Blasphemous is a platforming souls-like game from developer The Game Kitchen that featured a unique art style and brutally beautiful gameplay animations. Though the game drew strong comparisons to games like Dark Souls or Castlevania, critics believed it did enough to set itself apart as its own experience.
The game features various mechanics and items that allow players to tailor the experience to their specific play style. One of these items that can be equipped were Mea Culpa Hearts, a findable item that provided The Penitent One with a boon of some sort, often at the cost of another trait or ability.
9 Heart Of The Unnamed Minstrel
Any item that's ever attached to a purposefully unnamed character adds a bit of intrigue to players interested in the lore of the said game. The Heart of the Unnamed Minstrel is a Mea Culpa Heart in Blasphemous that serves this exact purpose. It resides in the Graveyard of the Peaks and those who manage to find it will be granted with an ease of use upgrade to the Righteous Riposte.
This move requires the player to both parry and counter an enemy attack. Upon doing so for the first time players will also be granted an achievement for performing this move for the first time in Blasphemous.
8 Heart Of The Single Tone
Blasphemous features a variety of enemies that attack the player in a myriad of ways. Some throw projectiles, while others prefer blasting elemental attacks at The Penitent One. The Heart of the Single Tone, when equipped, destroys some projectiles near the player, but reduces the resistance to elemental attacks.
Some Mea Culpa Hearts in Blasphemous are intentionally designed to be used in specific instances. This is exactly the case for the Heart of the Single Tone, and players looking to get their hands on this anti-projectile Mea Culpa Heart will need to venture to Grievance Ascends.
7 Heart Of The Holy Purge
Located in Jondo is the Heart of the Holy Purge, a Mea Culpa heart that prevents the player from using Bile Flasks. This in turn provides the player with the number of Tears of Atonement being increased.
Ranking wise this deserves to be this low on the list as its usefulness isn't universal and only applies to a niche amount of players who find this trade worth it in some capacity. It does happen to have one of the best names when looking at all of the Mea Culpa Hearts available in Blasphemous, so at least it has that going for it.
6 Heart Of Cerulean Incense
Fervour is an important resource in Blasphemous as it's used to cast Prayers and special attacks that aid the player. It can be generated in several ways which include defeating enemies, recovering Guilt Fragments, or holding down the ranged attack button to have The Penitent One sacrifice its blood.
The Heart of Cerulean Incense increases the generation of Fervour for The Penitent One from doing previously stated actions. This Mea Culpa Heart is located "Where Olive Trees Wither."
5 Smoking Heart Of Incense
Upon its release, Blasphemous was rather beloved for its combat, art style, and world design, but some argue that the game was layered with too many systems and mechanics. For those who rely on the use of Prayers, the Smoking Heart of Incense is a Mea Culpa Heart that feels like a must-use.
Though it increases the total cost of Prayers by one whole Fervour bar, it feels like a necessary trade-off if the added power and duration of said Prayers feels substantial enough for the player's liking.
4 Molten Heart Of Boiling Blood
The Molten Heart of Boiling Blood is obtained by any player willing to explore the Sleeping Canvases. This Mea Culpa Heart acts as a lifesteal item upon being equipped as it trains enemies of their life force upon defeat and transfers it to The Penitent One via health restoration. Players who rely on Bile Vessels to restore health should avoid this Mea Culpa Heart due to it reducing the rate of health recovered from those vessels if it's equipped.
3 Heart Of The Virtuous Pain
The Wasteland of the Buried Churches is home to a Mea Culpa Heart called Heart of the Virtuous Pain. A name like that would suggest The Penitent One should likely avoid it, but on the contrary, this item is quite useful. It elongates the parry window for the player at the supposed cost of leaving them open to enemy attacks for a longer amount of time.
Most players feel as though the latter part of that description isn't a hindrance to the gameplay experience and having access to possible parry moves for an increased length of time eliminates any and all worries in regards to what is pitched as a large drawback.
2 Heart Of Oils
Strength boosts are rather common in video games and tend to be natural upgrades players come across at some point in their experience. For Blasphemous that bonus lies in the Mea Culpa Heart known as Heart of Oils.
Located in the Archcathedral Rooftops it simply increases the strength of The Penitent One when equipped. The boost in strength isn't significantly noticeable, but the fact that the Heart of Oils has no real negative knock on the player's stats makes it useful to a good extent.
1 Heart Of Salpeter Blood
Ranking the Mea Culpa Hearts in Blasphemous comes down to which one provides the best benefit, while at the same time having the least worrisome drawback. Among the bunch, it seems as though the Heart of Salpeter Blood manages to weigh out both of those stipulations quite favorably.
It doesn't have any tangible drawbacks, but it does provide the player with the effect of increasing the attack damage of The Penitent One when their health is low. This Mea Culpa Heart can be found at the Convent of Our Lady of the Charred Visage for those looking to up their game in Blasphemous.
Blasphemous is available on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.