Halloween in July: Bendy and the Ink Machine: A Love Letter to Bioshock 

I was watching a trailer for The epic Mickey remake and I saw some comments saying how it's cool they got this design from bendy and the ink machine and I know it's probably a joke but it killed me inside

I guess the true horror in this game is ART turned into CONTENT.

HELL YEAH UPLOADED RIGHT WHEN I GO ON BREAK

Bendy is one of those games that I think people kinda used to run away with and get wildly higher expectations for than it ended up being. With the benefit of hindsight, its a pretty good game. Never heard much about the dark revival, but the original is a short but fine horror game.

Ironically I played Bendy without knowing anything about BioShock. Then when I did play BioShock I realized how much of it had been lifted wholesale without translating it into an original and cohesive story.

Don't know a better place to say this but thank you for your encouragement at the end of every video. It helped me get over the first hurdle. I owe you a beer or comparable beverage if I ever get the chance. Thank you again.

I love John Wolfe, but my biggest criticism towards him is his criticism at Bendy. Where you called it a love letter, he called it a rip off. He talks as if only Bioshock can have a hidden city, as if Bioshock can have a retro esthetic, or a specific style of gameplay, and features.

I have never seen stake cut bacon before as an European, so the size of that made me really crave some... I wonder if we have anything like that over here in the EU.

"It's no VtMB which somehow set the bar so high way back in 2004" They did it by taking revolutionary technology, passionate, skilled artists, and a coherent design, then putting all that under competent artistic leadership. That's why the bar still sits there.

holy crap bacon stew sounds like a delicacy

All these years, I've never seen any Bendy gameplay past the first episode. After a while, I came to assume the rest was either scrapped, or more of the same. Nice to find out about the rest of it.

Horror mascot game: Exist Kid channels: *HERE WE GOOOOO!!!*

Typically I saw people talk about this game in the opposite way you did (I’ve never played it so this is all my perception of it). Episode 1 releases and people delve into a new mascot horror game that plays more like an Outlast type game. Episode 2 releases and people are less happy about it but still enjoy it. Then I hear almost no news about the other episodes and when I do it’s people complaining about them being different. After watching this video, it seems like the game is not that different as it goes on and the Bioshock connections you make really help me reinterpret this game in my mind. It sounds pretty interesting too, I might give it a try now.

I’ve really gotta play bioshock . . . thanks for another great video!

I think every game oughta have an in-game meal or snack you can have or reverse-engineer irl

Would you kindly? Nostalgia (for simpler times)

I love the cooking, please don’t stop 🙏🏼

I found the first Bendy game really frustrating, both its gameplay and story, but I really WANTED to like it because I felt like there was a great idea in there. I got worried that the creator/company had nothing more to say and would just milk this IP, but when Dark Revival came out I was blown away! The Bendy sequel ties up every loose end from the previous game, develops the characters, explains the lore, delivers even more horror about haunted art, gives a satisfying resolution to the story, and VASTLY improves the gameplay! Dark Revival is everything a sequel should be!

for cooking sections, have you ever experimented with any sort of Sous Vide stuff? its a fun way to cook tough cuts of steak and such and I've made some lovely carrots that sweetened in their own juice in mine. you also can make a budget one on a stove top if you've got a drying rack handy

I loved this video! It was a great analysis of one of my favourite games. Some notes tho, Evil Alice is indeed Susie Campbell the first voice actress of Alice Angel, The other Boris isn’t called Max, he is Tom as of Thomas Connor the GENT technician, the “seekers are called Searchers and the gang is called “The butcher gang”. Lastly, Boris and the dark survival is getting remade into Bendy: Lone Wolf, so if you want to make a video I’d wait for the remake to come out soon-ish. The remake will make that game way better and on par with the other entries. Again I say, excellent video

Hell yeah new vid dropped, day got better instantly.

There's enough controversies on this one to make a 3 hour video

The first chapter still holds up decently today. The rest is debatable.

