Dark Devotion

Bought this game expecting a quick indie curiosity.
Instead I became a slightly unhinged crusader wandering through a cursed temple full of traps, demons, and questionable life choices.
Dark Devotion is basically a 2D dark-fantasy pilgrimage where everything wants to kill you — enemies, traps, your stamina bar, and occasionally your own greed.
The game does a lot of things right:
• atmosphere is fantastic
• the temple feels oppressive and mysterious
• combat rewards patience instead of button mashing
• exploration constantly reveals new paths, secrets and bosses
But it also does some things… strangely.
Navigation can feel like wandering through a cursed maze. Systems like corruption, faith, and gear unlocks are not explained very well. Sometimes the game feels less like a guided adventure and more like archaeological research conducted by a confused knight.
Still, once the combat rhythm clicks — dodge, punish, manage stamina — the boss fights become very satisfying.
My personal experience:
I got lost constantly, died to traps more than enemies, fought bosses named things like Martyr and Executioner, and eventually started muttering “this temple is cursed” out loud.
And yet I kept playing.
Pros:
• amazing dark atmosphere
• rewarding combat when played patiently
• interesting exploration with secrets everywhere
• strong pixel art and lighting
Cons:
• confusing progression systems
• getting lost is basically part of the gameplay
• traps sometimes feel like the real final boss
Verdict:
Not a perfect game, but a very memorable one.

definition of a hidden gem! at first i thought: stiff movement, few options, no real inventory, but its so great.. the dark dungeons are rly "meaningful", u learn fast to proceed very careful bc of traps, enemys and labyrintish design.. great combat and metaprogression, not too easy; in the beginning u will die a lot.. take ur time and enjoy
EDIT:
its insane, how good the game gets after a few hours, trust me.. the upcoming progress, loot and biomes r just awesome! at the same time, the new encounters always stay deadly, its a nearly perfect balance (plus it keeps the feeling of a real adventure, bc no tutorial messages; u find out new stuff all by ur own) ..
maybe one of the best of this type i have ever played (while at first i thought its simple/cheap)

If you just look aat the trailers you might think this is a soulslike, but it is a roguelike, and one that (at least for me) never gets tedious, it just has enough of everything and not too much or too little of anything, so you can spend a few hours with it and not end up frustrated or tired, overall a good and engaging experience.

(Played on SteamDeck)

I see why people don't like it. it's brutally hard, in an way that isn't needed.
buuuuut idk I like the atmosphere, I like that the character is a woman, I like the pixel art, I like the tiny pieces of lore they give you
It's not nearly as bad as the reviews would have you think, in my opinion.
Should you pay 20 buck to get smacked in the face? no, but stuff like this goes on sale all the time. I think it's worth it.

