Devour Review [Review]
A Refreshing Take on Co-op Survival HorrDevour is a PC co-op survival horror game that succeeds where many others in the genre fall short. Following the familiar formula, a team of 1-4 players enter various levels to exorcise demons and ghosts, all connected to a persistent cult that has been tormenting the playable characters. Each level requires a similar approach: using bait to capture animals, which are then sacrificed to defeat the monstrous entity. As you progress, you'll level up and earn points for perks and upgrades.
While the core concept echoes other similar games, Devour distinguishes itself by embracing simplicity, which is a genuinely refreshing change. Often, I find games of this type overly complicated or difficult to follow, demanding multi-step tasks or prior knowledge of every item. Devour, however, is straightforward and easy to grasp. We quickly figured out the objective, and my team came close to winning on our very first run. The failure—taking too long and allowing too many enemies to spawn before the final sacrifice—was satisfying because we understood exactly what went wrong and were encouraged to keep playing, confident in our strategy. y
Despite its straightforward concept and mechanics, Devour is far from easy. The longer a run lasts and the more progress you make, the more aggressive the enemies become. We observed this real-time escalation on the Asylum level. Initially, the cultist enemy walked at a comically slow pace. However, with every rat we sacrificed, her walking animation sped up until she was full-on sprinting, clearly progressing in difficulty alongside us. Lesser enemies also began to spawn more frequently. Fortunately, these smaller foes are easily dispatched with a UV light—just be sure to keep an eye on your batteries!
Another strength of Devour's simplicity is that any failure feels like the players' fault, not the result of convoluted or poorly explained mechanics. This forced us to get creative. We realized that enemies don't spawn until the first animal is sacrificed, which allowed us to collect and hoard items, creating a stash of first-aid kits in a relatively safe room. This mechanic is extremely helpful because a downed player can still crawl to the stash to be revived. Unlike similar games that often feature a frustrating, irreversible "you die, you die" rule, Devour's revival system is perfect. Players can be revived as many times as a first-aid kit can be found. Furthermore, items respawn as you play, ensuring that a run can't be soft-locked and no player is permanently out of the action.
Devour is a fantastic game that I highly recommend to any friend group looking for a co-op horror experience. It is easy to pick up, and with persistence, it can be beaten. It even features well-functioning VR support for a different experience. While using VR, interacting with other players to heal them can be a bit finicky, requiring a perfect angle. Overall, Devour is a very co-op-friendly game whose difficulty is engaging rather than irritating.
A Refreshing Take on Co-op Survival Horror