Blasphemous

Genre: Metroidvania

Players: 1

.

Review:

(Note: This game is included in Blasphemous + Blasphemous 2 Bundle, along with Blasphemous 2)

Blasphemous is a Metroidvania that seems to take a lot of inspiration from games like Dark Souls both in its difficulty and in its dark and gruesome atmosphere. However, it strikes out on its own with its unique and omnipresent Spainish Catholic horror show of a presentation.

More than anything, it is probably your reaction to this presentation that will most likely determine whether you like this game. It’s… it’s a bit much. This game is constantly walloping you over the head with its Catholic imagery right from the very start, with an aesthetic that apparently started when someone learned about self-flagellation and said “I like it. I really like it. But… it doesn’t go far enough…”

Bloody, gruesome, festering human death and suffering is intermixed with faith right from the start in this game, in a way that is deeply creepy and unsettling. The game is also filled with lore couched in religious language, though it can be a bit hard to parse at times. However, regardless of what you think about the artistic direction this game takes, it’s hard to deny that it’s done well, with detailed characters and locations and excellent, fluid animation. In the end, some people will be repulsed by this game’s presentation, and some will lap it right up.

Oh, yeah, there’s also a Metroidvania in this game.

The controls in this game are fairly simple and straightforward, and mechanically this game doesn’t do too much out of the ordinary for the genre, save for its high difficulty. Even the most basic enemies can kill you in just a few hits, and players are expected to really perfect their dodging and parrying skills, with parrying requiring pretty spot-on timing and reading of enemy tells to know when they’re attacking you.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t really enjoy Blasphemous. I didn’t care for the ridiculously high difficulty level or the grotesque and creepy imagery. However, I can also recognize that for some, this will hit all the right spots, especially if you’re a fan of games like Dark Souls and want more of that in your Metroidvania. For those folks, I can definitely see that Blasphemous brings quality to the genre, even if it’s not a quality I can appreciate.

tl;dr – Blasphemous is a Metroidvania that takes a lot of influence from Dark Souls, and pumps the game full of gruesome, bloody, repulsive imagery and repeatedly slams this imagery into players with a giant religious sledgehammer. This is absolutely not a game for everyone, but I give it credit for doing what it does very well, with good but challenging gameplay and detailed artwork and animation.

Grade: B-

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