Great emotional story, atmosphere, sound design, really enjoy red candles efforts so far.
I don’t say “this is the best game of its genre since Silent Hill 2” lightly. Devotion shook me to my core.
Horrifying in what it pulls from reality, with the droning queasiness of an Aronofsky movie (except, you know, good), it is a story of how cultural, career & gender expectations push an ex-celebrity Taiwanese family to sickeningly resonant extremes. If you’re Asian, this game will fuck you up. If you’re not Asian, it will probably fuck you up anyway.
Come for the Xi Jinpooh memes, stay for the devastating ending. If PT had to die for Devotion to exist, I’d say it’s worth it.
Horrifying in what it pulls from reality, with the droning queasiness of an Aronofsky movie (except, you know, good), it is a story of how cultural, career & gender expectations push an ex-celebrity Taiwanese family to sickeningly resonant extremes. If you’re Asian, this game will fuck you up. If you’re not Asian, it will probably fuck you up anyway.
Come for the Xi Jinpooh memes, stay for the devastating ending. If PT had to die for Devotion to exist, I’d say it’s worth it.
vim esperando muito medo e saí chorando, jogo foda com uma narrativa impecável e muito bem contada. a maneira com que o ambiente é inserido e já conta trechos da história é fantástica e a maneira com que o terror é trabalhado aqui é uma delicinha, mas seu ponto alto realmente é a narrrativa. sério, joguem.
This review contains spoilers
i threw up and cried again
such a devastatingly beautiful ending for one of the most tragic stories ive come upon
and the way the story is weaved and how it shows the player all these puzzle pieces to put together through the years of this family's lives is so amazing
the environment, the art design, the little bits and bobs and letters and belongings of the family, it does such a good job putting you in their home, in this era, in this country
i love the many little files as well, the screenplay excerpts and the ones about cigu guanyin and the snake
not to mention the absolutely amazing live action parts with the commercials and the singing contest, along with all of the cutscenes through mei shin's eyes and the part where mentor heuh guides you through the underworld
every section is just fucking amazing. everyone knows and loves the beautiful storybook section but it is so so good. a small moment of respite from the grimy dimly lit claustrophobic home, with all of its bright watercolors and cute and happy resolutions
i do think some jumpscares and especially the chase sequence are a bit much, but theyre easily overlooked
the soundtrack and vocal songs are incredible, and lady of the pier is an excellent song between mei shin and li fang and showing their differences and the crushing pressure on mei shin from what her family expects of her
devotion by no party for cao dong is especially fantastic to me
i never fail to cry while it plays out with the scene of mei shin running, it could be seen as a little out of place but i think it wraps it up perfectly and gorgeously
the lyrics are so fitting and i think reading them gets me the most
i cant emphasize how much this story just hits me. it hurts so fucking much, its so real. mei shin's anxiety is portrayed so well, along with her family completely misunderstanding it. and the way the father falls deep into religion, into this occult worship, emptying his pockets and doing prayers and rituals and unintentionally killing his own daughter at the behest of a false mentor because he wants her to be better, he knows she can achieve stardom
the mother, who helps as much as she can and goes back to work, promising to take her family somewhere better but it was just a little too late
both just making it worse on mei shin
it is just utterly and completely devastating, and being able to figure those things out for yourself as you play through is so special.
