The Devilry Reservation

The Devilry Reservation, developed and published by GentFish, is a narrative-driven 2D adventure that combines investigative gameplay, Slavic folklore, and surreal humor within the confined space of a deteriorating apartment complex inhabited by supernatural beings. Rather than presenting a conventional action-heavy mystery, the game leans into slow exploration, layered dialogue, and environmental storytelling. Its strength lies not in combat or spectacle, but in atmosphere and character-driven discovery. You assume the role of a detective working for the Paranormal Security Service, assigned to investigate a disturbance inside a restricted housing block known as the Devilry Reservation. This is no ordinary building; it functions as a containment zone for creatures drawn from myth and legend. The protagonist is one of the “Faceless,” enigmatic telepathic beings capable of interacting with both human and supernatural entities. This narrative framing immediately positions the player in a liminal space—simultaneously investigator and outsider—reinforcing themes of identity, alienation, and observation. Gameplay unfolds through side-scrolling exploration across interconnected apartme…

I really hate to leave a game like this a negative review. There are some fun themes here, and there's a lot of heart on display. I also got the game for less than a dollar, and it feels worth that price. Problem for me, though, is the English translation is definitely not worth $9.99. I have so much trouble following that I struggle to play the game. YMMV, and if you enjoy bad dubs, this may be the game for you. I might try it again another time, but as of right now, it's going to collect virtual dust (entropy?) in my Steam library.

It is a better first attempt at a game than most low budget indies that make something on MS Paint and market it as a unique bullet hell experience, but it is unpolished and mostly dull. First of all the pixel art is too vague and undetailed to the point the player does not know what they are looking at and all the atmosphere and world building the creator wants to craft bleeds out of the presentation, never immersing the player in the world. It took a character mentioning in dialogue that a shotgun was hanging over the fireplace for me to realize that I was not looking at jumbled wall textures smudged together to simulate an old apartment background fell but an important set piece I might have to interact with later on. Where the pixel art fails, the dialogue also fails. The player approaches a misshapen, vague-looking point of interaction and with an action button the character is prompted into explaining to the player what they are supposed to be looking at, but the explanatory text is equally vacant and dull and uninteresting as the presentation. The dialogues between the characters feel like they were written by someone that has forgotten how people talk and is having a har…

The translation is very rough but I could still get the gist of most of the humor. I liked the setting; I think this would make a cool TV show. Extremely short and can be finished in about an hour.

I'm surprised this game hasn't gotten more coverage.. honestly I got stuck on the second episode a few times and the only video I could find on it was in Russian, sooo.. yeah, I do hope we get more content creators covering this game. A lot of people may be turned away by the sometimes not great English, but it's MORE than able to be understood.. I had no trouble understanding what everyone was saying. I loved the pixel art, sound and quests within the game.. each episode has a ton of side quests within it and secrets to uncover for all of the achievements. I loved seeing the different mythical creatures featured in the game too, as well as being able to scan them in and read more about them. Plus, what other game lets you play as detective Slenderman?

Played Episode 1 of this, was a fun short atmospheric adventure game. Very story-based, not many puzzles to stump you. I thought the writing was quite funny and clever.