No time to lose

Tell me the game I should choose ( BATIM)

I'm just gonna remove this one myself

Don't worry, I'm just gonna spin it again.

*clears throat* Okay, one last time!

Wheel of Gaming, no joking around! Tell me the mind-blowing theory we found!

What?

*Game Theory intro but it's the 1930's (Not gonna lie, this is absolutely amazing and creative)

*Game Theory intro*

Hello Internet! Welcome to Game Theory!

Where, first: a special thank you to my friend, Ryder Bergen,

AKA, Footofaferret for composing that jazzy, lil' intro (YA LIKE JAZZ)

He's an up and coming creator that produces the series: A Brief History here on YouTube

And he does incredible work!

So, show him some love and check him out!

I would recommend the 2018 year and review episode! (OH DEAR)

And, while we're thanking people,

A very special shout-out to Reddit and Tumblr theorist, Dreamfisher,

for single-handedly putting Bendy and the Ink Machine back on my radar with some really fascinating observations!

Trust me! I thought I was done with this game, too!

But we're back! And I gotta be honest:

Now that I've started digging through the game again,

What I found completely up-ends a lot of what I thought I knew about Bendy's story (NANI! OWO)

So, let's not waste any more time because we got a LOT to cover!

It's time to dive back into the inky depths of Joey Drew Studios, one more time.

Before we get to things that got me to question some of my earlier conclusions about the game,

Let me first call out something that seemed to confirm

one of the Bendy community's biggest fan-theories,

including a theory of our own!

Hidden inside the game's files,

there does appear to be confirmation that,

At least at some point during the development process,

Bendy was planned to be revealed as Joey Drew ( HOW MAT HOW?)

Inspired by Dreamfisher's Reddit post, covering their theory on a one-eye Bendy,

I did something I hadn't really done for any of the previous episodes.

I dug specifically into the game's assets

Giving closer inspection to the 6,000 or so files used across the completed game's 5 chapters

Now, I have very, VERY limited experience with making games

Having only done a few rudimentary ones back in college

But one thing I DO know, is that it pays to be organized ( It does)

For instance,

In Bendy, you're dealing with 1440 separate audio assets

So, without any sort of clear labeling system, you're gonna be searching for a LONG time

Or else, you're suddenly gonna give Alice Angel some random ink splat sound effect (Splatoon?)

instead of a voice.

Luckily, Bendy's developers, TheMeatly and Mike Mood

have done an excellent job of keeping all their files clearly labeled

All character voices are marked with DIA for dialogue

followed by the chapter it's specifically being used in

But, that's not all.

Another titling convention they seem to use for Chapter 5,

was alternating titles in all caps based on the scene that it was in

Lemme give you an example:

As you go into the Sammy Lawrence battle early on in Chapter 5

All of the audio clips from that section are in caps.

Like someone shouting for attention on Twitter.

"BETRAYED. ABANDONED!"

"I TRUSTED YOU!"

"I GAVE YOU EVERYTHING! AND YOU LEFT ME TO ROT!"

*Sammy fight along with fighting and grunting sounds*

At the end of that Sammy fight,

we enter a short cutscene with Alice and Boris.

At which point all the files names go to lowercase

(Alice) "Oh, that was close. You're lucky we were in the neighborhood."

Once the battle resumes with a new onslaught of Searchers,

we're back to uppercase.

(Alice) "Watch out! Here they come!"

(Alice) "Go back to your puddles!"

Each segment of the battle is grouped based on its casing

Here's why this matters:

In the files, the final boss fight against Bendy has Henry's one line:

(Joey probably) "But he's never seen, The End." Henry: "The End"

But there appears to be another unused line during that same segment

Also listed all in caps.

(Henry) "Joey?"

You notice the shock in Henry's voice?

As though he's surprised to see Joey

This then leads directly to a series of Beast Bendy

audio files all in lowercase before going into Joey's final speech

in the game's ending audio which ends in caps.

JOEY_END

"Henry!"

"So soon!"

"I didn't expect you for another hour, yet."

So the naming pattern still fits, but also

listen to the resonance.

In designing the game, the team did an amazing job reflecting audio reverb

to reflect the room scale that they're in.

Large, and full of echoes in the giant Ink Machine chamber,

"Set us free."

A lot less open in the lower ceilings

of Alice and Boris' hideout.

"Why are you here?"

And now compare the audio of The End, with Joey's opening line in the kitchen.

"The End."

"Henry!"

"So soon!"

The real world audio with Joey Drew is much deader, there's no echo. No reverb.

Just like me when I record in the closet

But Henry's line of shock

"Joey?"

"The End?"

has that echo in there.

An echo that appears for every single bit of dialogue

that said within the empty, sparse hallways of Joey Drew Studios.

In short: the titling conventions and resonance tell us that Henry

expresses his shock at seeing Joey sometime between

the start of the final Bendy fight and going to Joey's apartment

Thereby giving further evidence that Bendy is Joey! (

Or, at least was almost revealed to be Joey in unused audio files. (OOF)

So, that was one of the first things to show up upon my closer inspection of the game,

But here's where things go from moderately interesting,

to completely up-ending everything we thought we knew.

Dreamfisher's post got me to specifically focused on the 2D textures used throughout the game,

stuff that wraps around 3D objects or environments to give them their detail,

and in those files you can find some pretty wacky stuff.

Like this, is Joey Drew as we knew him,

and THIS is Joey Drew's face, flattened by a steamroller. (Not Really) (GET THE HOLY WATER!)