this game is so excellent and i will always be sad at the fact that a small, almost insignificantly placed political easter egg made people unable to play this special game for quite some time. but its getting out there more and more thanks to red candle making it available on their own site, and im glad to have experienced it
such a devastatingly beautiful ending for one of the most tragic stories ive come upon
and the way the story is weaved and how it shows the player all these puzzle pieces to put together through the years of this family's lives is so amazing
the environment, the art design, the little bits and bobs and letters and belongings of the family, it does such a good job putting you in their home, in this era, in this country
i love the many little files as well, the screenplay excerpts and the ones about cigu guanyin and the snake
not to mention the absolutely amazing live action parts with the commercials and the singing contest, along with all of the cutscenes through mei shin's eyes and the part where mentor heuh guides you through the underworld
every section is just fucking amazing. everyone knows and loves the beautiful storybook section but it is so so good. a small moment of respite from the grimy dimly lit claustrophobic home, with all of its bright watercolors and cute and happy resolutions
i do think some jumpscares and especially the chase sequence are a bit much, but theyre easily overlooked
the soundtrack and vocal songs are incredible, and lady of the pier is an excellent song between mei shin and li fang and showing their differences and the crushing pressure on mei shin from what her family expects of her
devotion by no party for cao dong is especially fantastic to me
i never fail to cry while it plays out with the scene of mei shin running, it could be seen as a little out of place but i think it wraps it up perfectly and gorgeously
the lyrics are so fitting and i think reading them gets me the most
i cant emphasize how much this story just hits me. it hurts so fucking much, its so real. mei shin's anxiety is portrayed so well, along with her family completely misunderstanding it. and the way the father falls deep into religion, into this occult worship, emptying his pockets and doing prayers and rituals and unintentionally killing his own daughter at the behest of a false mentor because he wants her to be better, he knows she can achieve stardom
the mother, who helps as much as she can and goes back to work, promising to take her family somewhere better but it was just a little too late
both just making it worse on mei shin
it is just utterly and completely devastating, and being able to figure those things out for yourself as you play through is so special.
this game is so excellent and i will always be sad at the fact that a small, almost insignificantly placed political easter egg made people unable to play this special game for quite some time. but its getting out there more and more thanks to red candle making it available on their own site, and im glad to have experienced it
arriba taiwan
One of the absolute best examples of survival horror in gaming. Incredibly scary with an ending that hits you in the feels.
Oh man, that ended up being quite impactful by the time it ended. Probably the best P.T. inspired survival horror game I’ve seen/played. So many effective scares, but probably too many cheap jumpscares for my liking though. Also has some great uses of symbolism to tell its story, which is really great by the way. I loved how well they handled Mei-shin. Her anxieties felt very real.
I’m not sure about the section that leads up to the ritual thingy. I felt like it slowed down the game and broke a lot of the tension. I did like the commentary on how exploitative cults can be though.
Puzzle design was pretty great too. It was quite simple to begin with, but the final puzzle section was fantastic.
I’m not sure about the section that leads up to the ritual thingy. I felt like it slowed down the game and broke a lot of the tension. I did like the commentary on how exploitative cults can be though.
Puzzle design was pretty great too. It was quite simple to begin with, but the final puzzle section was fantastic.
There are multiple reasons why this game shouldn’t have been enjoyable to me. While I respect detention I don’t love it, the only horror game series I really like is silent hill and I don’t really like first person horror either. This game defies all of that and is incredible in just about every way. The atmosphere and plot are stunningly executed and the game has striking visuals. I have a lot of respect for red candle and their defiance of imperial China. I hope the Taiwanese people know true peace and safety someday.
Red Candle on a streak.
This review contains spoilers
pooh incident
great game though
great game though
This is PT meets Gone Home. It's like PT in how you repeatedly go through the same apartment over and over again with little or big changes each time. The apartment even changes while you're still in it sometimes. It's like Gone Home in that you are working to uncover what happened to this family through flyers, tv broadcasts, discarded notes, rejected script pages, diary entries, etc.
The player is the father of this family of three with a mother and daughter. He is also a struggling screenwriter. Early on, it is revealed that the daughter has a severe illness preventing her from attending school, and the mother used to be a famous singer before giving that up to start a family. This is my big issue with the game, and it's the same issue I have with Gone Home: the story isn't strong enough to support the game. I have no reason to care about this family or to want to dig any deeper. I was bored through most of my playthrough. It isn't scary and the puzzles are pretty simple.
