Dark Devotion

Dark Devotion is an unconventional souls game that’s somewhat hamstrung by some questionable rogue-like mechanics. But it’s definitely well made and interesting enough to appeal to a certain style of souls player.
Some reviewers claim that this is a roguelike which is a genre a lot of people are sick of in the indie space. But this is not really true in that the levels are not procedurally generated. The game does have a roguelike structure in that you need to do more runs in order to unlock better abilities and better weapons.
The game starts out extremely punishing with your character being very weak as well. So you have to be patient to progress further to get more powerful.
The dreary atmosphere and the focus on traditional dungeoneering with traps and shadows is excellent.
Also if your like me and wants souls games to go back to more deliberate and strategic combat, this game will be for you bc it really is about patience and using the right windows to attack decisively.

Overall experience:
Game is turn out great than I think. a lot of thing to do and to unlock, include secret here and there to be discover.
Fan of metroidvania game with a bit of roguelite element should not miss this gem.
Good Part:
control are tight enough (Play with M+KB).
didn't experience any bug yet (30+ hr playtime).
try to solve secret kinda fun tbh.
a lot variety of items that useful along the journey.
Downside:
a bit hard to go for 100 % achievements due to some RNG element.
can't backtracking at all you have to start a new run only.
can't jump... nothing more to say here. :(

The truth is that game is not for everyone. It takes a lot from souls-like games, builds over it with faith system. The RPG system does not involve leveling, just couple perks that can be bought with 'souls' and gear. Combat is more forgiving than in souls titles (mainly because of instant dodge-roll and animation cancel, no damage block). Nontherless it is quite more difficult than ds3, with brutal and unforgiving enemies, bosses and levels.
It is also rewarding because of it's difficulty. Game can be really steep in the begining, but it gets better with every beaten boss (maybe with exception to Jezebel). It is also not very linear, can easily get lost in labyrinth of rooms.
I really suggest this game for every souls-like fan, that can invest a bit of a patience in starting levels.

It was tough to start playing Dark Devotion, recall that after trying it for the first time, did not like combat at all and left game for a while. But after revisiting it, yeah, game is quite good.
Dark aesthetics with good portion of horror and disgusting stuff seems to become a staple of subgenre of roguevania. Though sometimes it's so dark you wish you'd have taken that stupid light consumable from last room, but there are only 4 consumable slots, and that thing is one of most useless ones, except such specific situations. Audio adds a bit to the general vibe, but wouldn't call it extraordinary, neither music not game sounds - they are just fitting. Pixel graphics are fine, less detailed than some other titles in some regards, a bit better in others - as with audio - they are fitting and not much more.
To be honest might not be up to the task to talk about plot, main idea of being templar and going through cathedral that was built upon old religions ruins is easy to understand, however lots of details and most importantly ending are evasive to me. Either both good and bad endings leave a lot to be desired in my understanding or as mentioned understanding is not enough.
Gameplay is fairly standard - side-scroller, mainly melee, low survivability that allows to weather less than 10 hits from weakest enemies even with best equipment, rolls and jumps to dodge dangers, lots of traps and environmental hazards, small chance to find better gear or weapons during run, mostly consumables, bunch of ways to get through to the end, map separated into thematic areas which consist of "rooms", some very rare encounters of friendly npcs, bunch of bosses that you have to go through no matter which route is chosen, secrets and permanent power ups to collect etc.

I wish there were more games like this one, exploring a roguelike dungeon that is not procedural is great, learning the layout, discovering its secrets learning how to defeat its enemies, planing the best route to the boss taking in mind the number of enemies, drops and hidden weapons you can find along the way to bring into the fight, getting familiar with the traps designing and changing your strategy each run while unlocking base weapons and upgrades at the base to be more prepared for each run.
I love the aesthetics of the game the oppressive atmosphere and the sense of danger of the dungeon and the calm and sense of company of the safeheavens.
There is a great variety of weapons each with is own move set, I discovered my favourite 3/4 into the game. The bosses most of them fall on the easy side if you got enough prep but it feels accelerating to beat a boss when you get in with low resources and at an inch of your life
my only complaint is the final boss, due to rng sometimes it feels like "its my turn yet" kind of situation it has a 3 combo attack that depending on your luck it can do up to six time in a row so 18 attacks in a row and the stamina bar at max only helped me to dodge up to the 10th attack, so yeah I did not survive that.
10/10 would die again

Really like the style, concept and just how the gameplay - it feels heavy, grim and knightly. Kind of a mix between Souls, Salt&Sanctuary, Blasphemous, etc. Very much of my type. Great job.

Great game, gotta learn your routes and save items you pick up. Takes a bit to get into it but once you've beaten a boss or two, it really opens up.