This game is simply artwork brought to life, as an atheist who believes religion to be nothing more than a bedtime story for adults who have to accept the inevitable conclusion of life, the sheer amount of religious gothic imagery in this game reinforces my understanding as to how religion managed to bamboozle millions of people throughout the century. This game is simply beautiful, but beautiful in a macabre way.
Is it as if Dark Souls was painted by H.R Giger with a heavy underlying catholic theme. Topics which are explored include faith, mortality, death, worship, flesh and blood.
The story:
The story revolves around "the penitent one" who wakes up from his cycle of death and rebirth to deal with "The Miracle" a powerful entity who has brought its prophesized child into the world. With the aid of holy saints and others who opposed the harsh reality brought upon the world by the miracle, you will set out to correct their sins.
The gameplay:
A solid pixelated platformer. It has just enough of the bare minimum to feel fresh in terms of combat, but it's nothing groundbreaking. It's simply a solid metroidvania with just the right amount of everything.
The graphics:
The H.R Giger / catholic themed pixelated art is beautiful. The world is deep and riddled with lore. Dark Souls pales in comparison to Blasphemous 2 in terms of pessimism and hopelessness seen in it's world.
The music:
A solid soundtrack. It fit the story well. The flamenco/Spanish gypsy vibes bring a dark undertone to the whole world. It really compliments the game well. It doesn't feel as if generic music was constructed for the game, but each area is deeply ingrained with the proper musical theme. I never knew Dark flamenco could be so interesting to hear in such a setting.
What I didn't like:
- Enemies really do take a lot of hits, especially at the beginning of the game. An absurd amount of hits. I would sometimes need to hit some of the heavier enemies 30 times in order to take them down. It does get easier once you upgrade a little but, however, it's ridiculous. Not that it's especially hard, but I've never seen enemies being such damage sponges in other games. You pretty much have to repeat the same pattern for 5 minutes on some enemies to take them down.
- The Teleporting system needs be adjusted better. There are very few waypoints, often forcing you to traverse entire sections to get back to a previously visited area. Why couldn't you just have teleported at the shrines instead of finding remote portals around the map? You do get to teleport to shrines much later in the game after finding "lost sisters". A function which should have been featured from the very beginning.
- They made the game easier by providing player assistance during bosses, which is something I really dislike. I feel like developers started easing games for newcomers.
In the past on the old retro consoles, you had to beat a platformer with 3 lives without dying which is a bit of a stretch forcing the player to start over every time not to mention the system limitations such as save games and such...but beating a boss when you saved just before him simply requires a bit of skill.
Learn to beat the game like a man. Git Gud!
I recommend this game, it's great!