Melding the best aspects of Metroidvania and Soulslike gameplay and wrapping that match made in heaven in a resplendently horrifying dark fantasy take on the aesthetics of Spanish Catholicism. Blasphemous 2 is a title that wears its inspirations on its sleeves but weaves them into a beautiful tapestry. With its fast-paced, beautifully realised sprite art, it’s an excellent choice for gaming on the go with GeForce NOW Powered by CloudGG.
I didn’t play Blasphemous. That was a mistake of mine, a sin that lay a burden upon my soul. I knew it was a hit among the crowds I ran in, quickly gaining acclaim for its beautiful sprite art and brutally hard soulslike Metroidvania gameplay. It was a game I’d love, yet I let it slip me by. That’s why, in penitence, I made absolutely sure I would not miss the second. Yet rather than a self-imposed flagellation, I found this game to be nothing short of rapture.
Blasphemous 2 is a brutally challenging 2D game, following in the footsteps of legends such as Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and standing proudly alongside contemporaries such as Hollow Knight. It takes the exploration-based gameplay and sprinkles in a healthy helping of Dark Souls-inspired combat, with heavy-feeling weapons, desperate combat rolls, and endlessly satisfying parries to sink your teeth into.
But Blasphemous is so much more than just its mechanics. A good Metroidvania is something to relish, but this is a great one. That’s thanks large in part to its theming and atmosphere, which is so thick you could cut it with a knife, but you’d have to work at it.
Mythologising old religions is a creative medium almost as old as the religions themselves. Every day, we see Odin or Zeus lathered up with a new coat of paint and thrown haphazardly into one fantasy setting or another. It’s rare, though, to see this done for more common and populous religions, which perhaps is what makes the theme of Blasphemous stand out quite so much.
Though never directly addressing Catholicism, the inspirations behind The Miracle, the Penitent One, and the overall tone of the game can be directly linked quite easily to several sources. Creative Director Enrique Cabeza himself names the religious art and iconography of Seville, Spain, as a major influence, as well as famous Spanish artists such as Francisco Goya, Jusepe de Ribera, and Francisco de Zurbarán.
These inspirations give Blasphemous a unique look and feel that no other game can quite match: a dark, horrific world wrapped in the callous hands of a mad god, yet one still eerily familiar to the religions we know.
It is into this beautiful, mysterious, horrifying world we awaken into as the Penitent one, and each new stage, boss, or foe brings back those religious vibes as you face off against walking sarcophagi, cherubs, flagellants, and even more esoteric foes, such as devotion itself. As you explore the world, you begin to learn its ways, often by trial and error, because you will die a lot. Or at least I certainly did.
This is your penitence, your test of faith to push through and see the game to its ending. Your divine tools in this pilgrimage are a trio of weapons up from the single blade wielded in the previous game. You have your choice of a rapier and knife, a gigantic incense-filled flail, or a chain sword (Straight from the pages of Warhammer 40,000, which carries a similar fantastical rendition of mass religion). Each of these is not merely a weapon; each is a problem-solving tool that helps you puzzle your way through perplexing platforming problems.
As you grow more comfortable with these tools, the game ups the complexity of the trials you must overcome using them, weaving these platforming sections into combat and even boss battles, requiring you to blend every aspect of the gameplay loop into a single cohesive whole. A totality from your trinity of tools, if you will.
If you can’t tell, I am very excited about this game. More than just a fantastic platformer, it’s a shining exemplar of what real-world inspiration can bring out in the most creative among us. As a writer and worldbuilder, I can only look upon Blasphemous 2 with awe and dig into it every chance I get. Thankfully, with my GeForce NOW Powered by CloudGG membership, I’ve had no trouble doing so. Whether on the go or comfortably settled at my gaming shrine (my desk), I can always find time to play. I can only hope my rambling rhetoric here has also converted you into a believer.
This spotlight was written by CloudGG team member “Motley” and does not represent the opinions of NVIDIA or CloudGG.
