Highlights
- Blasphemous 2 is a fulfilling Metroidvania and Soulslike game that builds upon its predecessor with fluid platforming and a wider arsenal of weapons.
- The unique dark fantasy Catholicism theme adds depth to the gameplay, with features like prayers and rosary beads giving players multiple combat options.
- While the bosses in Blasphemous 2 may not be extremely tough, the challenge lies in navigating the difficult rooms and enemies that players must face to reach them, making run-backs more arduous.
Blasphemous 2 may have unavoidably gotten shuffled to players’ backlogs this past week and for a fair reason. Many games recently released within days of one another, and of course Starfield’s early access period has eclipsed them all anyhow. Still, Blasphemous 2 nestles itself within a Metroidvania and Soulslike niche that is incredibly fulfilling and has properly taken the reins of its predecessor. Blasphemous 2 leans much more on the side of a Metroidvania with platforming that is much more fluid, but what it retains from the original game is also fantastic.
Much of what makes Blasphemous unique is its dark fantasy Catholicism and how that weaves into features like rosary beads or prayers, giving players as many options as they’d like in thrilling combat. Blasphemous only featured a single weapon, the Mea Culpa sword, while Blasphemous 2 features three distinct weapons players eventually accumulate throughout. However, even with a wider arsenal at the player’s disposal, Blasphemous 2 doesn’t let up on a design feature that separates it from FromSoftware’s games and other Soulslikes: bosses aren’t necessarily that tough, but getting to them is.
FromSoftware’s Bosses are Its Pinnacle of Difficulty
It’s become a tradition in FromSoftware’s handful of Souls-esque games for bosses to be the primary centerpiece. FromSoftware’s world-building and level design are phenomenal with exploration eventually leading to a boss that behaves like a gatekeeper for a particular region. Beating them then allows access to a new region and so forth, and it’s through these bosses that players commonly find themselves having the most difficulty in these kinds of games.
Boss fights are made out to be these massive set-piece spectacles at times, and they are usually where FromSoftware and other Soulslike developers get to truly stretch their creative ingenuity in art design, too. Maneuvering these games’ worlds and trying to find these bosses can oftentimes be difficult depending on the knowledge players have of the region, though players are usually able to circumvent most enemies on their path to a boss.
These ‘run-backs’ are sometimes tedious as players suffer defeat at the hands of a boss and have to run back to their fog gate again each time, even if doing so helps players acclimate to an area and find the most efficient ways to traverse that part of the game. The idea is that players will perish to a boss a great number of times, but at least getting back to them is relatively painless.
Getting to Bosses is When Blasphemous is Most Difficult
In Blasphemous 2, these roles are reversed since bosses can be fairly easy to telegraph or exploit, especially with all the new options in combat the Penitent One has. That said, the rooms they must pass through to get back to them can be incredibly irritating.
Rooms preceding bosses and rooms in general are almost always packed with enemies that are seemingly positioned there to give players a tough time, and it’s likely due to Blasphemous’ adherence to 2D geometry. Some enemies cannot be surpassed until late-game abilities are unlocked, leaving passageways obstructed by tanky enemies the player will need to deal with each time. Blasphemous had far rougher platforming than its sequel, though Blasphemous 2 still makes most rooms an ordeal.
The Game Kitchen thankfully balances this out by offering an opposite approach to most Soulslikes, where its bosses are arguably easier to defeat. This way, Blasphemous’ run-backs are harder and more arduous, but players may not need to make those demoralizing treks often while backtracking for collectibles and questline progression is another gripe entirely.
Blasphemous 2 is out now for Nintendo Switch, PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
