Devotion is a new work released in 2019 by Taiwan’s Red Candle Games, following the great success of their 2017 2D side-scrolling horror puzzle game Detention. Similar to Detention, Red Candle also launched a preliminary ARG before the official release of Devotion. This article introduces the overall puzzle-solving process and insights from PTT and Discord players during Red Candle’s Devotion ARG, based on personal experience.

What is ARG?

Unlike the official versions of Detention and Devotion which are published on virtual platforms like Steam, ARG stands for Alternate Reality Game – a game that uses the real world as its platform.
In other words, while we play these games on Steam, ARG can interact with reality, creating a more immersive experience.

In recent years, more and more people in Taiwan have been playing ARGs.
Red Candle had previously launched an ARG for Detention, but few people noticed it at the time, with only 45 people reaching the end.
However, due to Detention‘s huge popularity, players later scrutinized every piece of information Red Candle posted XD.
As players guessed, Devotion also had a preliminary ARG!
This ARG attracted attention from many media outlets and players within the community even before the game’s release, making it a very successful promotional campaign.
Below, we’ll introduce the puzzle-solving process and insights from this ARG activity.

Spoilers ahead.

The Origin of Everything: Devotion Prayer Lamp

On January 16, 2019, Red Candle posted on their official fan page with just one short line of text and a URL:

“Come tell Cigu Guanyin, #what do you wish for?”

Clicking on the URL titled “Prayer Lamp” takes you to a red-background prayer lamp page.

Some Guanyin figures were lit up, others remained dark.
Just like lighting prayer lamps at temples, when we click on the dark prayer lamps, we can make a wish.
After filling in your name and wish below and lighting the lamp, your prayer lamp appears. But it seems there’s something mysterious hidden?

Many people left after making their wishes, but!!!
It turns out the wish part of your own prayer lamp becomes a hyperlink. What happens when you click on it?

PowerPoint: The True Meaning of Love

After downloading the file from the hyperlink, we see a PowerPoint file named “The True Meaning of Love.”
The file content isn’t particularly special – just images with lyrics from “The True Meaning of Love.”
The last page is more distinctive, reading “I am a Taurus girl who enjoys swimming and writing poetry.”
However, it doesn’t seem to hide anything either. But of course, it wouldn’t be that simple.
If you click into the PPT’s information page, you’ll see the author’s name “Jian Jingjing” with a comment saying:

Want to see more of my life? Follow my IG @jianjingjing0506

Well, since she said so, we naturally have to check out Jian Jingjing’s life!

Jian Jingjing’s Instagram

Following the clue from the PowerPoint file, we found Jian Jingjing’s Instagram (though this IG became inactive after the game, the URL was: https://instagram.com/jianjingjing0506/).

From various Instagram posts, we learn that Jian Jingjing is a sophomore student who joined a group called “Luxin Youth Service Group.”
She seems like an ordinary college girl. We also learn that Jingjing appears to be followed by a stalker.

What’s particularly interesting is that from red banners repeatedly appearing in her photos, we can piece together a complete URL. These photos are from:

• June 4, 2018: k-home-19730517N
• June 21, 2018: n.talewonder.com/3Bsc (after horizontal flipping)
• July 13, 2018: https://luxincollegiateass
• August 30, 2018: m/3Bschoolclub-Aofk-
• November 29, 2018: iation.talew

From these dates, Red Candle had been planning this a year in advance!
When these URL fragments are combined, they form a complete URL: http://luxincollegiateassociation.talewonder.com/3Bschoolclub-Aofk-home-19730517N/index.php

First Encounter with Luxin Youth Service Group

Clicking on the URL pieced together from Instagram takes us to the “Luxin Youth Service Group” website. Now clicking in should show all the messages, but at the time, information was gradually revealed. We first saw the latest news published on 2018/12/19, discovering there would be an event three days later, but no one knew how to participate or where it would be held.

Next, everyone went to “Event Information” and found that the event messages were interactive.
It provided three questions total, and if you asked the right keyword questions, you could continue.
For detailed questions, please see: https://goo.gl/xxxx (The file is already inactive now).
If you successfully reached the end, the website would automatically send you an image; the three questions ultimately yielded three images:

Who founded Luxin: keyword “方為人上人” (To be above others)

Reason for Luxin’s establishment: keyword “時候未到” (The time hasn’t come)

Luxin’s activities: keyword “不可活” (Cannot live)

When we overlaid these three images, we discovered it was a map near Guting Station. When overlaid with Google Maps, as shown below, stars represent convenience stores, and red dots are meeting points.

After discovering this, someone eagerly went to scout the location that day and finally found a café nearby (Love; café at 133 Guling Street, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City) with Luxin stickers posted on it! There were even posters! (From Discord id: 阿猴(r8085320))

Now I realize the article is too long XD So I’m dividing it into multiple parts. Please look forward to the second part “Red Candle’s Devotion ARG (2): Luxin Winter Thanksgiving Fellowship.“

Thanks for reading:D

If you enjoyed this article, feel free to buy me a coffee — and a treat for my lovely dog Lottery! 🐾