I wrote the first review of this game in Ukrainian on NaChasi, but this one here is not just a translated version but something totally different.

Blasphemous 2 is a metroidvania souls-like 2D platformer with pixel graphics, which proved to be a proper sequel to the original game. Created by The Game Kitchen and released in 2023, published by Team17.

Let's start from the end. I liked the game, but... I didn't enjoy it that much. Don't get me wrong, the game is a very nice metroidvania. And I played my bunch of hardcode 2D platformers like Hollow Knight, Dead Cells, and some others I will talk about later. I love these games. But I think I don't like the souls-like part of Blasphemous 2, which made me blame the game for being unfair way too often. So somehow, it was like I was a sinner, and this game felt a bit like torture 😅. But the pain was bittersweet - the game is gorgeous, so I finished it not for the review but because I wanted to.

But let's see what the H.E.A.R.T. rate of this game is.

Graphics

The game's visuals are beautiful and skillfully crafted. I didn't totally get it from the beginning, as the colors felt too dull and seemed a bit outdated. However, they perfectly match the franchise, and with more time in the game, I learned to appreciate them. The character design is original and creates amazing cosplay opportunities. Once again, I wasn't initially impressed too much, but I could see a very good design with very specific and recognizable features that instantly create a brand.

The surroundings emphasize the developer's Spanish heritage. When I played the game's city locations, I could easily imagine this to be a Madrid-inspired fantasy. Everything brings us back to the times of the Spanish Inquisition and European Renaissance. Other locations do not include buildings, but I find the city backgrounds the most impressive.

Overall, I would say the visuals are good, but I did not lose my breath.

Gameplay

Gameplay is the most ambitious part for me.

But let's start from the beginning. On the surface, it is a modern 2D platformer, metroidvania, with everything you would expect it to have - a double jump, roll, a few weapons of choice, some magic, and some collectibles. The huge map has multiple passages you can use once you obtain a certain skill and progress through the main quest. There are parts with complex fights or platforming, sequential mixes of both, and bosses. You have a very limited amount of teleports on the map and designated areas for saving the game. So often, you must complete all challenges one by one to reach the save point and start over if you fail. Now let's go to reasons of ambiguity:

• The weapons are not balanced. Generally speaking, this game is for the Ruego Al Alba (the saber), and it feels like it was mostly tested with it. For Veredicto, the time of the attack animation is too short to do any combo with the enemies being faster and your attacks not affecting the enemies in any way - no temporal stun or interruption of the skill, etc. For the Sarmiento (the rapier with a dagger), the area of attack is smaller vertically, so many enemies appear too short to work, causing you constant inconvenience. As a result - the weapons do not provide a different game style but rather additional impediments, making the game artificially harder.

• The progression is not consistent. I was surprised, but the only viable progression is increasing the damage and additional skills. But, for example, increasing the number of combo attacks will only bring you more inconvenience - you almost never have the opportunity to complete those. Because enemies do not bother with your attacks, while their attacks will interrupt yours. Maybe it's for some master combination with rolls, but I failed to master it.
• The fighting is not polished. There are too many different small bugs, like an enemy attacking you from the other side of the wall, overall ignoring the obstacles. When there are waves of enemies - some respawn after death but still trigger the next wave, increasing the expected count of enemies in a limited space. Enemies with wide profiles spawn at your location while you are stunned and paralyzed, kicking you into another enemy and creating a damage loop you can't do anything about.
• Parry is not working. I guess it's a frequent problem in such games, but the animations and timeframes for parrying are not visually distinguishable enough to make any use of parry. You can't parry if you are not in an idle state.

And some more, even with the platforming. Don't get me wrong, I know it's a hardcore game. But compared to Hollow Knight or Dead Cells, when I felt I was not good enough and just trained more, in Blasphemous 2, there were too many things out of my control that led me to death. No matter how good I am, I can just be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or the animations were not readable enough to make the game precise. And the precision of control is crucial for skill-based hardcore games. Some can say it's the game's hardcoreness, but to me, it's just that it is not polished enough.

Atmosphere

Atmosphere is the part of the game that the developer handled very well. It's all soaked in the catholic references and old Spanish Inquisition vibe. The dialogs are very stylized, the tasks are very symbolic and I am sure I didn't get most of it. But I did feel the religious sacredness in the air. Everything here is woven into the setting. For example, if you die - you get a portion of your magic locked. You need to redeem your sole at the place of your demise to fix this, but if you don't, or if you just die too often, it becomes locked completely. To raise this lock, you must visit a priest and pay an indulgence fee, which grows with time.

It is hard to describe, it is best experienced.

Story

The story is rich and complex, I guess, but I struggled to follow it. Maybe it's because English is not my first language, and there were no Ukrainian translations, or maybe the developers tried to elevate the atmosphere using old English and just tried too hard with complex language forms and riddles. But I got the idea that there is some cycle of penance, and the character needs to break it.

There are also multiple side quests, which are not necessary to engage with, but you probably will in order to become stronger. All of them are very unique and a bit disturbing. That is absolutely fitting the game's vibe and atmosphere. Mostly, you gonna need to find different things all over the map.

So, I see that the work done for the story is impressive. But the telling of the story is complicated with complex old English and general riddle form, on top of the story itself being mysterious and not direct by design. Once again, this references the old Catholic approach of mysteries and secrecy. But as a result, I think I disengaged on the way, being mostly occupied with not breaking my gamepad and dying again and again in the same place.

Innovation

It's hard for me to identify much innovation in this game. It mostly follows up on the previous game, improving it in all aspects and raising it to modern standards. It's a fresh game, released last year, but it has everything other games in the genre have. Blasphemous 1 is definitely an iconic game, and Blasphemous 2 is a perfect sequel. But nothing new, in my opinion.

Conclusion

The game scored 23 points and get's H.E.A.R.T. rate of 6.5!

Blasphemous 2 is a very rich and interesting game that deserves all the hype it can get. And I am sure many fans of hardcore games and metroidvanias will surely find joy in it. But, if you are not into the hardcore experience - this game does not have "easy mode," as far as I know, and at the time of writing. So I would suggest you save your nerves and gamepads. So, if you are up paying for your sins, or you are into that kind of stuff - don't let me stop you.

What would help this game is an early access period with people playing it and pointing out all the weak spots. Since the game is already released, they can listen to the gamers even now and improve it with patches, which is probably happening. So perhaps the game is already better since I played it!

In any way, I would love to see more games from The Game Kitchen!

The last thing I wanted to mention is the amazing marketing campaign the publisher and developer managed for the game's release. During Gamescom 2023, Team17 had its scene and showcased the games. Blasphemous 2 was one of the front games of the event. The cosplay there was truly impressive.