Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Blasphemous


This is an action platformer with a supreme kind of atmosphere playing out. It’s not really a full fledged Metroidvania, although Castlevania and Dark Souls seem to be clear inspirations.

You play as the Penitent One, which seems to be dealing with some kind of inquisition playing out as the story line, or a cleansing of some sorts if you will. Religious themes are obviously playing, and the narrative is told cryptic, while item descriptions will offer you more lore. Now where have I heard that kind of storytelling before?

The sound track is top notch as it fits the atmosphere, and it is immersive. Equally as impressive is the pixel art style, as the animations stand out. The enemy design is very effective, being intimidating, challenging and beautiful to look at all at the same time.

The levels have interconnection as well as a few warp opportunities, lessening backtracking, and the NPC’s are interesting. The bosses are coherent, memorable and some of them quite difficult. The core gameplay is fun with a skill tree available.

I wish that there were a bit more abilities to unlock in order to make your playable character more able to move and dodge around, but everything else I described was quite a joy to experience. Blasphemous is a nice surprise, and it fits the October month, as there is lots of gore to discover, including special death animations for the enemies to be found!

Rating: 7.7


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