"Devotion is a first-person atmospheric horror game depicting the life of a family shadowed by religious belief. Explore as a 1980s Taiwan apartment-complex lost in time gradually shifts into a hellish nightmare. Delve into the vows each member of the family has made, and witness their devotion.
Im so glad more cultures are making rad horror games. Dreadout and Detention were both a breath of fresh air and were successful enough the devs get to make more and experiment.
This is also right up my alley as "rogues gallery" horror is fuckin sick
Detention was really neat so I'm happy to see something else from the developers. Looks like a great premise and the trailer does a really good job of selling it, definitely on my radar now.
Long and short: it might be better than Detention, and I don't say that lightly. Don't spoil yourself on footage if you liked Detention, don't look at the trailers, don't look at too many promo screenshots. It's a story that's told incredibly well.
Long and short: it might be better than Detention, and I don't say that lightly. Don't spoil yourself on footage if you liked Detention, don't look at the trailers, don't look at too many promo screenshots. It's a story that's told incredibly well.
And with that, I'm on blackout. Thanks for the impressions!
Has there been any mention of a console release? Playing Detention at night, on my switch while in bed, amped up the creepiness and provided for a nice side of the cozy feels.
Long and short: it might be better than Detention, and I don't say that lightly. Don't spoil yourself on footage if you liked Detention, don't look at the trailers, don't look at too many promo screenshots. It's a story that's told incredibly well.
Can we expect the same amount of puzzles and exploration as Detention? All the footage for Devotion thus far makes it seem closer to a walking simulator.
Can we expect the same amount of puzzles and exploration as Detention? All the footage for Devotion thus far makes it seem closer to a walking simulator.
The puzzles are really simple, don't go in expecting anything tricky. It's linear except for one bit where you are going back and forth between a handful of locations.
I just finished the game (it's 2.5-3ish hours for anyone wondering). Let me say this: Red Candle are one of the highlight storytellers in the industry when it comes to layered character work and meaningful storytelling using symbols, metaphors, allusions, and strong theming. Detention had those same strengths and Devotion continues them without skipping a beat. However, as has already been mentioned, the game is arguably more similar to Edith Finch than to the first Detention in terms of those themes. It's a much more intimate story that doesn't necessarily implicate the same broad issues that Detention did. I won't say any more since spoiling would be a disservice.
But that textured and carefully directed storytelling is really the star of the show here. Red Candle are not just very talented developers, but talented storytellers in general. They absolutely should be mentioned alongside Giant Sparrow.
I know many of you picking up this game will want to experience it for the atmosphere and the story and not necessarily for the "jump scares." I'm going to spoiler tag a description of the jump scares, how many there are, and when/where they occur, so that anyone who wants can be warned in advance so they're not shitting themselves the entire time. There are other scary moments obviously but these are the only ones where something happens quickly and there's a loud noise/scare chord to accompany it.
There are two jump scares.
#1. When you first leave the apartment at the very beginning of the game. There is a corridor outside the apartment. There is a jump scare here, something flies toward you quickly and there's a loud noise.
#2. There's a section of the game later where you can visit three different areas. In the second of those three areas (you'll know when you get there how to determine which is the second of the three), there is a room with a doll on a bed. When you interact with that doll, when you go back out into the hallway, there is immediately a jump scare. It's the same type, something flies toward you and there's a loud noise.
I hope you all enjoy this remarkable game from an exceptionally talented studio. Right after this post I'm going to mention it as a counterpoint in the "February 2019 was a bad month for video games" thread.
EDIT: Game has 1,000+ reviews on Steam and the Twitch numbers were crazy. I really hope that's a sign of great sales.
I just finished the game (it's 2.5-3ish hours for anyone wondering). Let me say this: Red Candle are one of the highlight storytellers in the industry when it comes to layered character work and meaningful storytelling using symbols, metaphors, allusions, and strong theming. Detention had those same strengths and Devotion continues them without skipping a beat. However, as has already been mentioned, the game is arguably more similar to Edith Finch than to the first Detention in terms of those themes. It's a much more intimate story that doesn't necessarily implicate the same broad issues that Detention did. I won't say any more since spoiling would be a disservice.
But that textured and carefully directed storytelling is really the star of the show here. Red Candle are not just very talented developers, but talented storytellers in general. They absolutely should be mentioned alongside Giant Sparrow.
I know many of you picking up this game will want to experience it for the atmosphere and the story and not necessarily for the "jump scares." I'm going to spoiler tag a description of the jump scares, how many there are, and when/where they occur, so that anyone who wants can be warned in advance so they're not shitting themselves the entire time. There are other scary moments obviously but these are the only ones where something happens quickly and there's a loud noise/scare chord to accompany it.
There are two jump scares.
#1. When you first leave the apartment at the very beginning of the game. There is a corridor outside the apartment. There is a jump scare here, something flies toward you quickly and there's a loud noise.
#2. There's a section of the game later where you can visit three different areas. In the second of those three areas (you'll know when you get there how to determine which is the second of the three), there is a room with a doll on a bed. When you interact with that doll, when you go back out into the hallway, there is immediately a jump scare. It's the same type, something flies toward you and there's a loud noise.
