14 DAY TRIAL // 
Lightning strikes, illuminating a massive waterfall, while I crawl through a small cave. There’s a constant sense that someone is watching as I look for puzzles and points of interest. And whoever is around clearly doesn’t really want my character to find out how I got here or how all of this is connected to uncle Robert.
I stand up and look around, trying to understand where I am going. There are torches scattered around in this small valley surrounded by massive peaks. I might have to find some stone blocks to move around and create a new path. Or I might simply need to discover another path and see where it will take me. I just hope that I don’t have to run away from any massive unkillable monsters to get to my goal.
As I ran around, I discover a small statue in the shape of an elephant with a broken trunk. I also bump into a door that’s protected by a puzzle. There are three splints in front of it and a torch lights up when I place the statue on the correct one. A relatively cryptic message about the puzzle reveals itself to my right. Now I only have to find two more to get the door open and make some progress.
Road To Devadatta is developed by Open & Close and published by Comuesp. I played on the PC via Steam. This is a first-person adventure game centered around an unusual narrative.
Players will take on the role of Alo, who is searching for his uncle Robert. The two spent a lot of time together but now the older man seems to have disappeared. Alo pulls up to his house and decides to look for clues about his whereabouts. It quickly becomes clear that Robert is dealing with some serious personal issues and that he might be in some sort of trouble.
Buddhism elements pop up very quickly, with the first major puzzle of the game centered on figures and symbols associated with it. Players will also uncover a ton of messages linked to spiritual affairs and the way Devadatta might offer a path to enlightenment. The writing is pretty pedestrian but sometimes effective at pointing to a bigger mystery.
Devadatta is a mythical figure, a guy whose very name means Given by God, and both cousin and brother-in-law of Gautama Siddhartha. He is seen as evil by Buddhists because he led a sect that broke from the mainstream. The game suggests that this group still exists and players will find out more as they make progress in the narrative. It often feels like the mythical elements lack context but I had fun learning more about Devadatta from Internet searches.
Road To Devadatta’s gameplay combines exploration and puzzle-solving. Alo first goes to Robert’s house. It’s a two-story building with a backyard shed where the greatest challenge is to find keys to open up all the rooms. The code required to open a door involves matching statues with Buddhist symbols.
Don’t expect deep puzzles with complex solutions. The game mostly wants gamers to pay attention to the world, find the correct path for progress, and then find the environmental elements that will allow them to deal with a situation.
Later in Road To Devadatta, there are more action-focused sequences, including moments when the player is chased by a supernatural foe. There’s no actual combat but it adds some variety, even though these sequences feel a little half-baked. I’m also not sure that the supernatural angle enhances it in any way.
They also create plenty of questions about the game’s world, which is wildly inconsistent. How can a small Buddhist splinter group get the resources to maintain such a hidden and trap-filled temple for so long? I understand the game is more focused on personal emotions and experiences but I never felt engaged with the narrative because the universe fails to make sense.
Gameplay in Road To Devadatta often feels like busywork, something to do while hoping that the next piece of the story is relatively close. I’m not sure that extra variety would help or if this game needed a different approach, maybe like a straight-up visual novel.
The experience is also pretty short. It will have something to offer to those who have played the likes of Gone Home or its imitators and want a similar experience but with a few extra puzzles and Buddhist elements. The biggest problem is that Alo and Robert’s relationship is never interesting enough to keep players moving forward.
Road To Devadatta aims to create relatively small but impressive-looking spaces for the player to explore. It has moments of beauty, especially when moving through the temple entrance space, trying to find three statues. It also allows the player to bump into rocks and see through the geometry. The house features the same magazine left on more than three surfaces. The player will move blocks of stone that feel weightless. The ambition is bigger than the available resources.
The sound part of the presentation is similarly weird. The main character does not talk but the environmental effects are decent. There’s a sound of grinding rocks that will quickly grind on the player’s ears, as well. The soundtrack is well-adapted to the tone of the adventure but stays mostly in the background.
The Good
- Classic take on first-person adventure
- Buddhist elements
- A sense of constant tension
The Bad
- Limited gameplay
- Some graphical glitches
- Narrative needs more context
Conclusion
But the game struggles to integrate its two core elements. Several challenges are too long and don’t add anything to the tension or sense of discovery. I never felt connected to Alo or really interested in what happened to Robert. Road To Devadatta struggled to keep me engaged and more context for the narrative could have helped.
A review key was provided by the publisher
