Boris and the Dark Survival

Boris and the Dark Survival is a survival horror with roguelike and strategy game elements, which is a prequel to the first installment of the Bendy and the Ink Machine series, developed by indie Joey Drew Studios. The title was released in 2020 for PC and iOS and Android mobile devices, and has since seen three major updates: The Wolf Trials, The Unleashed and Symphony of Shadows.

Plot

The main character of the production is wolf Boris, struggling to survive in a spooky comic book studio. The protagonist inhabits one of the upper floors of the building, and his daily life is filled with the soothing sounds of music and the smell of bacon soup. Although Boris has managed to create something resembling a safe haven for himself, each day he takes the elevator to the lower floors of the studio to replenish his supplies. During these excursions he must be constantly on guard, as his every move is followed by the residents of each level, just waiting for the moment to seize him in their clutches.

Mechanics

In this game we play Boris and explore the dark corners of the studio together with him. Our goal is to collect the required items, as well as finds, unlocking, keys, things, secret characters, additional melodies or new dance moves. Exploration is hindered by enemies wandering around the rooms, who throw themselves into pursuit as soon as they see our outline or the light of the flashlight attached to the helmet.

The main character can run, which becomes especially useful when detected by one of the antagonists. However, this is a temporary ability, dependent on the energy bar, visible on the right side of the screen. When we use up all of its supply, Boris stops running, and our chances of escaping drastically decrease. Fortunately, there is a way in the game to regenerate the lost strength. Vending machines scattered around the studio dispense Bacon Soup, which fully renews a character's energy.

The game is divided into levels. Each day Boris descends by elevator to lower floors to collect the items he needs. He also comes to explore a different set of corridors each time. The game board not only changes with the completion of each mission, the layout of available rooms is also randomly generated when our protagonist is captured by an enemy. The protagonist also cannot return to his base until he has collected all the required items (visible in the bar on the left side of the screen).

The basic monster we face is the Ink Demon. This creature roams all available rooms in random order, and as soon as it spots Boris, it immediately throws itself into pursuit. The approach of the enemy is signaled by, keys, a change in the tone of music, the accelerated heartbeat of the protagonist, shadows flitting along the walls or characteristic noises. At the moment of detection, we save ourselves by escaping, rushing to the nearest, specially lit hiding place.

To add variety to the gameplay, the developers introduced secret locations and characters to the game, which can be unlocked only after performing certain actions and collecting a sufficient number of collectibles. Additional items, found during missions, include keys, candles or tapes with recordings, containing statements of former employees of the studio (such as Jack Fain, Thomas Connor and Shawn Flynn). To keep the game from becoming too monotonous Boris is also sometimes moved to a rarer level, where a new type of opponent is already waiting for him.

Technical aspects

Boris and the Dark Survival features three-dimensional graphics, maintained in a cartoon style. Character and object models are hand-painted, and their color scheme is limited to shades of black and harsh yellow. We observe the gameplay from a third-person, top-down perspective. The soundtrack includes such tunes as Thinking of You Again, A Safe Place and Fateful Melody.