The game does manage to end strong. There are twists on what I thought the story was about, and the game breaks from its PT-structure to go to a new, more interesting location. The ending is surprisingly dark. It's still too little too late, but it didn't improve my opinion of the game.
The player is the father of this family of three with a mother and daughter. He is also a struggling screenwriter. Early on, it is revealed that the daughter has a severe illness preventing her from attending school, and the mother used to be a famous singer before giving that up to start a family. This is my big issue with the game, and it's the same issue I have with Gone Home: the story isn't strong enough to support the game. I have no reason to care about this family or to want to dig any deeper. I was bored through most of my playthrough. It isn't scary and the puzzles are pretty simple.
The game does manage to end strong. There are twists on what I thought the story was about, and the game breaks from its PT-structure to go to a new, more interesting location. The ending is surprisingly dark. It's still too little too late, but it didn't improve my opinion of the game.
Made me ugly cry at the end at how immensely sad it is.
I like Detention and think that game tells a more nuanced story, but ugh Devotion ripped my heart out. Stories about family and faith told well hit such a raw nerve for me.
And if we're just talking atmosphere, this game is transportive in its 80s Taiwanese apartment setting and showbiz backdrop dripping with traditional gender expectations. It's not particularly innovative in the supernatural horror game genre with its mechanics (it takes a lot from PT and Detention), but they're effective in establishing a specific sense of place and time, which the game plays with masterfully.
The things you do in the game really hammer home how familial connections are forged by small but significant shows of affection tied to mundane objects we fill with sentiment and how religious fervor gets in the way of all that.
I like Detention and think that game tells a more nuanced story, but ugh Devotion ripped my heart out. Stories about family and faith told well hit such a raw nerve for me.
And if we're just talking atmosphere, this game is transportive in its 80s Taiwanese apartment setting and showbiz backdrop dripping with traditional gender expectations. It's not particularly innovative in the supernatural horror game genre with its mechanics (it takes a lot from PT and Detention), but they're effective in establishing a specific sense of place and time, which the game plays with masterfully.
The things you do in the game really hammer home how familial connections are forged by small but significant shows of affection tied to mundane objects we fill with sentiment and how religious fervor gets in the way of all that.
A concise and unsettling narrative about a Taiwanese family living in a small apartment complex. Atmospheric and affecting, building up to an emotional ending.
It’s an enormous shame what happened with Devotion, what with it nearly being wiped away by the CCP for the small Winnie the Pooh joke that evidently hurt their feelings. So many more people should be able to play this.
It’s an enormous shame what happened with Devotion, what with it nearly being wiped away by the CCP for the small Winnie the Pooh joke that evidently hurt their feelings. So many more people should be able to play this.
The cultural specificity here feels so personal that it makes similar contemporary horror walking sims like Amnesia, SOMA, Layers of Fear and Observer (and the mansion puzzle sequences of Ethan Winters Resi Evil games) feel so much lesser than. Which is maybe unfair. But it's a reminder of how overly reliant video game developers are on using existing genre trappings to tell a story, and how often that genre is fantasy or sci-fi, and what the point even of video games are at the end of the day if they only reflect fantasy and not reality.
Devotion itself isn't completely free from that because even it relies on horror and jump scares when it easily could have just been a Gone Home styled house tour/slice of life game in the vein of a Tsai Ming Liang film. But oh well. It's a step in a better direction.
Devotion itself isn't completely free from that because even it relies on horror and jump scares when it easily could have just been a Gone Home styled house tour/slice of life game in the vein of a Tsai Ming Liang film. But oh well. It's a step in a better direction.
A spooky, contained, uniquely Taiwanese story. I felt that some of the story beats near the end could've been clearer, and there was once or twice where I felt directionless. But this is definitely worth a play.
