Comparing any given game to Dark Souls is a well-worn cliche that's guaranteed to roll some eyes, no matter the extent that the comparison is justified - especially for indie games. From Hyper Light Drifter to Dead Cells to Salt and Sanctuary, it feels like there's a new game every year that invokes the comparison to some degree. 2019's edition of this phenomenon is Dark Devotion, a gloomy Metroidvania-Roguelike hybrid that happens to wear its Dark Souls inspiration further down its sleeve that than any of its contemporaries. Unfortunately, by pulling so heavily from Dark Souls while trying to mix in these other influences, Dark Devotion frustrated me just as often as it left me entertained.

Dark Devotion for Switch game reviews & Metacritic score: Explore the secrets of a mysterious fallen temple and put your Templar faith to the test in Dark Devotion, where no sacrifice is too great in praise of your God. May 03, 2019  DARK DEVOTION is an atmospheric side-scrolling RPG (role-playing game) that puts players in control of a Templar knight devoted to serving her god and waging war against evil monsters in an ancient dungeon.

The lonely premise of Dark Devotion is one of the game's strengths.In Dark Devotion, the player takes the role of a Templar Knight initiate, a young woman who finds herself at the gates of the Ancient Dungeon, a sprawling labyrinth of horrors and monsters. The Templars are depicted as a brutal and orderly society, one that steals children from their parents and instructs them in the ways of combat in order to fulfill their duties to their God. All Templars are eventually called to the Ancient Dungeon for reasons no one can clearly state. It's not until they're inside that the full extent of their immoral disposition is made clear. It's here where Dark Devotion starts out.In a true Soulsian styling, there is no clear moment-to-moment plot past this initial framework. Characters will speak in vague suggestions of motive and might discreetly reveal their objectives, but there's no singular driving force for the player to continue to travel deeper into the dungeon - which admittedly pairs well with the nebulous motivation of why the Templars are present in the first place.

The dungeon is stratified into four layers, each containing a general environmental theme defining the rooms and monsters that lurk within. You'll also encounter scribbled notes and even surviving templars. Some of these just give hints as to where to find switches or fake walls in order to locate minor secrets while others will play a greater role in providing the background for the dungeon. Many also serve as key context for the dozen or so major bosses you'll encounter.

Combat feels varied, with a high number of weapon types, spells, enemies, and environments.Dark Devotion showcases a legitimately large number of weapon types, each with their own attack styles and weaknesses. Some will have a wide range at the cost of having a long windup that leaves you vulnerable.

Others move you slightly forward whenever you swing. Some even come with specific attributes like the ability to steal items or burn down wooden barricades. A few are even cursed, burdening the player with a debuff with the tradeoff of dealing extra damage or some other benefit. Swinging weapons, along with dodge rolling, incur a stamina cost depending on the size of the weapon.Outside of weapons, the player will also have to worry about their armor, amulet, and consumable items. Certain armor types such as heavy templar armor will provide a great deal of protection at the cost of reduced stamina regen. Others provide less protection but will improve your chance at landing a critical hit. Your amulet/accessory will determine how much health you have under your armor, and will usually also carry a specific boon or debuff along with it such as being invulnerable to fire-based attacks.

There are unique consumable items for repairing armor and healing damage, as well as the usual assortment of buffing items, bombs, and keys. Several NPCs will reside in various locations of the dungeon, some more important than others.The last two major mechanics are Faith and experience. Faith is essentially a mana meter, though it's used for more than just casting spells. Throughout the dungeon, players will encounter several statues which can have faith deposited in order to open up doorways, grant blessings, or removes diseases and curses.

It's a nice little duality to want to be able to cast incredibly useful spells such a shield that can absorb two hits, or to hold onto a full faith bar in the hopes that there's a blessing-granting statue in the next room.Experience is gained from defeating enemies and is one of the main ways Dark Devotion does not borrow from Souls - accumulated experience is not lost upon defeat, so players will eventually be able to trade in earned experience for new buffs even if they end up roadblocked at a particular boss. Skills earned this way are divided into a tiered tree of sorts, but some are obviously more useful than others, such as a pure inherent damage or critical chance boost compared to a one-time boost to your armor level.Altogether, this does result in a surprisingly high degree of versatility when it comes to finding your favorite weapon type and making sure your other gear and skills synergize well with it. Boss fights are spectacles, but are generally too easy to quickly defeat.There are two major ways that Dark Devotion strays away a bit from a typical Metroidvania, and the first of which goes back to its Dark Souls inspiration, unsurprisingly. Despite the 2D viewpoint, the templar is unable to jump, and thus there are no major platforming elements of any kind. There are a few occasions of where you must ride moving platforms or even wind gusts, but outside of those instances every drop-off is a one-way street and there's no getting back up once you commit to dropping down to a lower elevation.This design is exacerbated by the fact that Devotion borrows from a pool of roguelite sensibilities as well. The Ancient Dungeon is a Labyrinth full of optional paths and secrets, but entirely one-way progression often feels at odds with the layout, requiring many restarts.Another frustrating aspect of Dark Devotion is the seemingly semi-arbitrary nature of the blessings and curses that are given to the player during long expeditions.

