Blasphemous Reviews

I want to love it but those god awful controlls on keyboard just don't give me that chance. If you are planning on playing it on keyboard think again

best pixel art game + good combat system and gameplay for the lore: ماعرف يهبد السبك ... خلصت السوالف والقصص يحمار؟

This game makes me wish for a Meh option while reviewing tldr: Okay metroidania with some infuriating design choices / lack of polish The aestetic is great, exploration is pleasant, some fights are awesome Good replayability, fun challenges even though NG+ could be better like letting you keep your rosary knots and upgrades you unlock for completing NG+ with challenges could be more overpowered But a lot of pain points 1 - Easily missable core upgrade (looking at you red carpet) 2 - Inconsistent dodge behavior, some time you can dodge attacks, some times you can't 3 - Poor hitboxes, insta death spike with a very generous hitbox, lighting trap hitting you before they appear 4 - A particular boss fight is simply not fun In my case the Wiki was required to enjoy the game fully

I think what makes this game special is its art. The combat wouldn’t feel as smooth if not for the hand-drawn frames created by the developer. The combat itself is satisfying, and the music is top-notch.

There is a bug that the devs have known about for 5+ years and still not fixed. When you die and need to press any button to continue, none of your controller buttons actually work. Meanwhile they even released a new game, come on. Also quite possible the worst quest system I've ever experienced. It's like they took all that's confusing about Fromsoft's quest system and just copied it here. Just very cryptic and no way of keeping track what you have to do. And some quests are gated behind secret rules, ie: you will fail this quest if you kill a boss, and never be able to get that item again. The backtracking is quite heavy in this game, and even more frustrating is that the best fast-travel system is a hidden unlock that you won't come across in normal gameplay. The level and enemy design is quite good early on, but it's unfortunately the only Metroidvania I ever played which got worse the more I played it. The enemy attacks, placement and spike/scythe placement really become "annoyance simulator". The bosses are quite good, but you never get to a point where you just enjoy going through the levels.

I liked it! The platforming is very unforgiving which takes some time to get used to but the story and art was exceptionally beautiful.

A must play if you like Metroidvania's and Souls-like games. The combat and exploration feel great. The Gothic pixel art is outstanding. I loved the Spanish guitar filled OST. The track "Arpegios en Ocre" is so good, it made me just stop for a moment and listen to it. Lots of content, I'll definitely go back and play new game+ in the future.

The "campaign" from the beginning up until the final boss is defeated is generally an enjoyable experience, but the slog that comes afterwards if one wants to get all the collectibles is draining. There is also a second "better" ending (and a third, not sure how to get that one and I don't care to) that is locked behind absurdly obscure steps that must be taken in order for it to be achieved. Good game, but it demands a little too much for a little too little.

A gorgeous, souls-like metroidvania that punishes the player for exploring with janky controls, lots of instant deaths, mediocre combat, and massive amounts of repetition and backtracking. The game improves immensely once you donate 20k tears to the church and unlock fast travel from save points but the game never tells you about this. 5/10 - barely not recommended PROS: -Gorgeous pixel art -Really cool setting -Good voice acting -Dialogue is mostly gibberish, but it sounds cool. -Music was good, especially the guitar. NEUTRALS: -There are some shortcut paths that can be enabled once you've made it through so you don't have to repeat everything. -Non-linear level design (this is usually a good thing, but quests can be failed without you knowing it if you sequence break) -Many interesting bizarre characters, but their personality doesn't match their characters. CONS: A metroidvania that punishes you for exploring just doesn't work. -The game has LOTS of platforming elements with instant death traps and janky controls. If you die, you have to repeat large sections again. Good luck beating the controls when grabbing ladders over spike pits. -Quest design is almost nonexistant; you have to take various items to various places but there is nothing indicating what goes where. You just interact with things and hope it lets you offer a quest item. -You can fail certain quests without knowing. -You can be PERMANENTLY locked out of the "true" ending without your knowledge (requiring you to start a new playthrough). -Most of the quest related things are NOT marked on your map. Why??? At least you can put your own markers. -There are few fast travel locations (because you unlock fast travel via save points after donating 20,000 tears to the church - but the game never tells you that, not even after donating the 20k!). -Until you unlock fast travel from save points, if you want to explore a different location, you'll have to navigate large portions of the map, getting past all the traps again. This gets tedious fast. -If you die, you leave behind a "guilt fragment" that you now need to recover (meaning you have to go back the same way again) which further punishes you from wanting to explore a different path. -Non-linear map design (which is usually a good thing) combined with this immense punishment for trying to explore and a complete lack of any direction whatsoever to guide the player just doesn't work. Combat is almost entirely trial and error. -Can you block that attack? Only way to find out is to try, die, and just remember that one can't be blocked. -Can you dodge through an enemy? Sometimes! -Chain knock back hits. -Your character will randomly change direction sometimes when swinging the sword for no apparent reason. -Enemies have massive HP pools, but you can upgrade your sword several times. Once upgraded, the earlier enemies become trivial, but later enemies still take forever to kill. For example, in the DLC area, there is one regular enemy that takes SIXTEEN fully upgraded attacks to kill. -You have to "unlock" combat skills by using currency earned by farming enemies after upgrading the sword itself. What is the point of this added farm? Devs needed more things to spend your tears on? Controls are jank - platform elements don't work -You need to equip the movement abilities, but you can only equip 3 at a time. This makes absolutely no sense, adds nothing to the game, and requires you to constantly change out your movement items. -The most awkward double jump mechanic you've ever seen (you don't ever need it) Bugs: -If you try to slide (dodge) while on a moving platform as it reaches the bottom of its descent, your character will immediately turn around and slide in the opposite direction. Why would I know such a specific bug? Because one of the timed challenge rooms requires you to do exactly that at least twice. -the snake boss bugged out on me in the third phase and I couldn't move left or right (but I could jump and attack). -if you fall over a ladder, sometimes your character will slow in the air and show a bugged animation -Most of the time you will grab a ladder in the air (over a spike pit). Sometimes he won't though. -Nothing is explained. None of the map icons are described anywhere. There is no quest log. The items only include vague descriptions. I get leaving things for the player to discover, but there is so little information ingame that you will invariably have to google just to figure out what items do. -Plot is nonsense/gibberish. -No ingame method for tracking collectibles, even in the post game. -Numerous powerups are behind breakable walls with no indication that the wall can be broken. There are no items or skills that will reveal this either. -Lore and mechanics text are mixed together. Most items do not clearly tell you what they do. The vast majority of items are useless.

One of the best pixel pixel art game I've ever played. Also my fav. The lore is not deep still it was quite interesting but the best part is the fluid gameplay. Can't wait to try 2nd part.