An odd horror game. I understood the story, but I was also confused at the same time... hard to explain. Nice atmosphere though.
cade a mei shin
This review contains spoilers
After playing and loving Detention I knew that I was in for an incredible experience with Devotion but nothing could have fully prepared me for the journey I was about to endure.
This game shook me to my core and left me sobbing by the end. The story is beautifully crafted and gut-wrenching to go through. Every aspect of Detention is expanded perfectly, from the puzzles to the visuals to the sounds of the game.
Playing in first person along with the design of the apartment and rooms themselves creates an overwhelmingly claustrophobic feeling. This game made me feel as though I was living in an anxiety attack.
The cutscenes were visually wonderful and added a whole new layer to this piece of work, the representation and understanding of anxiety were perfect, especially the scene with the marbles.
I cannot begin to describe how visually gorgeous this game is. Every aspect and room are thought out and detailed, keeping you completely enveloped in the narrative. Three scenes that stuck out to me are the storybook, the flower room and the ending cutscene.
Devotion is the best game I have ever had the joy of playing and I am sure it will follow its predecessor in sticking with me long after today. Red Candle continue to prove they are making some of, if not THE, best games currently out there.
Thank you for sharing these stories, as a European I am far from educated on the horrors that took place in Taiwan and these games have opened my eyes and encouraged me to learn further and research myself. This is a period of time and a people who should not be forgotten.
I cannot wait to see what Red Candle does next and I can only say that everyone should play this incredible game, its sister, and all games Red Candle put out in the future
This game shook me to my core and left me sobbing by the end. The story is beautifully crafted and gut-wrenching to go through. Every aspect of Detention is expanded perfectly, from the puzzles to the visuals to the sounds of the game.
Playing in first person along with the design of the apartment and rooms themselves creates an overwhelmingly claustrophobic feeling. This game made me feel as though I was living in an anxiety attack.
The cutscenes were visually wonderful and added a whole new layer to this piece of work, the representation and understanding of anxiety were perfect, especially the scene with the marbles.
I cannot begin to describe how visually gorgeous this game is. Every aspect and room are thought out and detailed, keeping you completely enveloped in the narrative. Three scenes that stuck out to me are the storybook, the flower room and the ending cutscene.
Devotion is the best game I have ever had the joy of playing and I am sure it will follow its predecessor in sticking with me long after today. Red Candle continue to prove they are making some of, if not THE, best games currently out there.
Thank you for sharing these stories, as a European I am far from educated on the horrors that took place in Taiwan and these games have opened my eyes and encouraged me to learn further and research myself. This is a period of time and a people who should not be forgotten.
I cannot wait to see what Red Candle does next and I can only say that everyone should play this incredible game, its sister, and all games Red Candle put out in the future
Really interesting and diferent game.
It tells the story of a father who has an ill daughter and the sacrifices he does for her, mainly related with religious taiwanese traditions.
The location is just a house where we see the evolution it had during the 80s as well as the family story. That location has a great design, every little detail makes it feel really true and believable, I miss this aspect in many videogames.
The other virtue it has and the one that compensates a more conventional gameplay is that the way of telling things feel very artistic / cinematic. I'm a big fan of movies from Taiwan (my username comes from Rebels of the Neon God) and even if it couldn't be compared with arthouse movies a game like Devotion is not the usual way of telling things, of creating moods and ambients not only related with the screenplay as it often happens; it would be good to have more games following this path.
About the horror aspect, Devotion is more related with a dark / sadness feeling that permeates everything.
It tells the story of a father who has an ill daughter and the sacrifices he does for her, mainly related with religious taiwanese traditions.
The location is just a house where we see the evolution it had during the 80s as well as the family story. That location has a great design, every little detail makes it feel really true and believable, I miss this aspect in many videogames.
The other virtue it has and the one that compensates a more conventional gameplay is that the way of telling things feel very artistic / cinematic. I'm a big fan of movies from Taiwan (my username comes from Rebels of the Neon God) and even if it couldn't be compared with arthouse movies a game like Devotion is not the usual way of telling things, of creating moods and ambients not only related with the screenplay as it often happens; it would be good to have more games following this path.