I hope you all enjoy this remarkable game from an exceptionally talented studio. Right after this post I'm going to mention it as a counterpoint in the "February 2019 was a bad month for video games" thread.
EDIT: Game has 1,000+ reviews on Steam and the Twitch numbers were crazy. I really hope that's a sign of great sales.
I'm actually looking up Guanyin at the moment but no it was completely fine in the game. They did a great job of making it distinctly and unmistakably Taiwanese but making the underlying themes and storytelling universal. It was the same careful balance that they accomplished with Detention.
I'm actually looking up Guanyin at the moment but no it was completely fine in the game. They did a great job of making it distinctly and unmistakably Taiwanese but making the underlying themes and storytelling universal. It was the same careful balance that they accomplished with Detention.
I just finished the game (it's 2.5-3ish hours for anyone wondering). Let me say this: Red Candle are one of the highlight storytellers in the industry when it comes to layered character work and meaningful storytelling using symbols, metaphors, allusions, and strong theming. Detention had those same strengths and Devotion continues them without skipping a beat. However, as has already been mentioned, the game is arguably more similar to Edith Finch than to the first Detention in terms of those themes. It's a much more intimate story that doesn't necessarily implicate the same broad issues that Detention did. I won't say any more since spoiling would be a disservice.
But that textured and carefully directed storytelling is really the star of the show here. Red Candle are not just very talented developers, but talented storytellers in general. They absolutely should be mentioned alongside Giant Sparrow.
I know many of you picking up this game will want to experience it for the atmosphere and the story and not necessarily for the "jump scares." I'm going to spoiler tag a description of the jump scares, how many there are, and when/where they occur, so that anyone who wants can be warned in advance so they're not shitting themselves the entire time. There are other scary moments obviously but these are the only ones where something happens quickly and there's a loud noise/scare chord to accompany it.
Thanks for your thoughtful impressions, I'm very glad to see that Red Candle has delivered again an unforgettable story.
'Detention' is the only video game that I have played whose quality in the story writing can look to some of the most remarkable works in the circuit of independent film festivals in the vein of Cannes or Venecia. With its approach to mature subjects, but most importantly, how the objects and images are used as symbols, to go deeper into the subconscious of the characters.
I will wait until the console ports are announced (or not) to play this. But I'm very happy to see that such landmark in the video game medium has been able to resonate among a massive public. To see the high number of Twitch viewers was unbelievable. And one of these rare examples in which the talent wins to the marketing.
I hope you all enjoy this remarkable game from an exceptionally talented studio. Right after this post I'm going to mention it as a counterpoint in the "February 2019 was a bad month for video games" thread.
EDIT: Game has 1,000+ reviews on Steam and the Twitch numbers were crazy. I really hope that's a sign of great sales.
Is Steamspy still accurate? Too early for owner estimates, but it lists "Peak concurrent players yesterday" at around 12,500. Not sure if that correlates with sales though
Edit: And it seems to be the global top seller on Steam?
Fuck yeah, support Taiwanese devs. Detention is scary but fascinating, and twice as disturbing if you know the mythology and the White Terror. Gonna pick this up this weekend.
So the horror is more SOMA than PT? Existential, thematic, and atmospheric, more from tension and dread and a disturbing narrative rather than jump scares and the like?
Finished the game last night and it was fantastic. Gets my 100% recommendation and if you haven't played their previous title Detention, that's also up there. I can't wait to see what Red Candle does next.
Finished the game last night and it was fantastic. Gets my 100% recommendation and if you haven't played their previous title Detention, that's also up there. I can't wait to see what Red Candle does next.
Is Steamspy still accurate? Too early for owner estimates, but it lists "Peak concurrent players yesterday" at around 12,500. Not sure if that correlates with sales though
Edit: And it seems to be the global top seller on Steam?
I don't check Steamspy at all anymore but the derivative indicators like number of reviews, Twitch popularity, and now position on the global Steam charts, seems to indicate that it's doing quite well. I hope it does well enough to warrant a statement from the developers re: how much it sold and how fast.
Also yea I'd say in terms of the balance between pure tension and outright scares, it falls more on the SOMA side. I can spoiler tag how many jumpscares there are if you want to read it
You ain't lying, goddamn this is good. I clearly need to check out this band's output.
Edit: REALLY off-topic, I know nothing of the Taiwanese music scene, but there is one shoegaze band from there I'm familiar with who put out a mini-album in 2017, and I absolutely adore it. Well worth listening to for anyone who likes the genre.
I played about an hour of it last night and found myself engrossed by this tiny, detailed Taiwanese apartment and how it changes over the years. I think the comparisons to PT and Edith Finch are spot on - the framing of this story is all about the seamless, dreamy exploration of an intimate space. It's not something I could play in a single sitting however, as
I was started to learn more about the daughter's illness and as a parent that's something
that makes me anxious at the best of times, but presented in a tense, dark, first person horror game means I'll have to take it a little slow.
Finished the game last night and it was fantastic. Gets my 100% recommendation and if you haven't played their previous title Detention, that's also up there. I can't wait to see what Red Candle does next.