Minor criteria such as wearing the same armor set or not praying to a statue for a long period of time or even reading an especially gruesome note will incur debuffs on the player without warning. Similarly, upon restarting at the top of the dungeon, the blessings granted at the outset also seem very random, and I often found myself bolstered by several useful boons without being sure exactly why.This level of arbitrary design also finds itself apparently in the gear that can be crafted at the forge upon the start of a new runthrough.

Most gear in Dark Devotion must be acquired on any given 'run' down the dungeon, picking up new weapons depending on whichever enemies you end up defeating along the way. However, some gear that enemies drop can be crafted from the outset once picked up and 'learned', but there's no clear indication of which gear behaves this way. So the result is to end up picking up every unique weapon along the way and hope that you unlock new sets at the forge by chance.

Gathering new equipment and skills makes each trip through the dungeon easier, and the difficulty disappears quickly.Bosses also drop weapons that can be crafted at the start of the dungeon, but oddly enough, one of the earliest and easiest bosses in the game drops a longsword which easily served me for about 80% of my time with Dark Devotion. I tried out new and fancier weapons as I slew more horrors, but I kept going back to a simple longsword that I earned within the first couple hours. Boss fights in general end up being damage races, with most bosses falling on my first attempt due to the sheer number of blessings, skills, and consumables that I had managed to acquire before reaching any given arena. Very rarely did I have to play efficiently to defeat any given boss up til the very end.Dark Devotion is a beautiful game that borrows from several of the best aspects of its inspirations, but it ends up sampling too many ideas at once to make for a cohesive experience. The quest design and incentives for exploring thoroughly are hindered by the one-way nature of progression from room to room. Too many benefits in terms of skills, blessings, and gear are given to the player as a leniency for dying, but they also end up trivializing many boss fights which would otherwise be spectacles. The bleak environments and low-density narrative are absolutely a perfect fit, but several of the roguelike and Metroidvania elements just stand at odds with each other too often.

Dark Devotion is fine, but fails to stand out.Versions tested: PCDisclaimer: A copy of this game was provided to RPG Site by the publisher.

By / July 10th, 2019TitleDark DevotionDeveloperHibernian WorkshopPublisherThe Arcade Crew and Maple Whispering LimitedRelease DateApril 25th, 2019GenreAction, Adventure, Indie, souls-like, Rogue-like, DifficultPlatformSteamAge RatingN/ADark Devotion is a difficult, unforgiving 2D Souls-like with rogue-like elements as well. You are a female Templar who must explore the fallen temple, testing your faith along the way. Do you have what it takes to survive the trials ahead, and can you handle the secrets you will uncover in the process? When you respawn in the Filthblood Shelter after death, you are given a few buffs back to help you.As your journey begins, you will quickly find your way into the Filthblood Shelter.

This will be the hub area for your excursions into the depths of the fallen temple. It contains some useful facilities like the forge, where you can choose your equipment before you head out again.

You can even go out with no weapons if you prefer punching, but that will of course make the game harder due to your limited range. Having to stop at the forge every time you die can be annoying at times, though. There is also an NPC in the shelter who will give you quests. Equipment in the forge is divided into three categories: weapons, armor, and consumables.Equipment in the forge is divided into three categories: weapons, armor, and consumables. The fallen temple is divided into three main areas. Each is a labyrinthian maze like a Metroidvania game.

When you die, you lose all your equipment, but there are some types of progress that persist. Any equipment you’ve unlocked in the forge is one, and your character stats are the other. You will find new items in the world, but not all of them can be unlocked in the forge. Almost all bosses will drop weapons that upon picking them up will become unlocked in the forge. Some forge unlocks are random drops from certain enemies. This is an ancient tablet.

It is yellow because I activated it, and it is one that improves your critical hit chance.Your stats are improved by finding and activating ancient tablets. These come in four flavors: critical, damage, faith, and stamina. They appear as different colors when activated which are yellow, red, white, and green respectively. Once you activate an ancient tablet, it is permanently activated even if you die, so you cannot lose the upgrade it gave to your corresponding character stat. Critical improves your chances to deal critical hits, and faith gives you more faith to use for praying at certain statues and doors. You can view your stats in the lower left on the pause screen for ones that are not in the HUD.

