Bendy and the Ink Machine is an episodic survival horror game developed and published by Joey Drew Studios. It was initially released to Game Jolt on February 10, 2017, as the first of five chapters, with a full worldwide release on October 27, 2018. The game was also released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch on November 20, 2018, being published by Rooster Teeth Games, for iOS and Android on December 21, 2018, and for PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S on May 9, 2025.
Inspired by the BioShock game series, the game is set in the fictional Joey Drew Studios. The player controls Henry Stein, a retired animator who receives a letter inviting him back to his old workplace. Stein discovers a series of strange paranormal activities caused by the titular Ink Machine. In the game, players navigate through a first person perspective and need to complete certain tasks to proceed, such as combat, collecting objects, or solving puzzles. Players can also find audio logs recorded by the studio's employees to understand the game's history.
Bendy and the Ink Machine was well-received upon its initial release. Praise centered on its vintage aesthetic and story, although its puzzles and combat mechanics were less popular. In the months following its release, the game quickly gained a large following from exposure on platforms like YouTube and Twitch and eventually was approved through Steam Greenlight in mid-2017. Merchandise, as well as a mobile spin-off, was later introduced to further promote the game. Mike Desjardins, the game's programmer, and co-creator described the game as an "accidental success". A sequel, Bendy and the Dark Revival, was released on November 15, 2022.
A film adaptation from Radar Pictures, directed by André Øvredal, is in development.
Gameplay Bendy and the Ink Machine is a first person survival that resembles several cartoons in the 1920s to 1940s. The player plays as Henry Stein, a retired animator who returns to his old workplace, Joey Drew Studios, and discovers that a machine has destroyed the entire studio and brought certain cartoon characters to life. The game mixes combat with puzzle mechanics. Players explore through a first-person view and have limited physical actions such as running and jumping. Different items can be collected, some of which are required to perform various tasks before proceeding. Cans of bacon soup can also be collected for achievements and to restore Henry's health if he is injured.
Combat is primarily focused around a variety of different melee-based weapons, such as an axe, pipe, plunger, wrench, or scythe, though the scythe is not accessible in normal gameplay. Additionally, there are long-range weapons such as a tommy gun or bacon soup cans. In-game enemies have different strength levels and resilience to damage, forcing players to be tactical about keeping out of reach and striking when necessary. Failure to do so will result in a death. Henry can retreat inside Little Miracle Stations whenever enemies are nearby in order to recover or remain out of sight. If he takes too much damage, he can escape from the ink that consumes him and respawn at one of the numerous statues of Bendy that act as checkpoints. The player can save their progress by interacting with time card stations.
In addition, players can find numerous audio logs throughout the studio that give more details about the game's story, particularly concerning the fate of the studio and its employees, similar to the systems used in games such as BioShock. Some of these logs can be missed and require further exploration to uncover the secret areas they often reside in. During the final chapter, players unlock the Seeing Tool, which is a device used to view secret hidden messages that would be invisible without it. After completing it, players can also use it in the previous four chapters during replays.
Plot
Chapter 1: Moving Pictures In the year 1963, Henry Stein, co-founder and former animator at Joey Drew Studios, is invited back to the studio by his former friend and business partner, Joey Drew. Henry enters the studio and finds it abandoned and splattered with ink, as well as the mutilated corpse of what appears to be a figure of Boris the Wolf, one of the studio's fan favorite characters. Henry discovers that the mess was caused by the Ink Machine, a device Joey created after Henry had left with the purpose of generating real-life versions of the studio's cartoon characters.
Henry repairs the machine and activates it by collecting items left behind by the studio staff, but is then attacked by a monster taking an ink-based form of the studio's mascot, Bendy, called the Ink Demon. As Henry tries to escape, the floor collapses and he falls into the studio's lower levels, now flooded with ink. He drains the ink, finds an axe, and enters a room with coffins and a pentagram drawn on the floor. When he steps on the latter, he hallucinates several images of Bendy in quick succession and then passes out.
Chapter 2: The Old Song Henry wakes up, retrieves his axe, and searches for a way out. He eventually comes to the music department and discovers an exit at the bottom of some stairs, but the stairs are flooded and blocking the door. After battling ink creatures known as Searchers, Henry finds music director Sammy Lawrence's office and finds a pump switch inside that could drain the ink at the stairs, but his office is blocked by a massive ink leak. Henry finds two valves that lower the ink pressure, one of which is held by a Searcher with a hat (actually the studio's lyricist Jack Fain) that he must defeat. At one point, he must learn to play Sammy's favorite song to open a door to reach the second valve.
