Swollen Searchers

See Searchers (disambiguation) for other related uses.

Swollen Searchers are bloated variants of the original Searchers and minor enemies that appear in Chapter 3 and 4 of Bendy and the Ink Machine.

Bestiary

Physical Appearance

The Swollen Searchers appearance looks very similar to their original counterparts, but they are slightly larger and are in a hunched position. They have a diseased-like appearance - sporting a lump on their right arm, a thumb on their left hand, the left cheek, and the left side of their back. Their stomachs also possess several large lumps and dents.

Behavior

These Searcher variants are composed of unusual-looking ink known as "extra thick ink", being a combination of both thick and extra think ink.

Unlike other Searcher types, the Swollen Searchers do not attack, or even outright harm Henry. They stand idle and barely move around. If Henry takes too long while attempting to kill them with the syringe or moves too fast, they vanish into ink and teleport to another location.

History

Bendy and the Ink Machine

Chapter 3: Rise and Fall

They only appear on Level 11 from one task where Henry goes on the next mission by collecting thick ink, teleporting around the metro station and the lunch room 2. Twisted Alice feels disgusted by the Swollen Searchers' appearance^[1] while requesting Henry to obtain the syringe and use it for collecting extra-thick ink that they are composed of. Henry must go to Level 11, kill all either two or three Swollen Searchers (if not killing Fisher for one extra-thick ink he obtained) and obtain their extra-thick ink to complete the task. The Swollen Searchers only takes a single hit by Henry's syringe.

Chapter 4: Colossal Wonders

A single Swollen Searcher made an extremely minor appearance in this chapter. One can be summoned from the ink pipe by turning the valve in the pillar room. Henry has to use their thick ink for the Ink Maker. After Henry takes the Swollen Searcher's thick ink, it will disappear back into the ink pipe. If Henry wanted to get back thick ink, it will be summoned again.

Trivia

General

• All idle moans the Swollen Searchers make are reused from the regular Searchers' death sounds, only edited to a lower-pitch. While one of the taken sounds is still used for the normal Searchers, two of these sounds are actually taken from the Searcher's many unused death sounds which can be found in the game files from Chapter 2's first release.
• There is another ink monster called Swollen Jack which uses the same look from the Swollen Searchers except that he wears a bowler hat.

Chapter 3: Rise and Fall

• Killing all two or three Swollen Searchers will unlock the "Ultimate Stomachache" achievement.
• The Swollen Searcher's mechanics were changed few times before the latest update for Chapter 4's release:
  • On update patch 1.3.0:
    • There were four Swollen Searchers to hunt instead of three along with Fisher lacking the thick ink he obtains.
    • The Swollen Searchers can be located around almost any locations besides just Level 11.
  • On update patch 1.3.1:
    • There were over five Swollen Searchers to hunt.
• Prior to the release of Chapter 4, the Swollen Searcher was seen in the "Path of the Demon" ending image along with Ink Bendy and all three Butcher Gang enemies.

Audio

Gallery

3D model of The Swollen Searcher.

Swollen Searcher appeared inside the small workshop room of Level P before update patch 1.3.1.

A Swollen Searcher in the waiting room.

Henry face-to-face to the Swollen Searcher.

The Swollen Searcher, along with Ink Bendy, Piper, Fisher, and Striker as seen from the unused "Path of the Demon" ending image.

The Swollen Searcher in Chapter 4, inside the pillar room found in the cavern.

A Swollen Searcher in the pillar room.

The rigged model of the Swollen Searcher.

Official image of the Swollen Searcher's model from Pascal's ArtStation account.

References