Devotion gets a 9, China be mad

Sadly, it's a walking sim, and not worth playing. But it's foreign flavour might still make it worth a go.

https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/devotion-review/1900-6417096/

Devotion doesn't quite match the anxiety-inducing frights that permeate each cautious step forward in games like P.T. and Amnesia: The Dark Descent, but its domestic terror burrows deep inside your psyche long after the final credits have rolled. The sorrowful story it tells meshes malice with tenderness, metaphor with stark truths, and achieves it all with the nuanced kind of environmental storytelling other games can only strive for. There are moments when it jumps out of the genre completely, surprising you with a sudden tonal shift, and others where the oftentimes clichéd presence of a children's doll is used to signal a character's poignant detachment. Everything Devotion does is in service of this story and its character development; you learn about these people's lives, empathize with their plight, and come to understand their actions, even if you don't agree with them. Home is where the heart is, and Devotion is a shining example of what the horror genre is capable of.

THE GOOD

Thoughtful attention to detail gives the apartment genuine character

The narrative is expertly told through environmental clues and puzzle solving

Tells an engaging story that's not afraid to confront heavy themes

Understated psychological horror gets under your skin

THE BAD

A late game chase scene is dull and feels out of place

Pacing takes a minor hit towards the game's conclusion

No interest, other than watching China reel over the Winnie the Pooh meme. China's Fortnite servers (IIRC) are barring WtP references lol.

Sounds like my kind of game (yup, I genuinely love those walking simulators for their other qualities). Added to my wish list!

??? Winnie The Pooh meme?? China Mad? WTF??

@ni6htmare01: China's President literally hates the comparison between himself and WtP and the country is actively trying to prevent them. It's pure hilarity.

The game moved from overwhelmingly positive to mixed incredibly quickly which tends to signify that they had a bunch of paid reviewers shower the review page with praise, then the real reviews came in.

They've actually banned Winnie the Pooh in China. I don't know if it brings jail time but it's certainly not wanted and if that wasn't bad enough, Winnie the Pooh in KH3 is also censored in the Chinese version, hilariously enough. The resemblance makes more sense when he's beside Barack Obama.

@davillain-: No way... That's the most ridiculous thing i've ever seen. Dude needs to spend some time in the UK lol.

OMG I lol!!! Holy Shit!! That some funny shit!! Wait I just watch the review.. Where is Winnie The Pooh?? looks like a horror game!

@ni6htmare01: There was an Easter Egg involved and it threw China into a fit of rage. Linky.

Wow! So they actually finish playing the game and found the easter egg?? lol

@lundy86_4:Taiwan Numba 1

Bad: It's a walking simulator

Good: It's great for trolling Xi Jinping

People in China are actively rooting for censorship, which in other words is a pretty dumb thing to do.

While simultaneously using freedom of speech to voice their discontent.

A lot of people in China aren't really used to freedom of speech, since they've been living under the "Great Firewall" for decades, and they've been brainwashed by their education system and mass media with hardcore nationalism.

Oh bother.

The game has gotten positive reviews from professional critics so far, e.g. 84% Metacritic, 9/10 GameSpot, 8.2/10 IGN, etc. Apparently, it's like the Silent Hills we never got.

It's on my wishlist for now. I got way too much games to play and finish before MK11 & Division 2 release. Don't you mean it's the P.T game we never got?

Yup. Much like Xi, many thin skinned leaders do this. Fortunately countries like USA have the first amendment to prevent such actions.

Most people here don't catch the point. Chinese are in a rage not because it satirizes Xi Jinping.

Actually, the controversial graph has already been removed from the official game on 21st on Steam. However Chinese players were still complaining after 22nd. There were a couple of easter eggs hidden. The issues go further than just making fun of Xi Jinping: https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/attgwj/xi_jinping_winnie_the_pooh_moron_found_in/eh3hg5m/

Devotion: Xi's meme is not the real reason which provokes mainlanders.

Red Candle was placing hidden insults at the audience they were trying to market the game to, which was stupid in every perspective.

It is funny that the Pooh Xi meme is come from China.

P.T. was a demo for Silent Hills.

Thanks for the context..well that was dumb...I guess they didn't want the mainlanders market..way to stuff themselves up.

I'd have to agree with the first reply:

Just imagine that a cult named American Heart Society killed a child on July. 4th

That just has zero effect on me. So what? A game introducing a new mythology about our founding fathers or ancestry could be interesting, and I would not take offense to it.

Didn't one of the AC games kind of do that?

In the US and UK, most people don't really get offended much by art that criticizes/mocks/insults their countries, because they're used to free speech. But in China, where free speech is restricted and people are more nationalistic, they're more likely to get offended by art that criticizes/mocks/insults their country.

But from a business perspective, it wasn't a smart move on the part of the developers. The game could've been a major hit in China, but they ruined their chances there. At the same time, however, the controversy has gotten attention in the West, so the game has found a new audience in the West. But it's still pretty niche in the West, so I don't think that could make up for the loss of a larger Chinese audience.

@Jag85: Unless it's Japan, western media tends to ignore Asian trends.

Japanese IGN gave it a 9.8/10 rating before controversy. Their debut game Detention was pretty well received too.

Devotion sold more than 1 million units. English media just care about the Xi JingPing thing.

The Scroll of Taiwu got Steam's international #1 with only Chinese language available and sold 1 million copies in about three months. To put it in perspective, Celeste sold >500,000 in less than 12 months across all platforms.

Oh no not the cartoon bear.

Most of the western press are focused on console offerings. Devotion was #3 on Twitch with 100k+. Ninety-five percent of the purchases came from China. Also the game beat Fortnite on Twitch for a short period which was nice.

Detention is getting review bombed now on Steam too. Damn it seems Red Candle really screwed up big time and this will affect their reputation among Chinese gamers for a long time.

If anything the review bombing might give the game more attention ironically. Steam really need to do something about review bombing.

Recent reviews are fine now. I hope they're able to sort this out and relaunch Devotion soon.

About the review bomb, steam should have a lock system, to pause reviews if anything suspicious happens, so the system cant be abused.

Yeah it's crazy it had over 105k on twitch when it released and most of them were non english speaking non big streamers. Was really cool to see.

So I suppose the controversy hasn't significantly impacted its sales in China?

Steam version sold more than 1 million units according to Steamspy, not confirmed by developer. The sales went from No.1 global top seller to....well, nowhere to be found. I've never seen a game go downhill this fast before. Actual sale number of Devotion in China, I believe on 2/22 is only 9000 sold, and that the sale number prior to this incident was about 75k, and after news of this had increased to 100k~200k.

1 million? Well done them.

I don't think I've ever seen this game before... I wonder how it will be...