Bendy and the Dark Revival

Played the first, was alright, saw the like ratio on this and got baited. I actually had to google if I did something wrong fighting wise, because it really just boils down to trading hits - but on hard you die quick - but then you respawn basically 1 meter away with half your health... What is the point in this? I would've actually preferred the bland fighting from part 1 or even better: playing around stealth completely without being able to kill enemies at all. While the animationstyle already isn't scary, being able to kill enemies (and die without ANY consequences) removes the last bit of tension you could maybe have gotten. Also why is coming out of hiding spots so loud? For a game that promotes stealthy kills it's really counterintuitive having to wait so much distance before being able to get out of your spot.

I enjoyed the first Bendy, but Dark Revival feels like the developers had a much clearer idea of what they wanted to make. The world is bigger, more interesting and much more fun to explore, and the whole studio feels more alive and mysterious. The biggest improvement for me is the gameplay. There are more abilities, more freedom, better exploration and generally more things to actually do. You're not just walking around solving puzzles and waiting for the next horror sequence anymore. The game gives you more tools to explore the world and deal with enemies, which makes the experience feel much more like a proper game. The story and lore are also much more interesting if you were invested in the first game. There are a lot of questions, strange characters and little details everywhere, and I really enjoyed slowly figuring out what was happening. It's still deliberately confusing at times, but in a way that makes you want to keep going. And once again, the art style and atmosphere are fantastic. The ink-covered cartoon world has so much personality, and the combination of old animation aesthetics with horror works incredibly well. I wouldn't say it's a perfect horror game, though. Some of the enemies and encounters aren't particularly scary, and there are moments where the game becomes more of an action/adventure game than a horror game. But honestly, I think that's fine because the overall experience is much more varied than the first. If you liked Bendy and the Ink Machine, Dark Revival feels like the developers took everything they learned from the first game and actually expanded on it. Bigger, better gameplay, more exploration and a much more interesting world. Definitely my favorite of the two.