This episode it's Halloween in July, as Indiescovery sets out to answer our listeners' most burning question: "Now that Rachel and Liam have both had a turn, when does Rebecca get her main character moment?" It starts now, friends, as your resident horror maven takes you on a whistle-stop tour of my favourite indie horror games, ranging from the silly (Simulacra) to the serious (Detention), and from psychological spooks (Layers Of Fear) to outright jump-scares (Dark Deception).
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]]>It may not be Halloween for a while, but there's no reason you can't celebrate horror as a genre all year round. In fact, it's one of our favourite genre of games, so we've put together our list of the 25 best horror games to play on PC right now. It really showcases the breadth of horror on PC right now, from visual novels to shooters to survival to weirdo demon games and text adventures, so it's a real joy to peruse.
]]>Taiwanese horror game Devotion is finally available to buy again, two years after it was pulled from sale within days of launch in 2019. It had caused controversy and serious consequences with a small joke at the expense of Chinese president Xi Jinping. Games store GOG announced plans to re-release it last year, then backed out near-instantly supposedly due to popular demand. Now, to hell with it, developers Red Candle Games are just selling Devotion themselves. I've heard it's good, so I'm glad I'll finally be able to see for myself.
]]>Red Candle Games are perhaps best known for Devotion getting into trouble with the Chinese government, but they also, y'know, made decent video games. One of those, the high school horror Detention, has now spawned a live-action series on Netflix. It started this weekend, and after seeing the first two episodes, sure, I'll keep watching. Oh, and they have a new game coming.
]]>Like an excitable tiger with a lisp, critically-acclaimed horror game Devotion bounced off Steam before I got to play it. It's a shame because I was really looking forward to seeing what developer Red Candle Games was going to do after I was scared pantsless by the studio's first game.
]]>I'll probably never get to play Devotion. A year on from the Taiwanese horror game's abrupt removal from Steam, there's still no sign of it returning to sale. That doesn't mean Red Candle Games' work needs to be lost to history forever, though. This month, the developers announced that Devotion - and predecessor Detention - will be preserved in the Harvard-Yenching Library collection at Harvard University.
]]>The tragic tale of Red Candle's horror game Devotion only gets sadder. Originally pulled from stores after it was discovered to contain a joking comparison between Winnie The Pooh and Chinese president (and Winnie The Pooh lookalike) Xi Jinping. Now it appears it has cost its Chinese publisher everything. As shared via Twitter by Iain Garner of Another Indie and confirmed by PCGamesN, the Chinese government has revoked the business license of the game's Chinese publisher Indievent.
]]>Taiwanese studio Red Candle Games had a very bad weekend. After the launch of their 80s-set horror game Devotion, players noticed a scrap of paper in-game which invokes the names of Chinese president Xi Jinping and Winnie The Pooh. Xi (who looks much like the cuddly cartoon bear) being a reasonable man able to take a mild joke, Winnie The Pooh and associated properties are restricted in China - see John Oliver's breakdown here.
The reference in the game, however innocuous, sparked a review-bombing campaign against the game by aggrieved Chinese players. This led to an apology from the studio, followed their Chinese Weibo social media account being shut down, and the removal of the game from Steam in China. Now it's just gone altogether, globally.
]]>There are few niches as specific as the one Red Candle Games have carved out with Detention and its successor Devotion, launched just yesterday. Both are sharp, unsettling but grounded horror stories that blend the supernatural with tales of real life in Taiwan in the not-too-distant past. While Detention was a side-scrolling adventure set in the 60s, Devotion is a first-person psychological study of a deeply religious family in the 80s. See the launch trailer below.
]]>By digging into the darkness of Taiwan's past, Red Candle Games' 2017 sleeper indie horror hit Detention managed to push some buttons that I didn't know I had. If you haven't given it a spin, go grab the deluxe edition on Steam, because you're going to want that soundtrack. You know, for when you need terror to inspire you at the gym, or when you really need to speed-up your nightly jog. Building on the static-obsessed foundations of Detention, the follow-up title Devotion now has a trailer and a plot summary. It looks like Red Candle Games is going to stick to what they do best: teeth-grindingly upsetting history lessons.
]]>Update: The year is finished, which means you can now read the final list of our favourite games of 2017.
2017 has already been an extraordinary year for PC games, from both big-name AAA successes to no-name surprise indie smashes. Keeping up with so much that's worth playing is a tough job, but we've got your back. Here is a collection of the games that have rocked the RPS Treehouse so far this year.
We've all picked our favourites, and present them here in alphabetical order so as not to start any fights. You're bound to have a game you'd have wanted to see on the list, so please do add it to the comments below.
]]>Hold your breath, close your eyes and hope that the lingering dead slip by without noticing you. Their tongues bulge from their mouths and they shudder between worlds. Detention [official site] is a side-scrolling point and click game, made by a small team of Taiwanese developers. It's made up of puzzles and very occasional stealth sections, with no combat whatsoever. Despite a heavy dollop of Silent Hill, it's a horror game unlike anything else I've played thanks to the smart use it makes of its historical setting. If you're interested in thoughtful, fearsome games, don't let this one slip by.
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