To What Are You Devoted? | Devotion Psychological Analysis

This video essay covers a summary of Devotion as well as an analysis on the psychological themes presented in the characters and story. Each character in this game held dear their object of devotion...or was it obsession?
Devotion is a first-person atmospheric psychological horror game about a family caring for their ailing daughter in 1980s Taiwan.
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GAME LINK
shop.redcandle...
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MUSIC
Witch By The Sea by Darren Curtis | www.darrencurt...
Music promoted by www.chosic.com...
Creative Commons CC BY 3.0
creativecommon...
Melody of Nature - Composer: Zakhar Valaha (BMI IPI# 0086614911)
Music Link: • Melody of Nature
Music promoted by www.chosic.com...
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REFERENCES
Devotion Storyline & Characters
tvtropes.org/p...
tvtropes.org/p...
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Devotion Controversy
www.eurogamer....
www.gamedevelo...
www.gamedevelo...
www.gamedevelo...
www.eurogamer....
www.spieltimes...
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EuroGamer Interview with RedCandleGames
www.eurogamer....
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Cults
www.psychology...
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Undue Influence
www.americanba...
www.psychology...
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Women’s Rights in 1980s Taiwan
www.taiwanwome...
taiwaninsight....
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Lady of the Pier
www.jiosaavn.c...
lyricstranslat...
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Authoritarian Parenting
www.verywellmi...
nspb.net/index...

[@SundayBestStudios]

6:58 - As an English teacher, this type of character analysis is one of my favorite things in the world

[@phatmidnight]

I like seeing these little touched in games too, which is why I like to point them out!

[@SundayBestStudios]

18:25 - "she appears as a sickly, lanky figure... signaling abandonment" love this section, here's the payoff

[@phatmidnight]

Thank you for noticing!!

[@SundayBestStudios]

5:35 - I am noticing that, because your analysis videos are getting lengthier, it is no small task to orient the information in a way that is digestible. I struggle with making my writing too dense, for sure. Watching is a smooth experience. One of my favorite KZbinrs talks about how reading is an immersive experience. How a good writer will hijack your mind for however long their piece is. You do a good job easing the viewer into your video. Kind of like the act of going swimming in a cold pool, you dip their toe in at one moment, then all of the sudden they are neck deep in analysis.

[@phatmidnight]

Thanks! I’m also trying to get better at getting clips from the game that are relevant to the script faster so I can focus on those smoother transitions

[@Hrleypoisivy]

I always love how scary this game is! Anyway congrats on ur 10k subscribers, I'm new but i really like ur analysis

[@phatmidnight]

I appreciate your kind words, thank you so much!

[@SundayBestStudios]

6:11 - The title chapters are a great pause from all of your summative information. Nice job segmenting your video. That's always an after thought for me.

[@phatmidnight]

Thank you! I’m trying to make the title chapters a signature thing :)

[@miniladybug]

Congratulations on hitting 10k! Keep it up:)

[@phatmidnight]

Thank you!! 🙏🏼

[@SundayBestStudios]

12:35 - I like the construction of that opening sentence in your analysis. Good syntax

[@phatmidnight]

I appreciate that. It’s hard trying to tie up an entire game into one or two sentences while highlighting the main points but at least for this game I can play on the different aspects of the game’s title

[@SundayBestStudios]

23:00 - Ooh, your analysis at this section does a really good job synthesizing, feels very satisfactory

[@phatmidnight]

I was happiest when I put together that “denial” title sequence! 😂

[@SundayBestStudios]

3:30 - So I imagine that when you say "feel free to skip to this section," you are recording that knowing that you don't actually know the exact time that people are skipping ahead to. I see good bits of forethought here.

[@phatmidnight]

Some in the past have commented how they expected to see an analysis video but then they’re met with the summary at the start so I figured giving the disclaimer would help in case people only watched for the analysis. I’ve also seen this technique in other videos too though so I’ve been using lots of inspiration:)

[@SundayBestStudios]

1:20 - I like what you did with the text on the tv here

[@phatmidnight]

I try to incorporate the most iconic portion of a game as the section titles!

[@SundayBestStudios]

2:22 - the side by side video overlaid on top of the moving background is visually interesting here

[@phatmidnight]

Thanks! I saw it in another video essay and felt inspired

[@SundayBestStudios]

15:45 - well stated, your take on circumstances

[@phatmidnight]

Thanks, this game does a good job portraying that through the main character. It’s painful but true.

[@SundayBestStudios]

This is perhaps a projection of mine, but it is a real consideration: a game like this which has better graphics than other games you have played in the past (many in the past have been 2d and are more heavily text-based) makes your channel appear more professional. I know its nothing that you personally have done other than curate the game for your channel, but it does have a nice secondary effect of heightening the video

[@phatmidnight]

I appreciate that. With this game coming from an indie company too, it’s great seeing how beautiful the game looks since it was made by a smaller team.

[@Minecraftathop]

I’m not sure if you like these games, but I’d love to see an analysis of Silent Hill 2 and SOMA from you if you do

[@phatmidnight]

I appreciate the recommendations. I grew up on Silent Hill, so I'd love to cover it at some point! I think SOMA was recommended it to me before so I'll add Silent Hill 2 to the queue! Appreciate you watching my videos :)

[@Gold-kb1ws]

Congrats on 10k!!!

[@phatmidnight]

Thank you!! It’s because of people like you that keep me going

[@SundayBestStudios]

1:41 - Are you putting the credits on screen at the bottom right? I like how clean it is

[@phatmidnight]

I like the lower third I used here, I also started using it to list the soundtracks in the vid

[@SundayBestStudios]

@@phatmidnight Yeah, I'm not the best at this, I need to start doing this

[@phatmidnight]

People kept asking in the comments which track I was playing at certain points so it made things easier to list it in the video. If your editing software has a feature where you can bookmark assets then you can bookmark a lower third that you know you’ll use for music listings

[@SundayBestStudios]

00:00-00:10 - cool open. Is that your editing or the game's?

[@phatmidnight]

My editing! The original clip is just the daughter singing on the tv set so I used a glitch transition to mimic the tv

[@SundayBestStudios]

@@phatmidnight Nice! Looks great

[@SundayBestStudios]

15:23 - I think that some of the quotes that you provide can sometimes be hard to track. For instance, this Psychology Today quote is a good thing to be on screen because you are showing your evidence, but it looks like you are paraphrasing. So as you are paraphrasing, my eyes are darting left and right to try and find what you are reading. My initial recommendation would have been to highlight the specific text that you are quoting, but because you are paraphrasing, this solution wouldn't work. Food for thought. Might not have been an issue for other viewers.

[@phatmidnight]

This is a good point, I appreciate your feedback. A part of me wonders whether I can just paraphrase since people can either pause and read the quote or if I should just read the quote, however lengthy, but I think for simplicity’s sake it’s easier in most cases just to read the quote if I intend to talk about it

[@SundayBestStudios]

6:06 - honestly, this video game and the depth it provides has me wanting to recommend Bioshock to you.

[@phatmidnight]

Oh man, any specific one?

[@SundayBestStudios]

@@phatmidnight any of them, really!

[@kiayatwixxer4736]

I don't get the point of the controversy. Communism is very confusing. Not to mention that's a whole other language that I have absolutely NO clue about it.

[@phatmidnight]

Definitely, it’s hard to understand from an outside perspective

[@kiayatwixxer4736]

​@@phatmidnight Do you have any opinions about it?

[@nebuloxxx]

Decided to step away for some time to let some content happen while I was gone, glad I did, I've got a huge binge ahead of me hahah

[@phatmidnight]

I hope you enjoy the binge!