Is this 1989?
Nowadays, few games are created with a religious undertone. The big craze over Satanism from the 80s and early 90s is long gone and so it was a surprise to see Blasphemous pop up in 2019. The game, as its name implies, is filled with religious iconography, themes and inspiration.This is a place set on a downward spiral, which creates a dark, bleak world, filled with despair, pain and suffering, devotion and hopelessness. This, in turn, creates an atmosphere that permeates the whole game, from the first minute of play - where the main character, the Penitent One, wakes up in a mass grave of sorts - to the alternate endings and the main credits.
Bless the pixel
Blasphemous is a retro-looking pixel Souls-like 2D side-scrolling metroidvania with elements of role-playing (what a mouthful!) This choice by the designers serves the game well, as the view of parallax-scrolling backgrounds combined with slightly animated foreground characters helps give a rough idea of the size of the world and its inhabitants. It also helps separate the different regions and their respective themes, styles and enemies. And what enemies there are! From book-throwing librarians to giant-bell/helmet carrying hulks to a Mega-baby boss, the foes faced while playing offer a variety of challenges as well as ways to die.
Until death comes knocking, every five minutes
That’s because death is an integral part of the game! While playing, you die a lot. Often at the same spot or against the same type of enemy. This means that a player ends up playing mostly in short stretches (or developing some sort of masochist tendencies). The game is quick to load though, so the “die then load” part of it is not so bad.
There’s no U in Cvstodia
The sinuous story centers around the Penitent One as well as the Miracle. In the world of Cvstodia sin and guilt physically manifest and so people spend their whole life repenting. The Penitent One’s quest throughout the game, for example, is his penance. Since there is non-linear progression, you can beat a given boss or choose to explore a certain area before another, which makes the story, such as it is, hard to follow. Still, I found the world of Cvstodia and its religion interesting and read all the tidbits of information I could find while playing.
Some minor novelty on the upgrade side
Being a metroidvania platformer, Blasphemous comes with its movement upgrades. Here however you will not find the usual double-jump (although there is a slide) or wall-climbing but rather unlock some blood platforms, roots and run-through-mud abilities. I found this refreshing as well as very indicative of where to go next. When a platform is just slightly higher than the character can jump, it’s not obvious you need to get a double-jump upgrade before proceeding. When an area is completely filled with poison gas, it is pretty evident an item or something similar is needed to progress.
Jump, jump and more jumps
The movement and progression upgrades being what they are, means that the mechanics stay the same throughout the game. Apart from the special damage ability, the only thing the Penitent One can do, at game start, is basically move, jump, attack, block as well as interact with some objects. The controls, on an Xbox 360 controller, felt sluggish at first but once I got used to them - and unlocked a few speed upgrades - they did get better. The block mechanic was fun: by timing it just right, enemies are stunned or dazed and the Penitent One can counter-attack. It’s actually the only way to harm some of the enemies in the world, at least while using only basic equipment.
A word of warning to save you some time: some upgrades and items are much more useful than others so unless you are a hardcore completionist it does not make sense to hunt them all. Oh, and there is a lot of jumping around. It is a platformer after all.
Beautiful instrumental guitar, but maybe a bit sad?
The music is the one area where Blasphemous unfortunately felt disappointing. I was so hyped for the game because everyone kept telling me the music was extraordinary. When present - there are areas with no music whatsoever - it is almost always ethereal, low-key or atmospheric. I understand that it contributes to the particular vibe of the game; to me though it is simply not extraordinary. It is by no means bad music; Carlos Viola did an excellent job composing (and playing?) the different tracks for the different regions and fights. And there’s some really good guitar strings sprinkled throughout. My opinion of the music is that it is just not that memorable. This is probably because I had really high hopes for the soundtrack. The game was praised for its music and the Steam Store listing has the “Great Soundtrack” tag - one of the reasons, in addition to personal recommendations, I decided to play the game in the first place. I did not find myself humming melodies from the game or listening to the soundtrack while doing chores. Your mileage may vary, maybe I’m the one with eclectic music tastes.
I’m no Penitent One
Perhaps because of this experience with the music I felt little emotional connection with the characters of the game or the world itself. I did not feel sad for the inhabitants stuck with deformities or even anger toward the enemies (although I did feel frustration after mis-timing a jump for the third time). I felt much more emotionally engaged in, say, Hollow Knight, even though both main characters never utter a word. Hollow Knight’s world and creatures, despite being insects, felt more relatable than the humans of Blasphemous. This did not stop me from liking and finishing the game, it just meant that I was less involved.
Some tough achievements
Although Blasphemous is tagged as a Souls-lite game and can be very challenging at times, it requires about 15 to 20 hours to complete. There is some replayability if you like to complete achievements - some of them deserve to be called that because they do take a lot of work (especially Requiem Aeternam but also Bronze Medal).
Verdict
Blasphemous is a well-made, and you should play it if you like metroidvanias, 2D platformers in general or religious-themed games. It is by no means exceptional.
What I liked most about the game
The challenge! As well as the Penitent One’s costume (that hat!) and his healing ability through blood.
What I liked the least about the game
It’s hard to put my finger on it. I think it might be the depressive feeling permeating the game and the game’s world. Everything and everyone is so sad, it was hard to feel like I achieved something of importance, even after beating a tough boss or even finishing the game.
Should I buy
Buy it in a bundle, or on sale if you listened to the soundtrack and liked it.