This guy gives you quests to do in the temple for the church. They usually involve killing enemies of a certain type.Health and stamina are shown at the top of the screen. The row of yellow icons shows the blessings that are currently buffing you, and you may have a similar row of red icons below that. These are negative buffs which can be curses or injuries from things like falling too far.

Buffs reset when you die. Your faith gauge is in the lower left next to your active equipment.

All Building Games. Rescue team 4.

You have two sets of weapons that you can swap between with a button press. For example, one might be a one-handed sword and a shield, and the other a bow and arrows. There are also two-handed weapons that cannot be paired with shields. Get ready to see this screen a lot, because you’ll find yourself looking at it every time you die, which is often!Each area of the temple has several bosses, but you’re not required to beat all of them to advance. However, you will have to beat a boss to explore the rooms beyond its lair.

Merrrrrr? 75. (secret).

So until you do, part of that region will be out of your reach. The guardians of the temple can be tough to take down, but there is almost always a teleporter you can activate in the previous room. There is a teleporter in the Filthblood Shelter as well, which will always take you to the last one you activated in the world. If you want to reuse a previous one, you have to travel back to it and activate it in the world again. (Only the last teleporter activated is remembered.). Sometimes you’ll find statues you can pray at, like this healing statue or disease curing ones. Some walls have a pray spot sticking off, and praying there opens the door.

Praying uses your faith. (Healing statues need 20 faith.)The gameplay in Dark Devotion is very unforgiving. The fallen temple also contains booby traps, like spears poking out of the ceiling. These try to impale you if you walk under them. Sometimes they are annoying, because you won’t always see them until it’s too late thanks to the low light level in many areas. You can roll past them safely, but there are other dangers too (like spike pits, which will instantly kill you). Enemies come in many shapes and sizes, and some are much more dangerous than others.Killing enemies replenishes your faith gauge, and it also earns you experience points.

These can be used to unlock skills in the Filthblood Shelter. There are five tiers of skills, and only one skill from each tier can be activated at a time. This means you can have five active skills of your choosing. For example, the Cat’s Claws skill increases your critical hit chance by five percent, and the Scrap Merchant skill replenishes your armor when you kill enemies. You’ll also unlock a library in the shelter, where you can reread some of the documents you find in the temple. Not all documents will appear in the library, though.

Another type of praying spot. Some of them will give you items, while others may give you buffs.Bosses can be very difficult, and sometimes are just cheap. You may want to retry until you’ve learned their move set, and then start from the beginning of the temple area in question (or even the start of the temple) and do a full run back to them so you can have better equipment or healing items. The problem is that if you die again, that is all lost, meaning you have to do it again if you want to have another run at the boss with better equipment or more healing and armor repair items.

One other minor issue is that the hitboxes on doors aren’t setup the best, as you have to stand right in the middle of the door or she won’t enter the door. This is especially noticeable with wider doors. Whether your attack hits or misses is up to the random number generator, which can of course be annoying at times.Dark Devotion was a game I didn’t think I’d like at first, but then it drew me in. Still, I think that overall it’s not really a game for me. A lot of players will have a hard time with it because of it being a Souls-like with rogue-like elements. So many players might get stuck unable to make progress, or eventually quit as the game wears down their desire to keep playing. I definitely like the dark story, though.

I’ve got well over 30 hours in the game at this point, but there is a lot more gameplay than that if you try to unlock everything in the forge or go for all the achievements! Dark Devotion is available on and the for $19.99. It is also coming to Nintendo Switch and PS4 this year. Do you have what it takes to make it to the deepest depths of the fallen temple, or will its dangers and secrets be too much for you? Review ScoreOverallReview copy provided by publisher.About Michael FontaniniMichael is a veteran gamer in my early 30s, who grew up around video games, with fond memories of the oldies like the NES and SNES. He loves Nintendo but also plays a lot of games on his PC.

Michael also enjoys going for walks or bike rides, and loves animals.Michael is also a computer programmer. This started with a toy he got as a kid called PreComputer 1000 that was made by V-Tech. It had a simple programming mode which is what started him down the road of being a programmer! Michael can program in BASIC, Visual Basic, C, C#, and is familiar with Java and Lua Script.Putting programming and gaming together, Michael became a hobbyist game developer which may give him some good insights on game development! Most recently, he has been playing with the free version of the Unity engine (a powerful and easy-to-use game engine).I love Nintendo but I also play a lot of game's on PC, many of which are on steam. My favorite Nintendo game's include Zelda, Metroid, and Smash Bros to name a few. On PC I love the Half-Life games, as well as most all of the Source Engine games just to name a few.