Blasphemous has roughly ten boss fights, each of whom has wildly different looks and styles of play. Luckily, each area has a great boss fight to liven things up again. When first visiting a new area, everything is fresh and exciting, but once you spend a bit of time there, that freshness turns stale. With little in the way of platforming challenges and only the slightest of puzzles to speak of, Blasphemous relies heavily on its combat. Over time, especially when backtracking, once exciting encounters started to feel routine, like I was just going through the motions.
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Favoring memorization over swift thinking, Blasphemous is about trial and error, recognizing telegraphed moves and reacting. Slick combat animations make even the most basic of enemies cool to fight at first, but their wonder quickly fades. Finisher opportunities crop up (seemingly at random) from time to time too, resulting in elaborate, brutal animations in which the Penitent One uses either his sword or an enemy’s weapon to perform an over-the-top execution. Parries are particularly satisfying, as they lead to a brief slowdown in time and a devastating counterattack - though the window to successfully parry feels a bit too forgiving, taking away some of the satisfaction of triggering it. Combat is mostly a reactive experience, often turning into an engaging but robotic game of cat and mouse as you rush in, get in a couple hits with your trusty long sword, then either parry or dodge incoming attacks.
It draws on these inspirations well, but beyond its top-notch atmosphere and animations, Blasphemous fails to stand out in an overcrowded genre that’s home to some of my favorite games of all time like Hollow Knight and Owlboy.
It has Dark Souls-style save points called Prie-Dieus and punishing combat that relies on frequent dodges and well-timed parries. It’s a rather traditional 2D Metroidvania, complete with a variety of distinctly themed areas that can be visited in a non-linear fashion. “There’s no denying that Blasphemous feels familiar. And the details here are downright devilish. Only after she pummeled me multiple times did I notice the moving limbs protruding from under the lid. The convent houses a variety of baddies wearing religious garb, including one who swings an ornate metal container. The library features floating heads and decrepit men boomeranging weighty tomes your way. The snowcapped mountains hold ghouls that spring up beneath the icy surface and wall sculptures that reach out to swipe you with their hands. There are some repeats and reskins, but generally the enemies at least look different. Each area on the sprawling map has a mostly unique batch of foes roaming the halls. The stunning pixel art gives Blasphemous a retro aesthetic, but the detail-obsessed animations are all the more modern - and spine-chilling.
The eery, melancholic tone naturally reminded me of Castlevania games, only bloodier and far more sadistic. Right away, I knew this would be a somber, unforgiving journey. The first time you see the Penitent One, he is surrounded by a pile of corpses with matching capirote helmets poking out from the top of the human rubble. While that could have been distracting, Blasphemous excels at creating a chilling atmosphere.
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