Uhhh it might be pretty late (literally), but we're a little less than 24 hours away from the release of Secrets of the Machine, so I wanted to get all my thoughts in order and put them in one post. Originally I went through them in the form of screenshots within my last drawing, but I thought it would be a bit clumsy, especially in a description that was already long.
And even though it was in your own post it was weird, so I'll put the whole text here.
I'm not used to going and publishing my thoughts in so much detail, especially when it comes to things I like. And I already make too long descriptions that bother me, so I'll probably never do this again!!
But I've written so much so far, so there's no going back.
Here's my pre-release analysis/thoughts of the new game Bendy: Secrets of the Machine.
uuuuhhhhhhh enjoy?
So. “Secrets of the Machine”? New game focused on Gent. Huh. A surprise. But intriguing nonetheless. I don't mind Gent being explored more in the future. I've been thinking for a while that it would be interesting to see more of them besides just the Ink Machine itself and Thomas Connor. Plus, even though I still like stories focusing on the horrors of Joey Drew's studio, there will come a point where there will be nothing more to tell about that place, so I have no problem starting to also focus on the Other Bad Company in this universe which also has hand in the creation of the Ink Machine itself.
They are also credited on the Steam page as developers. I don't think that means anything other than being something meta. Not in the sense of "oh, look, we created a real company that has the same name as the in-universe company" (at least, I don't believe it will be that) and more of a "funny haha" kind of meta. This is a game that will focus on them after all.
Because of the enigmatic (for lack of a better term) circumstances of this game, it's difficult for me to analyze everything on the Steam page without my thoughts colliding so I'll be straight up about what I think this is going to be. Right away, this isn't going to be a big game. Not even close. I mean, this was announced almost 2 weeks ago with a release date of April 14th, it's going to be free, and it's 1GB big. It really won't be insanely big. (And considering that the devs are also working on The Cage - a game that probably won't be that big but definitely won't be a small spinoff either, and that of current game projects this is the Next Big Thing they're working on - I doubt it really would be)
I believe that one of the points of this game, if not, the main point of it - besides being a puzzle (?) game to occupy us during these waiting times - is to tease us future Bendy projects. I don't know if it will be THE way to give us teasers going forward but I believe it could be One of the ways. The Steam description says "Lurking amongst the shadows are glimpses into the past, the present, and the future of the Dark Puddles." So whatever happens in this game, not only will we see things related to the previous games but also things that are yet to come. What I think is most likely at the moment are teasers for, again, The Cage. Which I don't think is unlikely. The Pit, originally (at least in the real world from what it seems) was the Research Wing of the old Gent Workshop, so I think it's not impossible that Secrets could be a way to give a possible look at what we can expect from The Cage and the horrors of The Pit. Maybe later in the future, we may have teasers for Bendy 3. Possibly also for the Lone Wolf rebrand of BATDS? To be honest, this last one is the least likely possibility.
I saw someone before saying that this game could be a type of "Interactable Experience/Teaser". I believe the whole "Interactable" thing in the Steam's description resulted in this thought. (“Discover the interactable Secrets of the Machine…”) (“Unravel the Interactive Mystery.”)
I only know two "games" that fit this type, that teaser for the movie "Super 8" that you can play in the Portal 2 extras and the famous P.T (Playable Teaser for a canceled Silent Hill game). I don't know if SOTM fits into the same type of experience as these other 2, but we'll see (However, even though I know absolutely nothing about P.T., from what I hear, I think I can guarantee that whatever SOTM is, it will be far from what P.T. is, lol)
In a way, I see SOTM being something more or less similar to Dark Survival/Lone Wolf (whatever you prefer).
It's going to be another small spinoff (even though, comparing the two, SOTM is larger than BATDS, with the first being 1 GB and the second being 285 MBs),something to occupy us in these moments of waiting, and as I said before, something to tease us for future things (even though, I think it can be argued that, if that was the original goal of BATDS, they didn't do a good job) (I mean, what did that game actually give us when it came to important teasers? Nathan's first mention? An entire audio log by Wilson? I think that's it)
It also seems like it won't just be a "one and done" thing, you know. Like, the game launches, and that's it. The end of the description mentions "Stay Close for Updates." So it seems that as time passes, this game will receive new updates with new content perhaps (let's just hope that this one doesn't "die" 4 months after the original release and we will have to wait 4 years later for another update)
The end of the summary it says "But stay alert, this realm changes often..." so this could also be the case where the environments in this game can also be randomly generated like the studio in Dark Survival? (or it could be a case where, we have fixed environments, but over time, the more updates we have, the world opens up more and more, perhaps?) The Drawing Room can also be a type of "main area" like the Safehouse and the dungeons in Boris's game.
In terms of story, I don't have many ideas. The basics would be a Gent employee was placed inside the Ink Realm for Experimental Reasons, and we are playing as this employee. Whatever places we visit in the cycle this time, they don't look like they came from JDS.
