Hello, Internet. Welcome to Game Theory! No Joey, let's be honest. It's my
riddle to solve. Always mine to solve. Today we're diving back into the inky depths with Joey Drew Studios and their newest
game, Bendy and the Dark Revival. If you're unfamiliar with the franchise,
honestly, I can't really blame you. It's been five long years since the world
was last abuzz about Bendy. Oh sure, there was a mobile game, a short prequel
titled called: Boris and the Dark Survival, and of course, the requisite handful of spin
off BOOKS released in the intervening years. But nothing really captured everyone's
attention. It looked like the franchise was drowning in its own inky grave, which is
why the trailer drop for an official sequel, releasing in just a few weeks, caught
everyone off guard, and that wasn't enough. They then decided to catch everyone off guard
again by releasing a game that was really long, really solid, and most importantly of all, really
stable. Which, let's be honest, considering the quality of game releases these days.
*cough* *cough* Pokemon Violet Is already putting it in contention for Game
of the year. It is a low bar. But of course, you know why I'm interested in
this thing: the theories. Sure, I can go around all day inhaling full cans
of bacon soup like an overzealous Kirby. But if there's no meat on the bone for
us to chew on like a cartoonish wolf. Well then this one's going to get
relegated to my ever growing list of MatPat Personal Time Games. Lucky for
us though, Bendy be bringin the Lore. A lot of lore. A lot, lot. It just keeps coming. Lore that I think is a complete lie. A lie
that I plan on exposing today. Let me quickly catch you up with what you need
to know. The original game, Bendy and the Ink Machine, was all about a talented animator
named Henry Stein, former partner to the unscrupulous businessman Joey Drew.
Over the course of that first game, we learn that Joey Drew has used human
souls to fuel the titular ink machine, all in an attempt to create living ink creatures.
But eventually the animation studio goes bankrupt. Joey retires in disgrace, a bitter old man, and
is ultimately forced to sell off the rights to his most famous characters to a new company, Arch
Gate Films run by Joey's old friend Nathan Arch. And that's where this new game picks up in Bendy
and the Dark Revival we play as Audrey, a young animator for Arch Gate who gets brought into the
ink world by the clearly evil janitor, Wilson. Seriously. This man is a walking, talking
H.R. violation. They couldn't have made him any more dastardly if they had given
him a black cape and a curly mustache. Anyway, the rest of the game is then spent
with Audrey trying to find her way back home, all while avoiding both Wilson's army and
the demonic Ink-demon himself; A monstrous, bloodthirsty form of Bendy that kills on contact.
Or at least that would have been what the game was all about had it not been for the surprise
cameo of a familiar face in Chapter Three. At a couple of points throughout the game, we
encounter an inky version of Joey Drew himself, or at least an embodiment of his memories, who sits us down to take us through a
literal slideshow of the game's lore. All right. Well, it doesn't get much more
straightforward than that. As part of the presentation, he tells us that the Henry we
played as in the first game wasn't Henry at all, but rather an inky recreation that Joey
made after the real Henry left the studio. Why would he do such a weird thing?
Well, he wanted to torture Henry, get his stress out. Kind of
like a sepia toned voodoo doll. He felt betrayed by Henry. So as a totally healthy
way of dealing with his anger and jealousy, he created this inky prison in order
to punish anyone who ever crossed him. The world that we've been playing through
in both of these games, simply known as The Cycle. Eventually Alison Pendle, the second
voice of Alice Angel from the first game, comes into Joey's life and makes him
realize that he can be a good person. So out of kindness, he creates
a version of Alice Angel in The Cycle to help Henry survive.
Meanwhile, in the real world, Joey is also busy creating Audrey out of
the ink to become his perfect daughter. That's right. The character that we've
been playing as for the entire game, is none other than Audrey Drew, a human made
out of living ink. Joey finally did what he set out to do, creating the perfect
life from just a pencil and a dream. It's a nice story and certainly a wholesome
character arc for our dear old Joey Drew. But call me suspicious whenever a game
literally sits me down and spells out the lore for me. I mean, the original game
was practically built around theories. So let's just take a minute to look at
who's info dumping this lore on us. The living embodiment of Joey Drew's memories.
