Blasphemous 1 was a huge step up from the developer The Game Kitchen in presenting one of the most interesting locales for an action game with more religious imagery than all the bibles combined. While the game invoked themes of punishment and penitence, it had a share of pain points. With the sequel, much like Remnant 2, we have one that improves on the original for those looking for a second crusade.
Penance and Punishment
The sequel takes place many years after the events of the first game, with the penitent one awakening to learn that a child is going to be birthed by the miracle — the strange force that has transformed everyone in the world into an imagery of sin and religion. To stop this, they must fight against other penitents and make their way up to kill it.
Once again, you’ll be exploring a beautifully disturbing world fighting all manner of enemies. As before, the structure of the game is that you must clear the first three dungeons in any order to then unlock the back half. While you’re exploring, you’ll come across a variety of side quests, items and powerups to collect. The MO for Blasphemous 2 seems to be to correct a lot of the issues that people had with the first game.
Absolving Design
I enjoyed the first game, but there were certainly some difficulty spikes to the game and the conditions for seeing everything in it. With the sequel, a lot of the underlining changes have gone to make the game less punishing. Spikes and pits are no longer instant death, and simply take your health and transport you to the nearest ledge. There are far more fast travel stations and means of moving around, with the handy ability to mark the map which you will need to remember where all those missing collectibles were. While you will still gain guilt when you die, there is no loss of money that goes with it.
You’ll still be able to upgrade everything from the first game in terms of health, fervor/mana and more, but there are some new elements that add some interesting touches to the sequel.
Metroidvania Martyr
A lot of people called the first game a metroidvania, but I did argue at the time that there weren’t any real movement or upgrades that changed how you play through the game, until now. Progression in Blasphemous 2 has been improved across the board. You’ll still collect prayers which are your spells, with a new stronger class of them. There are now actual upgrades to your movement tech that will be used throughout the game. Your mea culpa sword is gone, and in its place are three new weapons. As an interesting touch, you’ll decide which of the three you’ll start with — a heavy sword, rapier and knife, or mace, but you will get access to the other two from the starting dungeons. Each weapon handles differently, has a different skill tree, and they each provide a way to get around a specific environmental element.
Many of the puzzles and platforming sections will require you to combine the different abilities of each weapon to get through them. Each weapon feels good to use, but the mace is pound-for-pound the best in terms of raw damage.
A new progression system comes in the form of finding and equipping wooden figurines. Each one provides a unique benefit and is Blasphemous 2’s way of letting you create a customized build that you can play through the game with.
To compensate, combat in this one is a bit harder. The normal enemies won’t give you a lot of trouble this time around, with exception to having different elemental weaknesses that go with the different weapons. Bosses are however much stronger and have more varied patterns to figure out. The penultimate boss is the most combat-heavy fight compared to anything else.
A Very Light Punishment
All-in-all, there isn’t much more for me to talk about with Blasphemous 2, it does what any good sequel should do — improve on the base mechanics, remove pain points and problems, and continues to grow the franchise. At the moment it is lacking in terms of new game + content and the additional features and modes that were introduced as free DLC in the first game, but I’m sure the developers are working on something special.
every aspect from the first game has received an update and some fine tuning here. (source author)
If you enjoyed the first game, then Blasphemous 2 is a very solid sequel, and if you were put off by the difficulty, then the improvements may be enough for you to get to the end of this trial successfully. Whether you come for the striking imagery of the metroidvania design, Blasphemous 2 is an all-around solid game.
This was played with a press key provided by the developer.
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