Devotion

The game was released on February 19, 2019, but was removed from Steam shortly afterwards on February 26, after a controversial Easter egg referencing Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, was found in the game. The game was re-released on March 15, 2021, on Red Candle Games' own digital store.

• Title — Devotion • Developer — Red Candle Games • Publisher — Red Candle Games • Producer — Doy Chiang • Artist — * Tien Jung Huang • Hans Chen • Writer — * Chuan Hsiang Dang • Shun Ting Yao • Engine — Unity • Platforms — Microsoft Windows, macOS • Released — February 19, 2019 • Genre — Survival horror, puzzle • Modes — Single-player

Players, for the most part, control the troubled screenwriter Du Feng-yu (zh-Hant) through a Taipei apartment with rooms that represent various years in the lives of the Du family during the 1980s. The family consists of Feng-yu, his wife Gong Li-fang (zh-Hant), a retired singer, and their daughter Du Mei-shin (zh-Hant), an aspiring child singer. Feng-yu's screenwriting career has stagnated while Mei-shin begins to show signs of a mysterious illness (implied to be panic-attack induced asthma). As the family's financial situation deteriorates, Li-fang has frequent arguments with her husband regarding her desire to return to work so she can help support the family. Despite Li-fang's offers, Feng-yu refuses to let her work due to his own insecurities. In the midst of the domestic disputes, Mei-shin enters a popular singing contest, seeking to please her parents by becoming a popular singer. However, her performance of her mother's signature song "Lady of the Pier" (zh-Hant) comes one point shy of advancing to the next round. Mei-shin's condition worsens after the setback and became unable to sing. Despite a doctor's suggestion that the family seek psychiatric care for Mei-shin's illness, Feng-yu instead begins to follow the teachings of cult leader Mentor Heuh (zh-Hant) about the folk deity Cigu Guanyin (zh-Hant), which is based on the household deity Zigu, who could supposedly help cure his daughter and her singing career. When Feng-yu becomes increasingly obsessed with Mentor Heuh, Li-fang attempts to convince her husband to snap out of his obsession, but Feng-yu accuses her of being "possessed by evil spirits". Realizing her husband will not listen to her, Li-fang eventually leaves the family. Seeing the downward spiral of her family, Mei-shin asks her father to help her fold origami tulips, believing that she will be healed when enough have been folded to fill her room. Instead, as instructed by Mentor Heuh after a séance, Feng-yu performs a dark ritual by submerging his daughter in a bathtub filled with rice wine, then locking her up in the bathroom for seven days, presumably causing her death. A post-credits scene shows Feng-yu sitting alone in his apartment, in front of a TV displaying noise – whether or not he is still alive is left ambiguous. Upon finishing the game, the sound of banging on a door and dog barking can be heard on the main menu.

• Illustration — The player looking through their inventory The game is an adventure game, where the player explores the apartment complex where Feng-yu and his family live. In certain sections, the player can also play as Mei-shin. Devotion is composed of different levels which each represent a different year, which can be freely switched between through the lobby. The player can interact with different objects and examine them, and read letters and diaries scattered around the home. Players can add certain items to their inventory, which can be used to solve puzzles which often require items from different time periods.

Devotion draws inspiration from atmospheric first-person games like P.T., What Remains of Edith Finch and Layers of Fear. Red Candle cites the reason for creating a horror game was a narrative decision to introduce players to Taiwanese culture. The developers of the game expressed a desire to make an atmospheric game that feels familiar with Taiwanese players, explaining that the culture of Taiwan rarely gets showcased in video games. In its planning stages, Devotion was not visualized to be a first-person 3D game, but subsequent discussions steered the game into that direction to realize producer Doy Chiang's vision. The development team, which consists of 12 people, had to learn the Unity 3D game engine as a result. Unlike their first game, Red Candle says that Devotion was not intended to be political, but was instead about "religious fanaticism". The studio also mentions that translation was difficult, as they had to communicate Taiwan-specific concepts to an international audience in different languages.

Devotions soundtrack was composed by Taiwanese composer Vincent Yang and incorporates traditional Asian instruments and elements of folk music. It was released on Steam as a DLC. The album also includes a title track written and performed by the Taiwanese indie band and 2017 Golden Melody Awards winner, No Party for Cao Dong, and the song "Lady of the Pier" (zh-Hant), which appeared during the game and in the ending.

Devotions sound design was handled by Singapore-based game audio studio Imba Interactive. It also sought to capture the ambience of 1980s Taiwan through thorough research and empirical interviews. The studio utilised field recordings obtained from Taiwan during the development, as well as studio recordings of a myriad of props in Singapore. The sound engine utilised was Audiokinetic Wwise.

Devotion is classed in the genre psychological horror fiction. Classed in the genre adventure video game. Classed in the genre survival horror. Associated with Taiwan. The circumstances in which Devotion stands. Published by Red Candle Games. Developed by Red Candle Games. Issued for Microsoft Windows. Recorded as video game.