans to escape The Pit, a hellscape of metal and blood where only the darkest souls reside, after having been imprisoned by the Keepers. So far, only two teasers have been released. The first is the teaser, which shows off Henry, his Axe, and the plot of the game. The second is a small teaser showing the player (presumably Henry) holding an axe while staring at an unknown enemy that looks similar to a Lost One, only with blood splattered all over it, a cartoon glove for one of its hands and a beartrap-like contraption on its head. The screenshot also has secret text on it saying, "THE COMPOSER RETURNS", implying Sammy Lawrence's return in the game.

Bendy and the Silent City
On May 10th, 2023, prototype footage of a first-person shooter game titled Bendy and the Silent City was accidentally uploaded publicly onto the Joey Drew Studios YouTube channel, before it was quickly privatized and deleted. theMeatly said on X (formerly known as Twitter) that the game was not in active development, as the team were developing other Bendy projects at the time, but that the game wasn't cancelled.

On January 1st 2024, theMeatly addressed the game, saying that further development was made on the game since the leak, but was still considered a low priority game and a long way off from being released.

A teaser for the game was included in Bendy: Secrets of the Machine, released on April 14th, 2024. The teaser includes a photo of a gun, with the name "Alice II" written on it.

Untiltled third Bendy mainline game
On April 14th, 2024, a third mainline Bendy game was teased in Bendy: Secrets of the Machine, with the working title B3NDY. The game was formally announced on April 18th, 2024.