It was over two years ago now that Devotion, the second horror title from Red Candle Games, released on PC. The game was acclaimed, but was only up for a very short time period due to being dropped by its publisher and being pulled from Steam. The main issues came from reference to a meme that compared the Chinese President to Winnie the Pooh. It seemed as if the horror game would find a new home when it was announced that it would return via GOG, but they quickly backed out. Well, it seems the game is available once more, this time directly from the developer.

Red Candle Games has announced that they are now selling the game via their own website. You can see the announcement below as well as a link to the purchase. You can buy the game, its soundtrack, or both together as a bundle. It’s a DRM-free PC copy of the title. You can also purchase the developer’s first game, Detention, and its soundtrack in a similar way.

Before this, the only other way to obtain the game was purchasing a physical copy via the Taiwanese website, but it required a Taiwanese address, and has proven difficult to actually get a copy out of Taiwan due to the red tape involved and political unrest in the country. Since this is being sold directly from the developer, I imagine it’s safe, but with Devotion, who knows. If you’re interested, you probably want to go ahead and jump in.

Hello, Red Candle e-shop is now online. https://t.co/smmZxHj7zQ#返校Detention, #還願Devotion and our future projects will all be on e-shop in DRM-free format.

We hope to provide a direct and simple purchasing channel for players who’re interested in our games. pic.twitter.com/1SxzBZSiyW

— redcandlegames (@redcandlegames) March 15, 2021

UPDATE: It seems like GOG got cold feet. GOG recently took to Twitter and said that “after receiving many messages from gamers” they have decided not to bring the game back on their store after all. Those who were looking forward to Devotion’s return are essentially back to square one, and the horror title’s fate remains up in the air for now.

Earlier today, it was announced that the game Devotion is coming to GOG. After receiving many messages from gamers, we have decided not to list the game in our store.

— GOG.COM (@GOGcom) December 16, 2020

Original story follows:

You may or may not remember, but at the beginning of last year came Devotion from Taiwanese developer Red Candle Games. It was a rather brief horror title, but one that saw much acclaim. Unfortunately, the game was delisted and most of the videos surrounding it were taken down abruptly. While the original reason given for that was technical issues, it later came out that it really was from a meme comparing the Chinese President to Winnie the Pooh, which led to the original publisher abandoning Red Candle, as well as leading to them apologizing.

While they did say that the game would return, it’s now been close to two years since its delisting, making most assume it’s been effectively banned with pressure from China (if you want to know more details, The Verge did a story on the situation last year). Now, however, it seems the project is finally coming back.

On their official Twitter, Red Candle Games has announced the game will finally be making its return on PC via GOG. Interestingly, there is no mention whatsoever of it returning to Steam, where it was originally returned and then delisted. It’s unclear if the game will return to that platform at any point.

Devotion will return to PC on December 18th. Considering the game’s history, if you have interest, you may want to jump on getting it just in case.

Hello friends, we want to share with you– Red Candle will publish #還願Devotion on Dec 18 on GOG.https://t.co/dlC6qzBiHx

The content and the price of the re-release remains the same, for $16.99 / €13.99

Thank you for your trust and support. We wish you a happy end of the year pic.twitter.com/peVPd7cyVo

— redcandlegames (@redcandlegames) December 16, 2020