Dark Devotion – Preview (PAX East 2018)
Dark Devotion is a grungy rougelike side scroller. This game is the brain child of French based studio Hiberian Workshop. This game is the result of a successful Kickstarter run. They surpassed their Kickstarter goal and for good reason. This game looks and feels fantastic.
The pixel art is wonderful and the characters look great in motion. Even though you are not able to customize your character, you are able to look different by changing your armor and weapons. All the sets that I saw were unique and pleasing to the eye. The enemy’s movements and visual style are ever changing as well. The environment is dark and dingy and adds to the overall gloomy feel of the game.
Much like Dark Souls, your armor and weapons can help to shake up the experience and determine what kind of fighter you want to be. My favorite was the sword and the shield. In my playthrough there was also a lance and a bow and arrow allowing for multiple different play styles.
There are even more direct nods to Dark Souls. When you die, much like the “You Died” screens in Dark Souls, this games dawns a screen stating “Your devotion as faded.” Faith is a strong theme in this game. You receive currency that you can spend at shrines to cure aliments or receive buffs. The one boss I did fight felt challenging but definitely achievable.
Games like this normally require you to learn the movements and behaviors of the character you fight and this game is no exception. Dodging bosses swings after learning how they move is satisfying and rewarding. Something that I think is interesting with this game is the way they handle bosses. Instead of it being a more linear experience where you go from boss to boss in one straight line, it is more like a bracket where you can fight any of the mini bosses in any order and then move to the more advanced enemies.
I was pleased to learn that every level is hand built. There are no procedurally generated areas. It is really special when games are built in this way and makes the experience feel more tailored and polished. Every aspect of this game’s levels were placed there with meaning. This game’s story can be sown together through scraps of paper and weapon descriptions. This sort of work really makes piecing everything together worth it.
The game is set to come out Winter of 2018 on PC and console. Although I was not able to verify what consoles this will end up on, I personally think this game would feel right at home on the Nintendo Switch. This will be one to look forward to.