Oh, sure, he might seem all nice and folksy, but remember, this is a guy
who has never been trustworthy. On company records Bendy is listed as his
creation, despite the fact that Henry created him. He also lied to his employees when the
company was about to go out of business. Even his close friend Nathan Arch, said the
book, The Illusion of Living, quote: “Joey is so good at storytelling that even when he tells
you it's not real, you can forget a moment later.” I mean, this is a guy who is so jealous and
bitter that he literally creates an endless torture chamber for his former business
partner. And we're expected to trust his version of events? Events that make him seem
like some sort of benevolent family man? No, I don't think so. So I started to dig around
in Joey's story. And let me tell you. There's evidence hidden all around the cycle proving
that Joey's version of events is a lie. A lie that throws into question everything that
we know about the main character, Audrey. The true story of Bendy in the Dark Revival
is one that Joey doesn't want you to know about. So grab yourself a pencil, a dream,
and probably something to write on too…just try not to get any corrupted ink on the
carpets. All right. Just got them all washed. Speaking of things that you can
wash, this is your final reminder that Theorywear holiday merch is
available right now. And you have got to order it in the next few days if
you hope to get it before the holidays. That includes our Mad Theorist plasma ball,
the four channel candle set, and of course, the super snuggly Dreamwave blanket. All of these
items on their final couple of units. And since they're custom made, it's not like I can just go
over to the ink machine and print up a new batch. So once these puppies are gone, they're gone
for good. So if you want them, you know what to do. Head on over to theorywear.com or click
the link down in the description below because the last thing you want is to live with
the regrets of actions you didn't take. Because then you're going to fund yourself an ink
machine to create a cyclical torture chamber where you live out the regrets of all those past
actions. And the next thing you know, you're starring in an indie horror game that's spinning
off into a series of books, and no one is going to appreciate those books. Just saying. So, save
yourself the trouble. Order if you're interested. All right, back to Bendy. Let's start
by disproving what Joey Drew tells us, starting with the timeline of events. Joey claims
that Alison Pendle walked into his life and changed everything, giving him a new lease on life
and in turn prompting him to help Henry within the cycle. Except we know that that can't be
true. The dates don't line up. Allison joined Joey Drew Studio sometime
in the 1930s. That means that the cycle would have been created prior
to that date. Why is that a problem? Well, it's because we have evidence that shows
Henry begins his cycle in 1963. This is thanks to a letter that we get right at the start of Bendy
and the Ink Machine inviting Henry back to the studio 30 years after he left the company, which,
thanks to the employee handbook we know was 1930. There's also a calendar in Joey’s apartment at the
end of chapter five in Bendy and the Ink Machine that shows the exact date to be August 31st, 1963.
Now, there's speculation out there about whether Joey's apartment in Old Joey here in the ending
of the game are meant to be part of Henry's cycle, aka part of the fake world that was made by
Joey. But even if it is fake, why would you include a calendar from some random date in the
future? Just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Speaking of things that don't add up.
What about Allison Angel? Joey is pretty vague about her creation, but he leads us to
believe that she was created purely from Ink, inspired by Allison Pendle, but not made from
Allison Pendle. Except here's the thing. Joey and Alison break off their relationship in 1946, he
fires her after she sides with her future husband and GENT engineer Thomas. Joey does keep in touch
with Allison, as we see from the letter in his apartment. But he burned that bridge. She is no
longer an angel to him or even really a friend. So why would he then make an angel to help
Henry in the 1960s that was just inspired by her. It doesn't make sense based on the
timeline. I suspect that Allison Angel's creation was meant to punish her as well, that
instead of her being just an Ink creation, he took the original Allison Pendle and
used her soul to create Allison Angel. Now he's able to torture her for all
eternity, just like he did with Henry. Joey is no hero. He never was a hero.
He didn't have a change of heart. It's all about public image, just like we saw
in one of the tapes from the first game. Of course, a living version of his memories
is going to paint him as the good guy. He never sees himself as wrong, but in
reality, Joey is just putting a new spin on the chain of events in order to come
out looking like the good guy to his daughter. His daughter. The one part of Joey's story
that I haven't addressed yet. Who or what is Audrey? According to Joey, she's also a
child of the Ink; perfect, practically human, made to fill the void in Joey's life. Now, I
think part of what Joey's saying here is true. She is an ink person. It's hard
to deny that based on her bendy finger at the end of the game,
the fact that she respawns out of the ink. But what I don't believe
is that she's made purely out of ink. On the contrary, I think that she was
made using human souls just like every other ink character in the series.
And better yet, I know exactly who was used to make her. It's all thanks to ten
secret memories hidden throughout the game. One of the main collectibles that you can
find on your adventure are memories. Ten items that we’re told are special but don't
really seem to be. A baseball, a hat, a duck, a hotdog, some crayons, stuff like that.
Audrey never says anything about them, and their descriptions tend to be super generic. “ A rubber duck. It still has
soap on it.” Wow. We are really lighting the lore on fire with that
one guys. Or so I thought. You see, these items are the key to solving
the mystery of who Audrey really is. So hold onto your hats, because the
first memory I want to talk about is, well, the hat. One of the memories is listed
as a men's fashionable hat. So that makes it clear that the hat didn't belong to Audrey, but
rather someone she spent a lot of time with. Now, this type of hat is called
a boater hat with a flat top, thin circular rim and ribbon around the middle.