This title is probably the greatest compliment I've ever heard about Bendy And The Ink Machine. Like, I never think "underwater cities, Ain Rand references, shiny body altering abilities/processuses, and immersive sim-adjacent" when I see Bendy. I guess Bendy and Bioshock both are vein diagrams who's middle point is "oozie/fleshy vibes and 1920s aesthetics". From what I know about "Mascot horror" (or "Amnesia-esque" games), they aren't really combat focused, or don't have a possibility to directly attack the enemy rather than avoiding it. I probably didn't saw enough videos about Bendy as a game (last time I saw a video, it was probably about the contreversies, it's been a while) to notice the similarities. Or thought enough about Bioshock recently (Infinite is in my feed sometimes, but besides that, no big daddy in my mindspace). Nice art, dude.

I believe in you!

YEAHHH THE CAT GUY UPLOADED

The sequel to this game actually improves upon basically everything, and bioshock references are more blatant in that.

My favorite mascot horror game is Dark Souls, so I'm glad we skipped defining the genre!

I imagined the bacon soup being like rassolnik for some reason, but with thick cut bacon and a lot of it instead of ham, now I want rassolnik, I shouldn't have commented or even thought of food.

1) If you want more games that do a similar "look behind the curtain in the post-game" thing as the museum, I recommend the entirety of Anelgesic Productions' catalog. 2) If you're already looking for a future indieween/Halloween in July style series, I suggest Enigma Studios' "Enigma Machine" series. 5 games, 2 of which are free (and sneakily mislabeled as demos despite being separate chapters). Aside it being a series where you can really see the dev growing in skill from title to title, It's also one square in your thematic wheelhouse: The final game that everything builds to, Echostasis, is about the horror of "the contentification of the world."

i love the longest segment of this video being a cooking section

Not knowing what to do may be the hard part of cooking, but it can also be the fun part. It's called culinary science for a reason and what do we do in science; hypothesize, experiment and record observations. Just trying out different things can get you to find budget or generally better methods of doing something, discovering new flavors, etc.

This video gave me a new appreciation for Bendy which I didn’t really know much about before this video, so thanks for that. I would be curious to see your thoughts on Shipwrecked 64, it is definitely one of the more innovative mascot horror style games.

I think I actually can give at least a useful "fuzzy" definition of Mascot Horror. I would define it with these properties: • It's a genre of Horror, usually comedy horror. • The horror involves subverting child-friendly brand imagery and, well, mascots. • The comedy aspect typically comes from the fact that being frightened of a goofy mascot is pretty funny even if the fear is genuine. • There tends to be an underlying theme of nostalgia and disrepair. The uncanny valley is common as well. • The monster tends to be marketable, but I'd argue that's actually not itself "the point": The monster usually ought to be some kind of mascot in-universe. The basic approach to Mascot Horror is to remember something from your childhood that was, in a certain light, kind of creepy, then amp up the creepiness until it's literal horror. For example, FNAF and Chuck E. Cheese Animatronics. They're nostalgic but also kind of creepy, and FNAF amps that up. The third point about comedy above is actually part of their success: Watching someone like Markiplier react with shock at an Animatronic is kind of hilarious.

Love that the videos are back Charl! Glad you took the time you needed :))

"Into cubes about the size of those d6s you use for warhammer" and I got the exact visual, as I'm literally painting models as I'm listening to your video 😂

i forgot how much i love your art my guy, its so comfortin

2:09 To be fair, i think you did a great job

I love the cooking parts in your videos

was excited to see your review on this one: probably my favorite of the mascot horror genre, certainly because as you say, you can really tell the dev(s) were very passionate about what they were making. excited to see more

Love the video!

i thought BATDR was more of a love letter to bioshock than BATIM. Like BATDR is a full blown 451 game

I always love and appreciate the cooking breaks. You always give me ideas ^_^

I love Bendy so much, it was my childhood and it is my absolute favorite horror game. Seeing someone making bacon soup makes me happy, when i was young i would always think of how it would look like, and this is perfect!