LOOK AT TONGUE! Just down there in the corner! (He's a huge pancake if you think about it)

And where are his eyes you ask?

*JUMPSCARE* (Mr. Aizawa whenever he uses his quirk, kudos to you if you get the reference)

Most effective jumpscare this franchise has produced,

in the actual game, you can't even see these things!

Serious talk here though Joey,

you might wanna look into getting some Clear Eyes.

*TV CLEAR EYES COMMERCIAL*

*Distorted* Clear Eyes.

00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:10,000 But its the very obviously titled texture pack named: Props04_SHD-mat-_MainTex-atlas0

That hides more secrets than I think any of us could have ever suspected.

On this sheet, we have all the things you would expect to see around Joey Drew's little apartment

Here's some paintings, a vase texture, the electrical outlets

Evidence that Henry may actually be dead (*Spit's out Tea* wait wHAT ⊙ｏ⊙)

A rug, you know, all the usual stuff

Now, I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING!

Those are truly enormous electrical plugs

I know! I was shocked too (pUN INTENDED?!!?!? NANI?!?)

But I really think that you're fixated on the wrong detail here

'Cuz like I said,

hidden amongst that texture file is a series of newspaper headlines.

One of which out right reads

"Local Artist Pushed Himself Too Hard, Found Dead At Desk"

That's, ummm, an oddly specific newspaper headline

to include in a game about a cartoon studio..Right?

What makes the headline even more suspicious though is when it's put in context with Joey's endgame speech...

Joey:"The truth is, you were always so good at pushing, good friend...

...pushing me to do the right thing.

You should have pushed a little harder."

Again, we see this recurring theme of Pushing

and Pushing harder

Coincidence?

I definitely don't think so.

I mean, if this newspaper headline were truly meant to be taken seriously,

and was referencing some event in the game's timeline,

it would be directly referencing Henry.

Our artist, who SPECIFICALLY references his desk TWICE in the game

Henry (In both Chapter 1 and 5):"Hey, here's my old desk, I've wasted so much time in that chair",

A character who, we also know based on his first and only audio log in the game,

complain's first hand about just how hard he works

Henry:"I haven't seen Linda for days now...

...When in doubt, just keep drawing Henry."

And here's the thing, we know this headline was specifically put in there by the Game Dev's ,

considering that we can see what some of the other newspaper textures, that they've been clearly doctored.

For instance, here: "[Blank]: A Year in Review",

It was doctored to remove the year.

These aren't just random assets that were thrown in for set dressing,

they were selected, they were curated, they were corrected.

It's also worth noting where in the game this headline exists.

Back near the Ink Machine, in Joey Drew's apartment,

You would never see this newspaper unless you hacked into the game in order to get over there

Which, lemme tell ya is no small feed, but it is definitely there,

on a shelf in that back room.

Joey collected the paper and keeps it next to his precious machine...

But how could Henry be dead?

We are obviously playing him, walking around the studio.

I hear you asking and trust me, it's something that I kept asking myself as I wrote this thing too.

Honestly, I don't know if this is anything more than just a suspicious easter egg thrown in there for hackers.

But (SKJSKJ he said "but", im such a child) if it is real, I of course, have a theory!

As to what's going on!

And let me be completely honest with you, with a lot of the theories that I do on this channel,

there are all just for fun ("F is for friend's that do stuff together!" Finish the lyrics in the comments I guess? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ If you actually made it this far with captions ),

I don't necessarily believe every single one that we do, but in this case, I think I'm onto something.

First, let's look at Joey's audio logs.

In my final Bendy theory, I chose to focus on the thematic meaning of the ending.

While it was a story of regrets, apologies, and closure in the real world.

But in doing that, I largely wrote off events that were happening in the studio as just part of this story that Joey was telling

But what if there was a bit more truth to all this studio action than I originally expected?

Consider this, through out Chapter 5, Joey's audio logs give us a timeline of the development & usage of the Ink Machine

Joey Drew:"Whatever was that grinning thing was I saw wandering around your office,

you better keep it locked up tight!

I realize it was a first attempt but imagine if the press caught sight of it...

If you claim your failures are because these things are souless then, damn it, we'll get them a soul!"

So, the detail of the grin confirms for us that Bendy was ,indeed, the first created and he's with out a soul.

Joey then, in his quest for a soul, moves onto former voice actress of Alice Angel, Susie Campbell

Joey:"I know how much this part means to you, Susie....I too really believe my characters are more than just drawings.

They're alive....Susie, I'll be straight with you. I'm putting together a small project...

a little ceremony...I want you to bring Alice to live once again. What do ya say?"

She says yes so he uses the Ink Machine ritual to her into Alice Angel,

and again, and again for a lot of the other employees.

This is why the walls of the studio are covered with the phrase:"THE CREATOR LIED TO US."

It's not because of salvation or anything like that,

but it's because Joey lied. He lied like we see him do to Susie. To get their souls, sacrificed into his Ink Machine

Now look at this, notice that there are two mutually exclusive sets of characters that we see over the course of game .

One set has coffins hidden inside the studio, and the other set have letters on Joey Drew's bulletin board.

With the coffins, we have: Susie Campbell, Bertrum Piedmont, Grant Cohen, Norman Polk, and Lacie Benton

With letters on the bulletin board, we have: Wally Franks, Allison Pendle, and Thomas Connor.

The one's with coffins are actually in those coffins....

.....

Those coffins are the victims in real life. They are souless, they are dead, empty husks' of bodies.

Sacrificed to the machine. All the others, in the words of Wally Franks, were outta there!