Boater hats were seen throughout the late 19th century and early 20th century, even being part
of the FBI's unofficial uniform back in the day. But we mostly see these hats being worn among
the upper classes in the summers after World War One. There was also a bit of a revival for
them back in the late 1930s. Notice a problem with that? Well, as we've established,
Audrey was created sometime in the 1960s. Styles had changed and the boater hat
wasn't really fashionable anymore, especially not out and about for daily use
like the memories description states. It's more likely the memory of this hat belonged
to someone who was around in the 1930s. So are there any other memories that could help
us narrow down the search for who this hat could belong to? Yes. One memory that really caught my
attention was this one. The Cracked Mug, quote: “A Cracked mug lovingly repurposed
into a plaything. It may be sad, but it still has life in it yet.” This broken
mug was turned into a toy, which feels like a weird gift to give your kid, but whatever.
Here you go, Audrey. Love you so much. Take this sharp piece of porcelain
and have at it. But this isn't the only time in the game that we see a cracked
mug when we're shown to our room in Chapter five Creepy Janitor Wilson has left
a very specific book on our pillow. It's a story called The Mug and the Maiden. And
it stands out because it is a looong I mean, like long, long. Some of the lore drops in this
game are long. But here we're talking multi-page, long. And if you manage to read the
whole thing, do you want to guess who the hero of the story is? A cracked
mug. This is a story not connected to us, but Wilson. This is his storybook.
This is his childhood toy. And that's not the only connection to Wilson either.
Another memory we get is a set of crayons, most notably a colored crayons, quote: “Arrays
of colors could spark a world all your own.” There are only a handful of times that we see
color in this game, and all of them come from Wilson. Wilson is the one with a colored drawing
of Shipahoy Dudley in a sepia world. During Wilson's boss fight; we see colored ink coming
from him and the other enemies when we hit him. And finally, there's the towers that help
to subdue demon Bendy towers covered with colorful rainbow sparkles, just like the
crayons description. Right now, all signs seem to be pointing to these memories being
connected to our antagonist Wilson, in some way. Could he potentially be our sole donor? No, that
would be impossible. When Audrey was created, Wilson was still alive, so it physically can't
be him. But then who? Well, for an answer, look no further than this memory. A
carton of milk for growing up strong and healthy.Add some chocolate for a
snack enjoyed by both young and old. The use of the word old here suddenly opened my
eyes to new possibilities. Just because Audrey was a child, it didn't mean that the soul
that she was born from had to be. What if, instead it was coming from a grown up?
a parent? someone who would have shared memories with their child? They would have seen
a man wearing a boater hat. They would have given their child a toy based on their favorite
book, Crayons for their child to play with. Audrey wasn't made with Wilson's soul, but
rather the soul of one of Wilson's parents. And when you look into it, it becomes very clear
which one it is. It's revealed in the game's final minutes that Nathan Arch, owner of Arch Gate
Pictures and the Bendy IP is Wilson's father. This acquisition, according to an article on the
Joey Drew studio archives, took place in 1972, only a year before the events of the Dark Revival.
So the timeline for Nathan being the sole donor doesn't add up. He was still alive at the time,
but you know who wasn't? Wilson's mother. In the spinoff titled Boris and the Dark Survival, we
get this clip from Joey Drew to Nathan Arch. Tessa Archer, wife to Nathan and mother
to Wilson. She looked after Wilson. She would have seen her husband Nathan wearing that
boater hat out and about in the 1930s or earlier, she would have given her son a
cracked mug and a set of crayons. These are her memories. And one
that puts it all together is this, the final memory that you collect, a simple hot
dog. Seems like nothing much, right? Wrong. In that same area of Wilson's lab, you can find
an audio recording from Nathan that says this. He brought a hot dog home for Tessa. That was
a memory that they shared, a memory that Audrey now shares. In short, when Wilson’s trying to kill
you at the end of the game, what he's really doing unintentionally is trying to kill his own mother.
Talk about your awkward Oedipus complex. Right? In the end, Joey Drew turned
to Nathan, his close friend, during the financial collapse of his company. But inevitably, this never came to pass.
Nathan didn't help. Joey Drew Studios fell into bankruptcy, and Nathan picked the
company's bones dry .Betrayed once again by someone that he thought was his friend,
Joey, in true Joey fashion did like he did with Henry and Alison before. He threw
Tessa Arch into the machine. He turned her into ink. He would tear the Arch family
apart in order to create a family of his own. He used Tessa's soul to create Audrey,
and then he created a cover story to hide all of his misdeeds, a story that
framed him as the good guy. Except now we know the truth. Once a shyster, always a
shyster, whether you're made of ink or flesh. And see, guys, this is why you can't have
friends in the entertainment business. But, hey, that's just a theory. A
GAME THEORY! Thanks for watching. And once again, this is your last reminder
to order your holiday theory merch now so it can arrive in time for the holidays. Jackets,
hoodies, plasma balls, candles, weird analog horror plushies. We got it all so head on over to
theorywear.com to get your piece of the collection before it all fades away. As always, my friends,
thanks for watching and I'll see you next week.