Hope to keep it up my man , your videos are always like a nice cup of coffee in the morning

Now i'm wondering how would Charlatan cook Feijoada.

I started playing Gloomwood and Blood West recently, both of which you've reviewed on your channel. Both games give me some of the same vibes as Lunacid, especially Gloomwood. You should really give the game a try. It's an indie game with a lot of passion behind it and if you liked Gloomwood then odds are you'll like Lumacid too. Also, it's a bit out of your wheel house, but CrossCode is also really good. Gameplay is mostly combat, platforming, and puzzles, and the puzzles are actually challenging. That plus the really good story and characters makes it a really enjoyable experience. I haven't beaten it yet because I'm bad at hard puzzles, but I can't help recommending it.

Cool video!

Yo, I've been trying to figure out or find a good recipe for a good, simple broccoli cheddar soup for ages now. Can you help a bro out?

Wayo, when I first heard the theme of this years halloween in July this was the series I was most excited for. Love these games.

I didn't play the first Bendy game but I did enjoy the sequel. Thank you so much for another vid man. You're awesome 🙏😄

Yeah it’s a love letter to bioshock except it has no plasmids, no weapons other than a wrench, no complex gameplay at all, no resemblance to Bioshock’s story, isn’t even the same genre as bioshock, and pretty much has a handful of superficial similarities… Although dark revival is a bit more similar…

I love contributing to the algorithm

@20:12 I'm curious what your opinions are on BioShock's themes, hope you'll do that video on it soon.

The apron folding saga continues

Dutch, the O'Driscoll's done put a cat in a box Dutch 1:05

OH SHIT this video was released on my birthday

Great video, video maker

25:40 I wanna see you try a "mascot horror" game that is actually bad and/or recent (not like this early one), then this stigma line will stick.

I appreciate the cooking segments!!

BABE WAKE UP IT'S A WONDERFUL DAY

I’m curious but how do these slight references result in bendy being a love letter to bioshock? Steinman is a crazy doctor obsessed with perfection and sammy is a cultist. The alice/cohen comparison makes sense somewhat and it’s the strongest tie between the two games. But the rest? Idk. I don’t think bendy can be seen as a love letter to bioshock considering they’re also two completely different genres with completely different styles of gameplay. When I think of a love letter, prey would likely be a better comparison. But bendy? Eh. This isn’t me saying bendy is NOT inspired by bioshock because I can definitely see it. But “love letter” is a little strong imo

Commenting for the algorithmic deity

Nice content

I think I recognize your voice. Were you on Connery in Planetside 2 a long time ago?

LETS GOOOOOOO

Unfortunately, The Kindly Beast - developers of Bendy games, were involved in some heavy controversy around the games. mistreatment of employees was the main issue

ive tried playing bioshock but my pc won't let me😭

What's the music around 20:30?

YIPPEEEE

Hi Charlatan

Steak bacon? Isn’t that just rashers? What was described was just rashers?

I havent finish the video but sadly for me bendy game was kinda ruined after the whole dev abuse it happened- ish

you sir get a sub from me

play the second game, its actually better

Cool artstyle, too much piss though.

More like Bendy and the stink machine

Oh hey I know that game! There's some decent Rule 34 of the ink demon! :)

Eww. No.

.dude. i've never missed your video for years. but what the fuck is the point of DISCOUNTING patreon? the point of patreon supporters is to give you support. it's not about discounting anything or getting anything in return. nothing you can "offer" for a discount can match support people want to give you. so just stop ok? like, if people wanna support you , just make sure you have enough of a diverse set of tiers that everyone can find something to express their love for you :) jesus. hearing about patreon discounts is one of the most cringe absurd things i've ever heard of.

Maybe you should do HappyFunLand next.