With Lone Wolf bringing new audio logs for us to listen to, the fact that these new logs could be from any human character introduced in the games so far (I'm ignoring the possibility of new characters being introduced for this post, of course) will be interesting to see because now it's a big gamble to see which characters we'll be hearing from, whether they've been around for a long time and whom we'll be hearing again—like Bertrum or the characters we've already heard in BATDS—or characters who have been around for less time and whom we'll be able to hear again, like the ones we heard in BATDR.
And if I had to give my two cents: even though I'm in favor of hearing more from more familiar faces who have been around longer, I can't lie that I'd like to hear from at least one or two characters from the human cast of Dark Revival.
I know that,by all acounts, the Team should focus on giving more to the characters the community as a whole likes more/is most attached to and wants to see more of. That is, the characters from BATIM (if that wasn't clear).
And the truth is, the community at large doesn't care for most of the characters introduced in BATDR, and this especially applies to the human cast.
Considering the way they're used, the type of information they provide, the amount of audio logs for each character, and comparing them to Ink Machine's cast, it's not hard to see why people in general don't care about these specific characters. Combine that with the way that BATDR uses new characters outside of the audio logs (Porter, Heidi, Amok, Betty, etc.), the screen time that the old characters have in this game, and the BATIM audio log cast having only minor appearances, the "wound" ends up being bigger so to speak.
And hey, I don't blame people for not caring. I personally don't think the idea of expanding the world with new faces is bad, after all, Joey Drew Studios had a lot of people while it was open. But I can see why many fans won't be interested in these guys at the end of the day.
I mean, why would you? You want to see more of the characters you truly care about, the ones you want to see more of, and the ones you want to be further expanded upon. And not only Dark Revival delivers very little of that,but it also delivers a lot in terms of new characters that you won't think much at all at the end of the day.
I understand and agree with the sentiment, and I hope future projects can handle the use of their characters better, and have a better balance between new and old faces as well.
At the same time, I think it would be interesting to see some of the BATDR newcomers get some sort of attention as well. I do believe some of these new characters can be expanded upon and have something more happening with them,and I think it's quite possible to have a middle ground where we can continue to have more of the characters that the community wants to see more of, and also expand new characters/have new characters that can stand out and have more than just a "one and done" moment throughout the whole game.
Heck, Archie Carter was expanded in Fade to Black, and he's arguably one of the highlights of that book and the one most likely to be remembered among the human cast of BATDR (the bar is below hell, but still). Yeah, yeah, it's a non-canon book, you don't need to remind me. That doesn't change the fact that he's still one of the "forgettable" ones from the Dark Revival storyline who ended up being developed further in official Bendy media, canon or not. And his participation in that book did wonders for him, imo. If he can be developed into something more, why not other characters from that game?
I'm not saying that every human character in BATDR needs to be expanded, no. That's an unrealistic expectation. And like it or not, not every character is destined for a larger role in a story/universe (And this extends to other characters of this franchise, mind you) But again, I don't think there's anything wrong with taking some of the characters introduced in that game and adding more to them. The options are either that or just ignoring them completely and leaving them as just a bunch of extras who are pretty much useless aside from giving a little more information about what's going on in Bendy's world outside of the "main" story. (Which isn't impossible, and I won't complain too much if that's the case, I guess, but it's a less fun option. But alas.)
And I think Lone Wolf, a spinoff set at the same time as the mainline entry that introduced most of these extras to the Bendy universe, would be a good (if not,The only) chance to hear from some of these guys again.
So, for example, we'll be returning to the Sewers in the game. There's a chance we'll hear from Jack Fain, considering he also worked down there, but we could also hear from Grace Conway again, since her audio log is found at the sewer entrance. I think she's one of the most memorable of the newcomers, and I think she not only has the potential to be expanded further in the logs, but even be developed into one with a counterpart in the Ink Realm (assuming you don't already believe she's a certain Ghost that appears in that game).
I don't know if the Memos thing will be reused in future games, but it would be interesting to see new messages from Hudson Doyle. His last one in DR was him talking about other ways to leave the studio besides the elevators, and I'm sure that was referring to the sewers. I always thought that memo had potential for a sort of memo-told mini-story about Hudson exploring the sewers, and it would be cool to see that capitalized on at some point. If not, well, I already know what to implement in my AU.
