Dark Devotion is a 2D souls-like game, with some rogue-lite properties. It takes elements from a bunch of other games and genres, and blends them together into something that works surprisingly well. It feels a bit like Salt & Sanctuary and a bit like Dead Cells but it's definitely doing many unique things.

You begin the game in a hub, a Firelink Shrine of sorts, and you progress by exploring deeper into the layers of the dungeon. The dungeon itself isn't randomly generated; it's all hand crafted, but items, buffs, certain enemies and other elements are randomised. The dungeon is broken up into maybe 10 main "zones" and it branches, so you can take many different paths to get to the end. You would have to do many runs to see all the bosses, areas, weapons, etc.

The gameplay itself feels like a janky version of Salty & Sanctuary. Don't expect the combat and movement of this game to feel smooth and refined like Hollow Knight or Dead Cells, rather it sometimes feels pretty sloppy with odd hitboxes, really dumb enemies, clumsy animations/clipping. Sometimes it literally feels like a flash game on Newgrounds, but other times it shines brilliantly. The quality of the bosses, the variety of the weapons and playstyles: it's still really enjoyable and playable, despite a lack of polish (I suspect that they were limited by the "Clickteam Fusion" game engine).

The entire game is rendered in really beautiful pixel art, and the sound design and music is great also. In particular I love the eerie forest sections of the game. There are caves, sewers, prisons, forests, castles and each environment has unique enemies. There's a lot going on in this game; you gather these "holy points" by defeating enemies and you can spend the points to cast spells, or pray at shrines to grand buffs, cure curses, or to buy weapons/consumables/etc.

I think the rogue-lite elements have been handled really well in this game. When you find certain weapons/items or gather them off dead enemies, sometimes you'll get a blueprint, which means you can start off the next run by adding that equipment to your custom loadout if you choose. This is one form of progression. You also spend XP to buy permanent upgrades for your character. There are also checkpoint/teleport points throughout the whole game so you can warp to basically anywhere. It's risk-reward though, because you'll always be much more powerful if you start from the start and go through, collecting all the good loot and powering up with blessings; teleporting to late-game areas is risky but not impossible if you're skilled.

When I first bought this game and started playing it, I honestly considered getting a refund. It's a beautiful game but the movement and combat feels weird and floaty, especially at first. I'm glad I stuck with it though, because it's a really brilliant game. I wouldn't say it's as good as Sundered or Salt & Sanctuary but if you played those and enjoyed them, then you should play this next. I'm going to give it 5 stars because I really loved it, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's too clunky for some people.