In one fragment it’ll be warm, cosy,
and lived in. In another, moving
boxes sit unpacked as a crackling
radio plays a Taiwanese pop song.
The attention to detail, and the
fidelity of the environment, is
incredible. Grubby textures,
atmospheric lighting, and convincing
piles of clutter make for
an impressively
realistic setting. Despite
being developed by a
small team, Devotion
has the production
values of something
made by a much bigger
studio – albeit in a
confined space.
Sometimes the things you see in
the apartment are more surreal: a red
umbrella floating mysteriously in
mid-air. A porcelain doll skewered by
hypodermic needles. Eerie
mannequins staring at you with blank
expressions, moving when your back
is turned. The horror in Devotion is
subtle, understated, and deeply
creepy. It’s also a game you’ll want to
T
aking place across seven years, Devotion is a psychological
horror game set in a single apartment in 1980s Taiwan. As
you progress through it, this claustrophobic living space
shifts around you and tells the fragmented story of a family
who once lived there.play with headphones, because the
atmospheric audio is sensational,
particularly the use of music and
radio broadcasts.
The game is entirely first-person
and movement is measured and slow,
making every moment where you
turn a blind corner genuinely
unnerving. The
developer, Red Candle,
has proven itself with
this and its previous
game, Detention, to be a
master of restraint. It
knows when to hold
back, which makes the
times when something
more overtly scary
happens doubly powerful.
But what makes Devotion special
is that it’s more than just a ghost
story. On a deeper level it’s about the
tragedy of the people who lived in
the apartment – a gravely ill daughter,
a husband resentful of his wife’s
success, and the strain that puts on
the family. You view the story
through each family member’s eyesand Red Candle handles the human
side of the story with nuance.Dark Matter
Some of the horror imagery in
Devotion is a little hackneyed, and
stuff you’ve seen in a dozen other
first-person horror games. But when
it flexes its imagination and dreams
up something entirely of its own
making, it can be very disturbing.
Much of the story is relayed
through documents and TV shows
that play on the family’s chunky old
television set. These shows, and the
various papers and letters you pick
up, are really convincing, and slowly
flesh out the family’s history and the
truth of what happened to them.
Devotion’s attention to detail,
refreshing restraint, and deep, layered
storytelling make for a fantastic
horror experience. At just under
three hours it’s over a little too
quickly, but other than that, this is
one of the best and most unsettling
modernhorrorgamesonPC.NeedtoKNow
What is it?
A psychological horror
set in a creepy
apartment
EXPECttOPaY
£14, although, as of
writing, the game has
been temporarily
removed from sale. For
more details, see
bit.ly/devotionsteam
DEvElOPEr
RedCandleGames
PublishEr
In-house
rEviEWEDOn
GTX 1080, Intel
i5-6600K,16GBRAM
MultiPlaYEr
None
link
http://www.redcandle
games.com88
Tense, cerebral, and
grotesquely beautiful,
Devotion is a deep and
disturbing horror
experiencevErDiCtFAMILY MATTERS
devotioN is a chilling and intelligent psychological horror. By Andy Kelly
Sometimes the
things you see
in the
apartment are
more surrealNot something you want to
see in your apartment.Notes and letters help you
piece the story together.You’re never entirely
sure what’s real.