Red Candle Games, the developers of the brilliant indie horror game, Detention, have revealed their next project.
Titled Devotion, this project is both thankfully reminiscent of Detention and a surprisingly ambitious departure from what came before. Batting for the familiar is the game’s use of an East Asian setting and folklore. This particular title takes place in Taiwan sometime during the ’80s and tells the story of a deeply religious family that was burdened – perhaps even cursed – by their beliefs. You play a family member who must explore the family apartment and discover some dark truths.
The big change this time around is that Devotion plays out from a first-person perspective whereas Detention was a largely 2D minimalistic title. While the change in viewpoint may be attributed to an increase in resources and experience, you get the feeling that the developers are going for more of an overtly horrifying Gone Home kind of vibe with this title. The debut trailer alone shows some pretty disturbing images made all the more unnerving by the fact you must face them head-on.
It really does seem like Red Candle Games is leaning heavier on the idea of visual scares with this title. Detention wasn’t necessarily lacking in that department, but that game’s horror was rooted more in psychology. Some people have even gone so far as to say it was more of a tragedy than a bonafide horror game. It feels like Devotion will envoke those same themes of tragedy, but there certainly seems to be more of an emphasis this time around on outright scaring the player.
Of course, some of this is speculative given that we really don’t have much concrete information on this game at this time. We’re going to assume that this title won’t feature the kind of action seen in first-person horror titles like Resident Evil 7 and will instead be more about solving mysteries (puzzles) and advancing the story. That being said, Detention threw some gameplay curveballs at the player, so you can’t really rule anything out.
Here’s the frightful first trailer…
Devotion will come at a welcome time, with its February 19th release date on PC far removed from the October time period that usually offers us all the horror games we’re going to get in a year.
As we hear more, we’ll keep you updated.