About the horror aspect, Devotion is more related with a dark / sadness feeling that permeates everything.
still so beautiful and made me cry again the second time. heartbreaking story presented so well, and all of the live action additions are excellent worldbuilding
Adorei jogar de novo esse jogo, incrível como uma excelente história pode mudar a minha percepção de terror e me cativar pela narrativa mais do que me deixar com medo
Being largely unaware of the real-life basis of the game, I was left in ambiguity right up through the ending. The game takes place in a Taiwanese apartment block in the 1980s and tells the story of a family with a sick daughter. When medicine doesn’t seem to improve her condition, the father (who is the player character) turns to a cult-like interpretation of Buddhism. The story unfolds as you re-arrange symbolically significant puzzles that have downstream effects on different manifestations of the apartment. Throughout, I kept going back and forth on if the mother and wife was as monstrous as her in-game portrayal, or if that was a projection by the father and husband. By the end, it’s fairly clear who has been involved in which kinds of desperate and heinous acts. Yet there’s still room for interpretation at the end – there’s closure of a kind, but no definite answers. The game is all the better for it.
I think that Devotion is a brilliant game. A horror title that is scary without feeling like a cheap carnival ride, thought provoking without sounding like a lecture, and upsetting without being regrettable. While I feel that games like this don't land as well if you aren't behind the controls, the basic effect would still be pretty powerful if you simply watch a playthrough. It is frustrating that an experience of this quality is so unknown among horror fans, and my hope is that my playthrough and this blog entry will convince at least one other person to seek it out.
Full essay here: https://www.guilded.gg/backlog/blog/Chris-Vs-Blog/Fatherly-Phantasmagoria
Full essay here: https://www.guilded.gg/backlog/blog/Chris-Vs-Blog/Fatherly-Phantasmagoria
I didn’t love Detention, but something about it stuck with me years after I played it. Devotion is that little feeling magnified, polished, and concentrated across a 3-4 hour game. Its story is a beautiful, horrific one, and the game tells its story through a series of beautiful, detailed, realistic environments. The story is told minimally and flawlessly, and I was gripped by the drama presented by Red Candle. One of the best walking simulator-style adventure games I’ve played to date, and the quality of its story and delivery gets high marks even in spite of some awkwardly slow movement and tech issues (in its defense, Im playing the game on my Steam Deck via Proton). Really beautiful thing. Worth the hassle of buying through the dev’s website.
Una prueba más de que no es que el terror moderno sea una mierda, solo hay que saber buscar un poco.
this was the first game in a while that utterly ruined me. i think growing up buddhist in an asian household really adds a lot of layers to the story, as there's a lot of subtext that gets ignored when you look at it without that information. i recommend looking at the comments of some youtube playthroughs of the game, as many taiwanese people have talked about the cultural and religious references that most people don't pick up. the premise of the game is actually very realistic even with the unrealistic aspects, and it's scary to think that what happens in devotion can happen to anyone! if you pray at an altar on the side of the road or at a sketchy private-owned altar you literally can curse yourself and your family. be careful where you pray folks...
What a ride. My least favorite thing about games like this is when they're too cryptic or have really obtuse puzzles that ruin the mood. This game never has that though. As the game goes on you can catch on to the things going on around you, and it slowly allows you to piece together what it all means. The horror aspects are super cool, and there's only a few jumpscares, which every horror game deserves a few. Probably one of my top horror games now. Shame it didn't get a proper chance on the main storefronts.
It's ironic that this game was initially only widely available for a single week in 2019 before its return last year because of its portrayal of the dangers of magical thinking as a coping mechanism and problem-solving tool speak potently to the pandemic era, as familiar as we now are with reports of people refusing to believe in COVID even as the disease brings them to their death bed. This type of denialism is now of the chief political problems of our age, and Devotion acutely depicts that particular horror with all of the creepy noises and dim hallways you expect from the genre.