We'll be returning to Artist's Rest, so not only is there a possibility of a bunch of Lost Ones appearing to attack us mercilessly (the joke is that this is the one place in the game where the Lost Ones spawn a lot), but we could also hear from Hank Scott again. I wouldn't consider him one of the most notable of the human cast, but it would be a good chance to hear more about other events occurring in the studio at the time, and especially more what was happening around the "district" that Artist's Rest sort of is.
Dark Survival has always had these sections in some levels that are composed of art rooms, and until 2022, we didn't hear any other characters in the games who worked in the art and animation departments besides Henry (again, >in the games<). This would be an opportunity to hear more from some of the artists and animators introduced in DR. Jane and Bill are the ones I'd most like to hear from again, I won't lie.
And we'll be returning to the Gent labs (not surprising), so we'll obviously hear from the company's staff. I'll be surprised if we don't end up getting something new from Thomas (but it's not impossible,ngl). And it might be a good opportunity to hear from Steve McGregor or Archie Carter again. Maybe Riley Wells or even Eugene Lloyd? Though I think that's unlikely.
And with the return to the Gent workshop, not only is it possible that we might learn a little more about the corporation's very own ink experiments and perhaps even pave the way to understanding their end goal with the Ink Machine, I believe and say that one of my most serious predictions regarding LW is the possibility of our first audio log recorded by Alan Gray, Gent's CEO.
It's worth remembering that Lone Wolf will give us information that will be important for future games. With Bendy 3 being no exception.
I'm pretty certain that we'll get our first glimpses of Bendy 3 stuff in this game, and I don't think it's unlikely that we'll hear from the main antagonist of the next and final entry in the main-line series for the first time.
Furthermore, it wouldn't be the first time Boris's game has been used to tease the main villain for the next main game. Dark Survival did it years ago with Wilson's secret audio log. It would be cool if the Team did this again, but this time for B3. History repeating itself or something like that.
This turned out longer than I thought it would. But,basically:
There are characters in BATIM that need more development. Absolutely.
While it's not as impactful compared to most of the audio logs in BATIM, I don't think the way we had the audio logs in BATDR with its new human cast is necessarily a bad idea.
In general, the idea of new faces isn't a bad idea (I don't think anyone is really arguing that's the case).
The way BATDR uses both new and old characters leaves a lot to be desired.
I think it could be interesting to have at least one or two guys from the human cast newcomers to be expanded upon in future stuff.
And I definitely believe we can live in a world where the old and most beloved characters can be further developed and make their fans happy, and at the same time have these new characters exist in one way or another, and even exist as more than "extras."
And if future projects can do that (and based on what Puppet Guy has said before, that seems to be what Bendy 3 is setting out to do), then I'll be happy. Of course, I don't expect them to get it entirely right the first time—we'll still have to see how Lone Wolf turns out—but that doesn't mean I don't want them to at least try.
I briefly mentioned the characters that appear in the memos. Another character that would be very interesting to appear in the future is Chef Buck. He has great potential for being more developed, and I hope that ends up happening one way or another. Aside from him and Hudson, I don't see many of the memo newbies being expanded upon in the future (then again, there are only about 4 more newbies introduced in the memos, so it doesn't make any difference if they disappear).
Yes, there's always the possibility of new characters being introduced in LW. But honestly? Considering the cast that already existed in Dark Survial, and the inclusion of those who appeared in DR first, if this game introduces new characters, they will be very few. 4 at most,dare I say. But who am I to say?
To clarify, aside from the Alan Gray and Gent stuff, the other "predictions" I made about characters possibly appearing because of certain locations aren't things where I'm like, "yes, this is 100% going to happen, trust me." They're more ideas that I think would be good opportunities to bring back "forgotten" characters and use them more. I have no proof that these things will actually be in the game. If it happens? Great! I'll be happy. If not? Well. That's life.
And, despite what I've already written, Lone Wolf doesn't necessarily need to be THE game where these forgotten characters need to be developed. Future projects can do that too. The focus of the post is LW because it's the game that literally comes out in less than 3 days,and I can dream, damn it.
BTW, a new audio log for Lacie Benton is mandatory. Besides being a missed opportunity considering what we know about the game, let's be honest, she may be more remembered than most of the characters in BATDR, but her importance and relevance in BATIM is as high as the importance and relevance of someone like Angus Newman (spoilers: it's actually very low).