Dark Devotion- this is a very controversial video game product that can rightfully be considered an example from the category of "don't write off exactly".
According to many players, this is a two-dimensional pixel soulslike, which in fact is not, since many gameplay features point more to the genre of the roguelike.
What can I say about the gameplay? I'll start with the pros:
1. Brisk pace - the game will make you think and calculate your every action.
2. Mechanics with faith, as with a key to open doors, buffs and other advantages.
3. A variety of equipment for taste and color.
4. The presence of secrets and side effects that can facilitate the passage.
Regarding the cons:
1. The lack of normal teleportation between locations, as you can only link your point to one position. Using this feature is extremely inconvenient and takes a long time, which makes it feel like it was done on purpose to increase the time.
2. Lack of jump function.
3. The weapons are of the same type and the fight is boring - there are about 40 weapons in the game, which can be divided into 4 classes: light-medium, heavy, magic and shields. Each attribute (with the exception of magic and shields) has an identical set of attacks, and the character himself can only do a combination of two strikes with a break. No unique attacks, just particles with micro-effects. The weapon is quickly thrown into the drawer, as the difference is only in damage. The lack of unique attacks (especially from boss weapons) negatively affects the gameplay.
4. The lack of preservation of the found equipment. Throughout the game, you will find a lot of secondary things that are not saved. Of course, they replenish over time (with the exception of boss weapons), but very rarely. This is especially true when you are running around in almost starting armor towards the end of the game.
5. The map is made very poorly, which is why it is not immediately clear how to navigate it.
6. A small number of quests. During the passage, I personally came across only 2 NPC-Quest (with the exception of the one in the hub).
7. Rooms of the same type in locations that not only look similar to each other, but are also very small.
Finally about the gameplay point - Bosses or "Don't copy exactly". I will not analyze them in detail, since 50% of the bosses are a parody of the bosses of the Dark Souls series, or standard opponents:
"Child of Limbo" - educational whipping meat that will become a regular mob in the game.
"Hezek - The Baptised" - interesting boss with no movement in Phase 1, and is also a standard representative.
"Jezebel - The Erratic" - annoying individual who made me sweat at the beginning of the game. The boss is a magician who is able to do powerful AOE and other nasty moves.
"Martyr - The Shredded" - unique type with a shield mechanic that should be pulled away from the boss to take damage.
"Adonias - The King's Envoy" - worst boss in the game, which is just a collection of mobs that we beat during the game.
"The Executioner - Shatterer of Flesh" - the first cool boss, which is a clear reference to the "Champion Gundyr" from DS3.
"Anomaly - Forgotten in the Dark" - meat boss that just needs to be beaten until it turns blue.
"The First One - Fallen Bulwark" - good boss, referring to the "Abyss Watchers" from DS3, who fights calmly in phase 1, and in phase 2 sets fire to his sword and arranges a real warm-up.
"The Virgin - Forgotten in the Dark" - similar to the anomaly, but with the mechanics of killing the boss using the faith scale.
"The Mysterious Entity" - what if "Gwyndolin" from DS1 and "Aldrich, the Devourer of Gods" from DS3 combined into one?
"Elemiah - The Crow Lady" - the best boss game that teaches perfect rolls and parries.
"Nekosh - Keeper of the Books" - paper type that literally flies off with 2-3 series of blows, and phase 2 is completely reminiscent of the "Demon Kapra" from DS1.
"Sariandel - Prisoner of the Void" - interesting opponent who is an incredible reference to JJBA.
"The Ritualist - From the Night's Kingdom" and "The Queen - Lonely Widow" - both bosses are meaty and stand still all the time, that's all I can say about them.
"Chimera - The King's Steed" - average representative of animal bosses.
"Asriel - Paladin Supreme" - awesome and best boss in terms of his story.
"Elinor and Aureus - Inseparable Wardens" - the only paired boss in the game.
"Guardian - Abyss's Jailer" - the final boss of the game, which is an upgraded version of "Darklurker" from DS2.
Briefly about the other points of the game:
Lore - standart from the point of view of its own genre, namely dark fantasy.
Graphics - very good and very atmospheric, sometimes you want to take a screenshot and put it on your desktop.
Soundtrack - same type and can be annoying in some places.
Bugs - absent except for the inability to adjust the sound in the game.
Overall, the game had both positive and negative emotions on me.
It has both its advantages and disadvantages, for which it receives the following rating:
5.5 deaths from thorns out of 10!

I bought this game on an 80% sale but it is so good it is worth the full price. Really atmospheric, beautiful, dark fantasy done right. I enjoyed the descent and the increasing complexity of the Temple itself. The cast of characters you meet along the way are all unique and have a few fun dialogues.

I don't know why this game hasn't received more attention. It seems the biggest issues is the controls and how you can't remap them, but it was fine for me with keyboard and mouse? Game sessions can be long as the save system is an awkward checkpoint system that doesn't save equipment build.
Game has its flaws just as any game has, but I don't know, this game is amazing and should be seen by more people and deserves more love than it has gotten. Definitely for me is one of the best surprise indy hidden gems I have ever found.