After stopping the leak, Henry drains the ink at the stairs. While approaching the stairs, however, he is knocked out with janitor Wally Frank's dustpan by Sammy, who has turned into an ink humanoid with a Bendy mask. After Henry wakes up, Sammy reveals he intends to sacrifice Henry to the Ink Demon, whom he worships as a deity, so that he can be free of the ink. As Sammy begins the ritual, though, he is attacked by the Ink Demon and presumably killed. Henry breaks free and flees from Bendy into a storage room, locking the door behind him, while being chased by the Demon. Venturing into the room, he finds an alive and peaceful ink version of Boris the Wolf.
Chapter 3: Rise and Fall When he wakes up, Henry finds himself in a small safehouse. He finds Boris and cooks a pot of bacon soup for him in exchange for a lever needed to open the exit. The two leave the safehouse to find another way out of the studio. After using a flashlight to make their way through a dark area, they come across the studio's Toy Department and find a back room full of merchandise for Alice Angel, the studio's lead female. After Boris is briefly separated from Henry, he gives him a Gent pipe to use as a weapon. Henry is then confronted by an ink version of Alice, who jumpscares him. He is then presented with a choice of two paths; the one chosen by the player will affect which of two easter eggs they'll be able to access, and the other will become blocked off.
Reaching Level 9, Henry and Boris discover multiple mutilated clones of Boris and other ink monsters collectively called the Butcher Gang, which Alice has been harvesting to improve her appearance. Meeting Alice, who is torturing one of the monsters, Henry is instructed to complete several tasks for her in exchange for being allowed to escape the studio. She provides him with various tools, which he must use to carry out her instructions while avoiding or fending off enemies.
As Henry completes the tasks, it becomes apparent that Alice is actually Susie Campbell, the character's original voice actress who became obsessed with Alice to the point of believing she was her character, and grew vindictive after she was replaced by another actress, Allison Pendle. She has since taken Alice's form after being corrupted by the ink. After Henry fulfills her needs, she sends him to the elevator where he can leave, but forces it to fall after discovering Boris, whom she wants to harvest as he is the most perfect Boris. Alice berates Henry for stealing from her and says she will take Boris from him instead. The elevator crashes, knocking Henry out. As Boris tries to wake Henry up, Alice kidnaps Boris and takes him away.
Chapter 4: Colossal Wonders Waking back up from passing out and Boris' abduction, Henry leaves the broken lift and explores the cavernous archives of the studio to find and rescue Boris. After Alice taunts Henry over loudspeakers about Boris' capture, Henry comes across a lounge filled with Lost Ones, people infected by the ink who show no hostility. After fleeing through the vents, Henry discovers that Joey planned to open a Bendy-themed amusement park called Bendy Land, with the help of famed amusement park designer Bertrum Piedmont. Henry deduces that the haunted house attraction is the way to go and traverses the storage area to find the switches to power the ride up.
He activates the four power switches by playing carnival games, sneaking past the Butcher Gang, destroying an octopus ride with which an ink-corrupted Bertrum has merged himself, and escaping from "the Projectionist," an ink-corrupted creature with a movie projector for a head who was formerly studio projectionist Norman Polk. Henry watches the Ink Demon fight the Projectionist and tear his head off. Once on the haunted house ride, Henry is shocked to discover that Alice has transformed Boris into a vicious monster. Unable to turn him back to normal, Henry is forced to kill Boris, who fades away. An enraged Alice tries to attack and kill Henry herself, but is killed from behind by another, fully sane version of Alice Angel and a robot-handed clone of Boris.
Chapter 5: The Last Reel
The new Alice and Boris, dubbed Allison Angel (Allison Pendle) and Tom (Thomas Connor, the lead engineer of the Ink Machine), lock Henry in a makeshift prison, as they aren't sure if they can trust him. Henry manages to gain Allison's trust, and she gives Henry a Seeing Tool, which is used to see hidden messages; Henry sees a message that says Allison will leave Henry for dead (which is later proven true).
Later, the Ink Demon discovers Allison and Tom's location, and Tom (still distrusting Henry) convinces Allison to leave Henry behind so they can escape, knowing that they can't get him out before the Ink Demon arrives. Henry manages to escape the prison on his own after discovering a secret room with a weapon behind the wall, thanks to the hidden messages. Once he escapes, Henry sees Allison and Tom escaping on a barge through a river of ink. He follows them on a second barge, with a massive Bendy hand chasing behind him. Henry arrives in a shanty town built by the Searchers and the Lost Ones. There, he is confronted by an injured Sammy, who deliriously believes Henry is the Ink Demon and tries to take revenge for almost killing him. Sammy overpowers Henry and tries to kill him, but is killed by Tom, who finally trusts Henry and equips him with an axe. With Sammy out of the way, the Searchers and Lost Ones he was keeping at bay become violent and start attacking. Henry, Allison, and Tom work together and defeat the wave of monsters. Henry leads the way onward, but falls into the administration offices on a lower level. Henry tries to escape through the film vault, but the entrance is flooded. He works to reconnect the pipe system to drain the ink, all while hiding from the Butcher Gang.