The eternal suffering of The Templars is both a blessing and a curse - salvation is born through sacrifice, and no sacrifice is too great to praise your God. A mystical temple teeming with a strange life-like energy of its own awaits you on your sacred crusade of suffering and redemption that will take you to the depths of traditions spanning centuries – and leave you questioning your faith and your own existence.

Dark Devotion features a rich, detailed and immersive narrative that unfolds a sombre tale of your religion’s undeniable calling where every encounter is a challenge of suffering, piety and conviction – but most importantly, it's a fight to the death.

Spanning across four unique worlds, each with their own variety of environments bursting with detail, players will choose from dozens of weapons and learn from them the secret of the Temple as they fight superbly crafted bosses with one mission: to destroy your soul and damn you forever. 

This new developer diary offers a behind-the-scenes profile of their side-scrolling action RPG, exploring the inspirations behind its world striving for incessant sacrifice driven by unwavering zealots.

The new video weaves together the artists, locations and inspirations that would ultimately become the rich narrative tapestry for Dark Devotion. Artist Alexandre Magnat, programmer Louis Denizet and writer Arthur Dos Santos describe how they drew from Romantic era artists like Delacroix and 14th century French Gothic architecture from southeastern France to create the overall macabre tone and artistic design of the game. The trio also detail how H.P. Lovecraft’s short stories and concepts around ‘the anti-hero’ helped them fine tune Dark Devotion’s story arch and character development. 

Originally planned for release in 2018, Dark Devotion has been pushed until Q1 2019.

Dark Devotion features several distinctive gameplay mechanics for greatly expanded replayability – the prayers, blessings and curses system allows for flexibility and a variety of approaches to each foe, while its myriad of weaponry allow for combining skillsets to alter your approach with each play through.

Dark Devotion’s shadowy passageways twist through a mystical temple teeming with merciless spirits, but braving these uncharted routes often reveals stashed secrets and is the only way to deepen the all-important faith. Desecration be damned; looting the temple’s supplies and gear is a crucial necessity in surviving this macabre gauntlet of horrors. 

Every encounter demands infallible reflexes and intuition, as enemies are cunning enough to leave prey limping away with illness, if they’re able to continue on at all. But only by enduring immense trials and unrivaled suffering can one hope to properly praise the God looming over Dark Devotion’s grim world. 

Dark Devotion is set to launch in Q1 2019 for PC and consoles.