The team at Red Candle Games didn’t expect Devotion, their first attempt at 3D games, to receive such an overwhelming response in such a short period of time. Released on February 19th, Devotion is currently at #1 position on Steam’s Top Selling chart, with over four thousand reviews and an “Overwhelmingly Positive” rating.

“My mind has been blown man,” was the introduction I gave Tiff Liu, PR Director at Red Candle Games during our momentary phone call earlier today. We had a nice chat about the setting of the game, the development period and the entire Devotional journey.

Their first game, Detention, a 2D atmospheric horror, was a massive success as well. Not only the game keeps you hypnotised and glued to your screen, but it boasts a narrative that’s too good for a game of this scale.

From the game’s Steam description –

You step into your apartment, 80s music drifts through the air, an idol show plays on the television; a nostalgic setting surely, but what is this feeling of unease? You question this place you used to call “home,” noticing as it distorts with every shift of your eyes, anxious as your surroundings skirt the precipice of the extraordinary. As you push through each memory, uncovering the layers of each mystery, you may find buried in this home, the unsettling truth of those who lived here.

The Interview

Where did the inspiration of the setting come from?

We all wanted to make something based in Taiwan because we are Taiwanese and we wanted the gamers from around the world to see how Taiwan is like. That’s why we set the game in Taiwan. In the meanwhile, we also wanted to tell a story and we felt that this kind of story will set best in the 1980s. It also brings a bit of nostalgic feeling. We centred it around home. Because home is a place which is a completing spot for all of us.

At the same time, somehow, due to the residents living inside [the home in Devotion], and because of the things they did before, home changes into a scary place. A scary ground. That’s why we chose home, a common place for everyone as our game’s main setting.

So, is the game related to any real-life events that may have occurred in the past?

No. Actually, the game isn’t based on any real-life events. It’s all fictional. We just felt like the story should go the way it does. It’s a fictional story.

How long is the entire game?

For the gameplay time, it depends on the player. Because each player has different kinds of playing habits and different ways of solving puzzles. (It’d take you 2-4 hours to finish the game)

For how long was the game under development?

For the development part, roughly 2 years. For the first six months, we were trying to see how the whole gameplay would be like and what would work for this game. It was sort of an experimenting period. We experimented the different elements of the game and also took inspiration from other games. The final version, which is up for sale, took around one and a half year to finish. But in total, we spent a total of 2 years.

So, like Detention as we know, we had a good ending and a bad ending. So, do we have anything for Devotion?

For Devotion, well, everyone will have a different kind of understanding of our game. We wanted to narrate a story that suits different players and many different interpretations. It’s a very insider game. Once you play it, once you feel about it, you’ll understand how it ends like.

Congratulations, Devotion is the top selling game on Steam right now.

This is something that we didn’t expect. Yeah, we’re just blown away by it. We feel very lucky to have the support from our fans worldwide. This is, like, very amazing for us.

I wanted to know about the God/Goddess/Deity in the game because I didn’t find any context around it.

It’s not based on anything from the real world. We created a fictional God.

Throughout the game, I noticed a lot of red candles here and there. Is there any meaning behind those red candles or are they mere references to your studio’s name?

The red candles are actually a part of our pop-culture. We put those red candles in the game to make it more Taiwanese.

Devotion is now available on Steam for ₹489/$16.99. Our Editorial Chief Caleb Wysor is in-charge of Devotion’s review but was too scared to finish it during his night session. He’ll finish it tomorrow he said.

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