Blasphemous II picks up where the first left off, with a world and story that are extremely overwrought and dripping with style and theming in a way no other game achieves. I had a great time coming back to this world (as depressing and horrifying as it is) and Blasphemous II iterates directly on the first one in terms of both world design and gameplay. Mostly for the better, this ends up being one of the best games in the genre since Hollow Knight. Incredible game, though there are a still a few shortcomings.
The world continues from Blasphemous with things seemingly as bad as they were before the Penitent One's original journey. Everyone still suffers for their crimes (real or imagined) and no one really has a good end. Luckily everyone is here to help the Penitent One kill? overthrow? become? the Miracle though. It does feel more like these giant, suffering, weirdos are more explicitly on your side in the sequel.
Descriptions and language continues to be incredibly evocative and ridiculous, though luckily it is mostly constrained to descriptive text this time, rather than important gameplay information.
The game looks as excellent as the first. The pixel art here is best in class and the creativity and execution on the enemies and NPCs you meet is mind blowing. I love playing this game just to see what the next terrible, tortured, freak is going to be.
The gameplay is much improved here. The input overload is almost completely removed and the addition of two extra weapons (a mace and a rapier) give the combat a bit more variety. Each weapon has benefits and drawbacks and I really felt like I was rewarded for discovering which one worked best in each situation. Instant death from falling is completely removed too, which is great!
Exploration is more directed and I never really felt lost, but the cost is that the game feels much more linear. The main quest of collecting five macguffins in five areas is presented in a pre-proscribed order, with each area opening as an event when you clear the previous boss. Where the first Blasphemous often left me floundering, wondering how to proceed, Blasphemous II removes almost all sense of discovery and ends up being a mostly linear experience. Exploring areas and unlocking new abilities is still fun, but it lacks the freeform ability to set your own goals that make a game like this really shine.
The final boss is also a very strangely steep difficulty spike. I had basically no trouble with anything in the game besides him and he was orders of magnitude harder. I was satisfied when I beat him, but much of his second form just feels cheap and overtuned.
Blasphemous II has a few shortcomings but fixes almost every problem I had with the original while retaining its very particular and extreme sense of style and theming. Worth playing if you want one of the best metroidvania games from the past few years.
The world continues from Blasphemous with things seemingly as bad as they were before the Penitent One's original journey. Everyone still suffers for their crimes (real or imagined) and no one really has a good end. Luckily everyone is here to help the Penitent One kill? overthrow? become? the Miracle though. It does feel more like these giant, suffering, weirdos are more explicitly on your side in the sequel.
Descriptions and language continues to be incredibly evocative and ridiculous, though luckily it is mostly constrained to descriptive text this time, rather than important gameplay information.
The game looks as excellent as the first. The pixel art here is best in class and the creativity and execution on the enemies and NPCs you meet is mind blowing. I love playing this game just to see what the next terrible, tortured, freak is going to be.
The gameplay is much improved here. The input overload is almost completely removed and the addition of two extra weapons (a mace and a rapier) give the combat a bit more variety. Each weapon has benefits and drawbacks and I really felt like I was rewarded for discovering which one worked best in each situation. Instant death from falling is completely removed too, which is great!
Exploration is more directed and I never really felt lost, but the cost is that the game feels much more linear. The main quest of collecting five macguffins in five areas is presented in a pre-proscribed order, with each area opening as an event when you clear the previous boss. Where the first Blasphemous often left me floundering, wondering how to proceed, Blasphemous II removes almost all sense of discovery and ends up being a mostly linear experience. Exploring areas and unlocking new abilities is still fun, but it lacks the freeform ability to set your own goals that make a game like this really shine.
The final boss is also a very strangely steep difficulty spike. I had basically no trouble with anything in the game besides him and he was orders of magnitude harder. I was satisfied when I beat him, but much of his second form just feels cheap and overtuned.
Blasphemous II has a few shortcomings but fixes almost every problem I had with the original while retaining its very particular and extreme sense of style and theming. Worth playing if you want one of the best metroidvania games from the past few years.