In terms of characters, I think that of those that have been introduced in the games so far, the one that has the most chance of having a role is Alan Gray. He's the head of the whole business, so it would make sense for him to show up. Maybe hear from Thomas and other employees mentioned before? But I think this is very unlikely. And, as much as this is a bit absurd, I think that characters like Henry, Audrey, or even the Ink Demon will also not actually appear in the game and, at most, will have cameos (in relation to all the 'glimpses of the past, present and future')
Something interesting that was noticed, the code "131389145" (or rather, 13 1 3 8 9 14 5), changing the numbers for letters results in the word 'machine'. On the one hand, while I was organizing my thoughts, I considered the idea that the machine in this case could be the device with a toon face that appears in the trailer and screenshots, but, as others have pointed out before, it is much more possible that it is referring to the Ink Machine itself, which is more likely (and more interesting).
If that's the case, there's a good chance this game will take place after the end of Dark Revival, where Gent takes the machine for themselves again. Which, if this is the case, leaves me very intrigued.
Oh, and there will be mystery. We will solve The Mystery while we play. What mystery? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I don't know if there's much to say about the teaser itself, so I'm just going to comment on what I find most interesting.
- As much as I can't say that there really is something in the darkness during the first 13 seconds of the teaser, between 0:11 - 0:13, you can see something. It looks like some kind of cable I guess?
- The high-pitched scream. It appears in the device scene, and you can hear it even before, during the scene with the paint falling downwards, and before the house appears, but much lower. Nothing to comment other than I'll try to remember this when the game launches.
- The design of the house is strange to be honest. Bendy's face appears on one of the walls along with a message below, which you can't read. There is an entrance that only leads to darkness and something next to the entrance. It looks like a wheelchair to me, but I can't say for sure.
- Interesting that, both at the beginning of the teaser with the grainy film and in the device scene, you can see more colorful tones on the screen. Red, blue, purple, green, you get it. Maybe more about the experiments Wilson did? Who knows.
- The condition that Subject #131389145 is in is described as "Danger. Unstable." The name of the teaser is also "Unstable". I thought it was interesting to note.
Regarding the screenshots:
- Screenshot nº1: I don't know what this device is or what it does, but the fact that it appears in both the trailer and the screenshots gives me the idea that it's going to be something important.
- Screenshot nº2: A dark corridor with almost no light. A figure in the background, blurred. I've seen some people say the figure looks like Barley. I can't deny that they have a certain similarity (why does he look so thin, tho)
- Screenshot nº3: A kanji. This -> 悪 Means "evil". I'll be honest, this is the weirdest one for me.
- Screenshot nº4: Some kind of arch structure. I don't even think it's an entrance to somewhere, it's just an arch in the middle of nowhere. There's a cloud in the background, and something else that I can't identify.
- Screenshot nº5: A door in the middle of darkness. It leads to some room that you can't see either because it's blurred. It must be important. Maybe it takes us to the Drawing Room? In my opinion, the coolest screenshot of the 5 (I even made it my banner)
In conclusion:
I'm very interested! And this interest comes from the fact that I don't know what the hell this game is going to be. Yeah, I just wrote a few paragraphs about what I think this game could be, but at the end of the day, I don't really know what this game is going to be. And I want to know. The circumstances of his existence are so strange, and I'm drawn to it. What does this game have to offer, what will it tell me, who will I meet. I need to know what the Secrets of the Machine are,man (HE SAID IT).
This game may end up being a little different from the other Bendy games, and that goes in two different ways. Firstly, the way this game was found, the teaser, the screenshots, the logo, the Steam description. Yeah, it's a Bendy game, but there's something different this time. It could definitely be a new experience this time. (new in the sense of different) And secondly, considering what we know so far about that project, SOTM seems to share a little bit of Bendy: The Cage’s DNA, a game that, considering all the information we have available,will be a much more experimental and different game in comparison to the Bendy games that came before. And Secrets could very well be a small taste of what B:TC will offer, and if that is the case? I'm in.
Additional (or miscellaneous) comments:
- The devs have so far been ignoring this thing, which at first I found strange, but considering the nature of this game, it must be on purpose. After all, this is "Secrets of the Machine". And as far as I know, secrets are not something that are talked about in public. (Can’t believe Bendy finally entered his ARG arc)
- Even though the figure in the second screenshot looks a little bit like Barley, I have doubts as to whether the Butcher Gang will really be relevant in this game. First, what would Gent's interest in the gang be? And second...I don't know. The last time I saw people theorizing that the gang could be important in a future game, it turned out that in the end...they weren't. So I'm a little cautious.
- In the first 2 days that this game was discovered,there were some doubts as to whether this game was going to be a "troll game" or whether it was an April Fool's joke. I thought about that, and the fact that this game was discovered 1 day after April Fools didn't help. In hindsight,this idea doesn't make a lot of sense? Like, yeah, I know the joke about companies announcing games on April 1st that won't actually exist. I've seen this a few times. But like. This game was "shadow-announced" a day after the first, the whole thing had already passed, and it was scheduled to be released 2 weeks later. What kind of elaborate April Fools' Day is this where you announce a troll game one day after April Fools' Day specifically and want to launch it just 2 weeks later where everyone has already moved on with their lives? It wouldn't really be funny. Or smart.
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