Devotion
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Top Critic
An insidious, combat-free horror escapade that works marvels in a tiny space - and an intricate portrait of family and superstition
Top Critic
From start to finish, Devotion is an excellent psychological horror game full of surreal imagery, creepy dolls, and wonderful environmental storytelling.
Top Critic
One of the best survival horror games of the generation, that's frequently terrifying but also surprisingly nuanced and intelligent when it comes to its storytelling.
Top Critic
Devotion is beautiful and mesmerizing, contorting mundanities into menaces.
Top Critic
Set within the modest confines of a Taiwanese apartment in the 1980s, Devotion paints a terrifying picture of family life with nuanced storytelling and an insidious atmosphere.
Top Critic
Devotion is a prominent project that clearly shows how Eastern horrors differs from Western ones. Red Candle Games successfully inflate the atmosphere, offering powerful plot twists, personal stories through letters and memories, nice graphics and unexpected scenes. Music and sounds are the cherry on the cake.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Top Critic
Feeling like a successful meeting between Silent Hill 2 and what Remains of Edith Finch, Devotion is magnificiently written and disturbing experience. A fantastic, scary, immersive first-person horror journey that you can jump in unquestionably.
Review in French | Read full review
Top Critic
Overall, Devotion may prove disappointing for anyone hoping for the next big Indie Horror game, as the moments where the game forgets itself and tries to adhere to traditional horror tend to be the weakest points.
Top Critic
Devotion is a story about a deeply personal tragedy made both more horrific and familiar with its carefully recreated 80s setting of a Taiwanese household that successfully draws on the feelings of nostalgia of its target audience.
Top Critic
Devotion feels like "one step forward, two steps back" in comparison with Detention, previous (and brilliant) work of Red Candle Games.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Top Critic
Devotion succeeds because it’s an understandably human tale with misery, not murder or monsters, at the heart of it all. It is a tad short, particularly when compared to Detention, and while the somewhat ambigious ending might prove a turn-off for some, it’s still chilling, unsettling and heart-breaking in equal measure.
Devotion is at its worst in the moments when it relies on cheap jump-scares and horror tropes, and at its best when it prods the depths of protagonist Feng Yu’s psyche, as it does to devastating effect in its grisly climax and conclusion.
Devotion differentiates itself from other horror games by its touching and comprehensible story and incorporating Taiwanese folklore. A short playing time of about three hours suits it and the absence of puzzles or enemies is justified. Too bad about the unnecessary controversy that will probably overwhelm these undeniable positives.
Review in Czech | Read full review
Devotion is a revelatory horror game, one that manages to remain unsettling and horrific through the mood and tone that’s imparted from the game’s design and storytelling. This is refreshing since rather than relying on unearned jump scares and unending chase-sequences, the thematic elements of the game bring the experience to life. Making this arguably the first great new horror title of 2019, and a must-play for any enthusiast of the genre.
Peeling back the layers of its mystery, I found a game that is deeply thoughtful and very, very sad. It's a game that pulls its sense of fear out of everyday emotions, out of love, ambition, and of course, devotion. In doing so, it emerges as a horror game that reaches far beyond trying to startle or unnerve you. It becomes a deftly told story about the nature of fear itself.
