Devotion on GOG

 Another strike against the community.

Can I start this blog off with a rant? Do you mind that? Because it's happening eitherway. I just found out what GOG stands for, (GOG being the DRM free platform for games owned by CDPR) and it's so stupid that I had to check with several unrelated sources to make sure that half the Internet wasn't conspiring just to prank me. 'Good Old Games'. Seriously? 'Good Old Games'? That sounds like a struggling pub undergoing a misguided rebrand attempt in order to save the ancient pinball machine at the back which hasn't worked since Thatcher was in office. 'Good Old Games'? It sounds like something a divorcee dad would mumble at the end of a marketing brainstorming session, half delirious from insomnia and half dead drunk. It sounds like something your boss would say in order to prove he's 'part of the team too, guys'; only this time his words are so jarring that it spurs you with the confidence to turn around and let him know what everyone really thinks of him, not in a cruel way as-such, but an honest one. "You don't need to be on the level of the employees, man, we just need you to keep this place together. It ain't no big thing." Are my Metaphors grating yet? Cause I've run out of them. Just... wow, I hate that name.

So now that's out of the way, let me share a secret with you; I don't like horror games. Yeah I know, one of my most commonly discussed topics on this blog is literally Resident Evil, but I categorise that as a Zombie game and not Horror. (The two are definitely distinct in my book) And I do not dislike Horror games the same why I dislike horror movies, mind you. Horror movies, or the vast majority of them, are ill thought-out endeavours that spend little time attempting to generate actual genuine emotions and more time trying to trick you with a cheap scare that gets you to spill popcorn all over yourself. (Largely underwhelming) Horror games, on the otherhand, fall out of my grace for the absolute opposite reason; they're too good at inspiring genuine fear and creepy atmospheres. Or rather, I'm too susceptible to their scary techniques? Either way, though I might not like them, I still very much respect Horror games and can admire a good one when I see it.

Thus let me introduce you to Devotion, a game in that long list of horror titles that I'm far too scared to actually play myself but I can stomach watching it played, strangely. (I think the separation between the action and my control of it is comforting to me.) Devotion was a psychological horror game from all the way back in 2019, made by a Taiwanese studio called Red Candle Games and it was certainly spooky. Evidently exquisitely constructed, Devotion stood far apart from all the garbage-tier horror games that get chucked onto the Steam store every 5 minutes, and gained something of a name for itself consequently. It told the story of man falling into desperation and madness with tragic results, and with that somewhat grounded premise, the team managed to weave a unnerving and, at times, genuinely horrific adventure.

And the effect it had on the game streaming world was actually rather marked. Practically everyone with a webcam and an appetite for the shadows was hoping onto the Devotion train, gaining this little Taiwanese horror some attention. There was even one of those rumours, as you hear in all of the best horror movies, of someone who fainted during their stream of one particularly gross section. (As I watched it looked like the streamer merely got a little light headed, but I think the story sounds cooler, personally.) With all this whirlwind of attention you'd be forgiven for believing that great success would follow, but unfortunately I can't really track down the sales figures for the week and a bit it was up before the title was forcibly removed from Steam. Oh, didn't I mention? The game was removed.

So what happened? Was this another prong in the mystique of the game? It comes out, shocks a few into a coma, and there disappears forever, destined to become and Internet urban myth? No, unfortunately this isn't the gaming equivalent of Unus Annus, what we have here is a case of government pressure from no other than everyone's favourite faux-democracy; China. You see, somewhere in a scribble on one of the documents in the game there featured a little mildly crude description of President Xi Jinping (You know, the guy that looks exactly like Winnie the Pooh) and thus a steady stream of review bombs later and one of the highest quality horror games to ever be released on the Steam front was gone. (Preserving art or keeping a vat of money from getting upset? I know which one I'd pick.)

That was about the extent of Devotion's story, being a game made exclusively for PC. If they couldn't make it onto Steam of all places (with their embarrassing content management) then they couldn't honestly expect their game to be anywhere else. I always assumed that the team would quietly remove the offending article and be let back on, but apparently that wasn't enough for the Chinese bots- I mean, genuine Chinese players who are definitely real and really complained. Thus it wasn't until their next misfortune struck that I even thought of this studio again, which is a tragedy upon itself as these guys should be going places with their talents, not stuck in this stupid back and forth for two years. (I can only hope they're hard at work on their next game, and this is only a roadbump.)

What's the story? Well CDPR, fresh off of the disastrous Cyberpunk launch, tried to quietly walkback a promise they had made to give Devotion a home on 'Good Old Games'. Apparently the decision was made after their storefront was hit by a barrage of fake complai- I mean, real non-robotic complaint forms from breathing, not made-of-code, Chinese GOG customers. (Wow, these guys really know how to hold a grudge about a single piece of graffiti that was in a game two years ago. Almost as though this is a personal vendetta stemming from the offended party himself...) So on the verge of becoming publicly available again the team had that snatched away from them, and it seems like more evidence of CDPR's fall from grace. I mean sure, the site claims that fan feedback drove the decision, but given their track record for truth telling; I don't think anyone believes them.

Let this go to show you just how much tyrannical industry forces like an easily perturbed dictator can affect industry half a world away. If not for the Youtube videos and Streams that blew the game up, this title would have been completely buried for practically no good reason, and that's something everyone should heed as a distinct warning. Money talks, that's true in every industry, but when she sings loud enough to hurt our indie creators that's when something needs to be done, especially when steps have already been made to resolve the perceived 'wrong'. Why can't this game just be blocked for sale in China? Where is the freedom of speech? And why do we still let Chinese interests decide the shape of our Art? As always, I fear about the precedent this sets and am saddened that CPDR have once again let down their fans, it makes me start to wonder if artists will ever have a champion on their side...