This isn't to say that Devotion lacks for cultural specificity or a personal touch. The Du family apartment is a standout video game setting, with so much information conveyed about their lives conveyed simply through the placement of objects and how things change throughout different places in the timeline, and that's just the stuff that's translatable. It's readily apparent that there's ton of detail here that will only scan for the Tawainese audiences, and although that doesn't include me I still think it's really cool, especially since the team did a great job translating the core details. The temporary removal of this game from
purchase was both tragedy and farce, which makes Red Candle Games a voice and studio well worth supporting. I am very grateful that they are still able to make and sell games.
This isn't to say that Devotion lacks for cultural specificity or a personal touch. The Du family apartment is a standout video game setting, with so much information conveyed about their lives conveyed simply through the placement of objects and how things change throughout different places in the timeline, and that's just the stuff that's translatable. It's readily apparent that there's ton of detail here that will only scan for the Tawainese audiences, and although that doesn't include me I still think it's really cool, especially since the team did a great job translating the core details. The temporary removal of this game from
purchase was both tragedy and farce, which makes Red Candle Games a voice and studio well worth supporting. I am very grateful that they are still able to make and sell games.
There's no such thing as bad publicity, but whilst Devotion's 'political' controversy amidst a mocking Xi Jinping easter egg gave the game some reputation as a 'banned' classic, it did make it virtually unplayable for quite some time.
The game was removed from Steam and subsequent platforms such as GOG after failed attempts for a re-release. It is only recently that Red Candle Games have released it on their website DRM-free for a small price.
Moving on to the game itself, it's actually less concerned with Taiwanese politics as it is with religious fantacism as it tells a chilling story about a family's breakdown following their daughter's mysterious illness. Despite the big jump from the 2D-sidescrolling of Detention to something more PT-inspired, Devotion returns to the unsettling slow-burn visual storytelling Red Candle have mastered. The puzzle gameplay is quite simple but usually satisfies as you form a picture of whatever the hell is going on in this claustrophobic apartment setting.
A couple of cheap jumpscares and a silly chase sequence are amongst a few aspects which keep Devotion from being perfect, even less 'clean' a game than its predecessor. However, the ambitious experimentation with visuals and structure, plus Red Candle's knack for telling a gripping story, make this title an unforgettable trip to hell and back. It may look similar to other PT rip-offs, but is definitely a cut above many of the greats.
Yes, you should go on Red Candle's website and buy this damned thing.
The game was removed from Steam and subsequent platforms such as GOG after failed attempts for a re-release. It is only recently that Red Candle Games have released it on their website DRM-free for a small price.
Moving on to the game itself, it's actually less concerned with Taiwanese politics as it is with religious fantacism as it tells a chilling story about a family's breakdown following their daughter's mysterious illness. Despite the big jump from the 2D-sidescrolling of Detention to something more PT-inspired, Devotion returns to the unsettling slow-burn visual storytelling Red Candle have mastered. The puzzle gameplay is quite simple but usually satisfies as you form a picture of whatever the hell is going on in this claustrophobic apartment setting.
A couple of cheap jumpscares and a silly chase sequence are amongst a few aspects which keep Devotion from being perfect, even less 'clean' a game than its predecessor. However, the ambitious experimentation with visuals and structure, plus Red Candle's knack for telling a gripping story, make this title an unforgettable trip to hell and back. It may look similar to other PT rip-offs, but is definitely a cut above many of the greats.
Yes, you should go on Red Candle's website and buy this damned thing.
a moving story effectively told. I feel like this leans a little harder on jump scares than it needs to when the most emotionally striking parts of the game were the least horrific ones, but that may be necessary if the goal is to be a "horror game" rather than a "walking simulator" (which I imagine opens the door to a significant number of additional players)